How do you know if a snake broke a bone?

[MorphMaster]

So I always read info on diseases and such but never like oh my snake broke it's bone sort of stuff... So I wanna know, how do you tell? Would the snake be lethargic and not moving much? Would it be angry? Would it look like there was a kink? Or maybe even as minor as a fracture. I don't think you could palpate a minor fracture. Would there be changes in personality? I ask cuz I was giving my snake meds and my mom was keeping it from curling over itself and going to nuts. Well at first she held fairly tightly from what I can tell... Then I told her to loosen up and am hoping she did so... The snake moved fine and didn't have any kinks or anything afterwards. Her demeanor is normal. I just wanna know.

P.s. I know, I am full of questions

[Argentra]

Like other animals, I believe it would be a case by case thing as far as reactions. Some critters handle injury better than others. But I can give you my experience...

My pastel, SunSpot (many threads on his story here on the forum), was suspected to have crushed ribs when I got him from the guy who just handed him to me. In addition to a number of other issues, he had a spot 3/4 down shaped like a Hersheys Kiss. Without xrays we couldn't be sure (and I couldn't afford them at the time), but even Kevin Fitzgerald figured that he had probably been squeezed too hard.

Anyway, it didn't really affect him personality wise except to make him VERY wary of handling. It's taken me years to get him to relax while being held and to stop balling up in fear every time I reach in my hand. Movement wise he seems fine, he just moves his tail as little as possible. When I hold him, I have to support the last 1/4 of his tail or it just hangs limp. The only real big thing that happened to him is the huge kink that developed at the 'Kiss' site and the zigzaging of the last few inches of his tail. If he'll cooperate, I'll try getting some closeup pictures of those to show you.

Hope that gave you some insight.

[MorphMaster]

Well she certainly doesn't haven any weird deformities so I think I'm in the clear. Fewww . Thanks for curing my paranoia lol

[Argentra]

You're welcome. Really, the only way to tell is to Gently palpate the snake in the area it was squeezed. If you feel any odd sharpness or lumps there may be injury.

Here's a pic of SunSpot when I first got him (he was 3 months old and weighed 44g)


The injury is right where the pinky of the upper hand is resting under him.

And here's what he looks like now:


You can see the kink, like a pyramid, on the left where he curves. You can also see the zigzagging in his tail end in this pic.

I'll try to get some closeup pictures tomorrow.

[MorphMaster]

So did you ever take him to the vet? Or was it just it's not life threatening and he ended up doing ok by himself cuz that'd be cool... Itb be a great example of the resilience of snakes

[kitedemon]

Often if it is fresh there is bruising and swelling, like a broken bone in humans. Dark snakes bruising is hard to see. Light snakes it is easy to spot and it looks like a bruise really a dark spot. It takes a lot to break bones of a snake they have flexible attachments so they flex a lot. The best way is if there is a reason to suspect a broken bone there is good cause for an X-ray. There is very little to be done if there is a break. Severe breaks may need intervention and mild ones usually nothing more than careful handling and light meals. Older breaks on rescues there is little to be done if it is severe the animal will show signs of illness and trauma, the rest will heal or be healed or in between.

The example I have is an abused rescue that was paralyzed from the lower end and had what looked initially like a cut on the side but turned out to be compound fracture (bones protruding from the skin) The decision was made that the rehab was unlikely to be successful and the animal was in pain, there was infection from the fracture, set in and belief the body functions were impeded the animal was sadly euthanized and charges were made.

[MorphMaster]

Well thanks everybody. I am finally feeling good about something. Since taking the snake to the vet life other than that hasn't seemed so great and it's been stressful on my end

[Argentra]

So did you ever take him to the vet? Or was it just it's not life threatening and he ended up doing ok by himself cuz that'd be cool... Itb be a great example of the resilience of snakes

Yes, I took him to the vet as soon as I could. Kevin Fitzgerald, of Alameda East 'Emergency Vets' fame. It was awesome to meet him, and he was very hurried but a great guy. He gave the little guy an electrolyte injection, evacuated several kidney stones (poor baby), and let me know that the break was old and healed oddly. Advised me to feed him the tiniest pinky mouse I could get ahold of and if he ate, digested, and passed waste alright then we were in the clear. That was at least 5 years ago.
Oh, and Kevin did all that free of charge when he learned I was not that well off financially. It was a gift to the 'poor, sweet little snake and his genuinely caring owner'.

[MorphMaster]

Wow and I'm 14 and what did my vet do... Charged me for the use of gloves... Like 2 latex gloves cost 3.50.

[kitedemon]

Wow and I'm 14 and what did my vet do... Charged me for the use of gloves... Like 2 latex gloves cost 3.50.

That is terrible! My vet on the initial check up of a new animal runs a blood test (for a base line) fecal exam and spends about an hour with me talking husbandry health care and whatever else and all this is about 110$ including the tests (65$ worth) and drugs for parasites if needed. It seems very reasonable to me. Heck I charge more an hour than she does.


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