Bad Gash! What to do until vet visit?

[dizzmcd]

Hello everyone. I'm a fairly new caretaker to two wonderful ball pythons. I've never had trouble out of Dino, my bigger boy. But Perry, my baby girl, has had problems from the start. Impaction which we later found out may be calcium build up, trouble eating (she wont eat big mice, only small pinkies), and now, she's in a rough patch again. I noticed today she had a big gash on her side. Its oozing and there are no scales on it. It looks as if she's been scratched by something. I feed her frozen/thawed, and she normally stays under her rock. Its possible Dino bit her, but they've always been inseparable since she first was introduced to him. I don't know what caused it. Below is a picture we took of the wound. Maybe you have ideas of what it is, and what to do for it until the vet visit? There isn't a vet that will see snake until Friday. Or I can drive 2 hours out of my way. Both are fine, but it'll be days before I can do anything. Help?

[Freakie_frog]

Keep it clean and put a lite coating of Neosporin on it.

[dizzmcd]

any idea of what it is? Bite? Scratch? Its not scale rot or anything?


Edit: I've got bacitracin, its an antibiotic and pain reliever. Will the pain reliever be harmful to her? (that sounds ironic, actually)

[Freakie_frog]

If I had to guess is say its a cut either from getting tangled in something in the enclosure or a rodent caught your snake just right.

[satomi325]

It doesn't look like a bite to me. I suggest checking your enclosure for exposed tape or sharp edge. Perhaps even use paper towel substrate and just a hide/water dish to keep the set up simple while your girl heals.

And I highly encouraged you to consider housing your snakes individually. Ball pythons are solitary animals and should only be placed together for breeding purposes. While long term cohabitation is doable, it is not recommended for new and/or inexperienced keepers.

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[Tannerrrtx]

alright, i had to deal with this not too long ago, my male got stuck on a piece of tape and ripped his skin off.

the vet wouldn't even see mine, i emailed them a picture.
they ended up telling me to do hydrotherapy 4 times a day and be VERY frugle on the neosporin, i was told to use the "tripple antibiotic ointment" from Walmart after each hydrotherapy treatment

links below:

old thread : http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...advice-to-give
update: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...lesson-learned

I AM IN NO WAY SAYING DONT GO TO THE VET.( im 100+ miles away from the closest herp vet that would see him.)

[Gorillafist]

I've always heard clean with betadine instead of neosporin,

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[rabernet]

Do you have any fake plants in the enclosure? If so, check them to make sure they don't have plastic rings on them. If they do, you need to clip them off.

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[Sita]

You could do Betadine treatments twice a day, and apply neosporin once a day. Dilute the Betadine to a light tea color and soak the spot for about 5 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels, and apply a very small amount of neosporin. Make sure it does NOT have any pain relievers in it, as snakes can have severe reactions to it. Bacitracin by itself isn't a pain reliever, that's something added in, usually Pramoxine, or ending with -caine. You can find Betadine in the first aid section of Walgreens or Walmart, near the hydrogen peroxide. You will also want to clean out the cage thoroughly and use only paper towels as substrate in order to prevent infection.

You don't want to use neosporin for longer than the few days until the vet, as it can soften and damage the scales.

I also highly recommend separating your snakes. You are risking the very LIFE of both of snakes by housing them together, especially the little one. The larger one might one day decide to kill Perry for no reason, and if one gets sick, you're going to be spending twice as much at the vet to treat both animals. Not to mention the fact that if Dino and Perry are definitely male and female, if Perry becomes gravid too soon, she could easily die from complications.

Like Nikki (satomi) said, Ball Pythons are solitary animals, and do not "enjoy" each others company. An argument some people use is that they see them "cuddling", but that is not what they are doing. They are actually competing for the same resources, which is stressful for them, and a stressed snake gets sick much more easily.

Just some things to think about and consider. Keep us updated on the wound and vet visit please!

[Tekko]

If you use neosporin avoid the one with pain killers in them. Since the chemicals are tailored for humans it tend to not play nice with biochemistry of other species.