Regurgitated meal causes skin damage.

[Bjorn]

I am interested to know if any one has experienced skin damage (acid burns) to their snake, following a regurgitation. I have a rather long article on the subject with pictures that I would like to refer readers to if I may.

From what we have established the acid levels in a snakes rise rapidly after a meal to a Ph of 1.5 (battery acid is 1.0). If a snake can digest whole prey,
bones, hair and all, the stomach acid, must surely be capable of severe damage to its own skin should it come into contact with this acid.

I my case the snake regurgitated 3 days after the meal so acid levels would have been at full strength. This resulted in major skin damage and the loss of one of the two Buremese that where housed together (bad practice - lesson 1).

One Canadian reader on another Forum had the same problem with exact same oiliness followed by a heavy shed but none of the severe after effects we experienced.

I am sure it was acid related but the question is why so few instances have been reported. Was I just unlucky, that the regurgitation took place 3 days after a meal, whereas normally it would occurr within the first day or even hours of the meal??

Why was the damage that occurred, mainly on the side of the snake?

In retrospect the soap used was not ideal, but at the time we needed something to get the heavy oily mess off the snakes. We did rinse them well and initailly used the garden hose to rinse them down, followed by a warm bath and final rinse in fresh water. What would be a better soap and acid neutralizer??

Hope to gain some assistance on these issues and that the subject matter is if general interest.

[dr del]

OMG!!


That is one sad article man. I'm sorry that that happened to you and your snakes.

He seems to be healing well at least - has his temper improved any?

The side damage only also confused me but I wonder if it could be because the belly scales and skin are a little more robust by design as they constantly run along the ground? How it got there was probably the snakes rubbing against one another or squeezing it against the wall **ick**.

I don't think anyone can really be expected to prepare for something as unusual as this though so don't beat yourself up or anything. Only things I can think of if your worried about it happening again is some kind of raised area ( like a metal mesh shelf kind of thing) where it can "drip dry" the worst of it off. Seems the oilyness would make that only partially effective at best though.

Your tip on the quality of the food item is a good idea though and if the rodent was "force fed" to get it nice and fat then, nutrition wise, it probably isnt a healthy mix long term anyway.

I havent heard of any other cases of this kind of thing happening but maybe ,as you say, the fact it was well into the digestion process or maybe the sheer volume produced is the reason it went so badly for you. It might even be the rats themselves (composition of body or stomach contents reacting with the acids)??

Sadly I have no idea on the best cleaning process but if the inital exposure had already affected the skin it might be hard to judge any alkali mix well enough for it not to simply burn the snake again . Gut instinct says soap and lots and lots of water were probably the best idea without a chemist on standby.

Hope he heals fully for you and stops biting


dr del

[piranhaking]

Well, in our highschool chemistry lab, whenever we worked with acids, we always kept baking soda around. Im not sure how well that would work for a snake, but i would think a paste of baking soda and water left one for a short time then rinsed off, and maybe repeated a few times. I have no idea about if there would be any problem with the baking soda on the snake.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I've seen it happen.

-adam

[sweety314]

It's possible that the damage wasn't JUST from the stomach acid....Your pic labeled "28 days" looks exactly like Snoopy's belly did, and SHE had a pseudomonis bacterial infection causing the scales and skin to die and slough off.


Almost any base (like baking soda) would be good, and esp the b. soda, shouldn't hurt the snake.

Soooo sorry to hear that this happened!! Is it possible that since the rats were SO FAT, that feeding four was just TOO MUCH FOOD?? TOO BIG of a meal???? Or maybe the snake got too cold for a short time and the food started rotting in its gut?


Hope he continues to heal for you!!!

[Schlyne]

Wow. What a shame you had to go through this, but thanks for sharing.

[recycling goddess]

I've seen it happen.

-adam

any chance you might share a little about your experience of what you saw happen?

[Bjorn]

Thanks for the comments and ideas. Much appreciated.

Dr Del,
Temprament is a bit better than before the incident, but he is now permanently hungry. Always waiting for the next meal.

Sweet314,
You could be right as the Albino did not make it. So maybe the rats where infected in some way, but still think the acid created the opening for the bacteria.

The meal was not too big for the snake, he puts this away regularly, although not such fat rats as on this occasion. The rats where already +_ 50% digested after the three days. He has gobbled down meduim sized rabbits and a few ducks in his time.

Temps were fine . They spend most of their time in the middle of the enclosure and park off under the light after a meal.

Adman,
Would also appreciate your more detailed comments, when you have the time. Not sure you where agreeing with the previous post or that something similar has happended to you?


Anyway thanks all for the input.

[PJ FF]

I noticed yesterday when I was at PHS, a Speckled (sp) rattle snake had regurged its meal. And the reason I say the specific name is because with it being venomous, the venom would probably also hurt the skin in this specific case.