Hurt snake

[sclark]

Hey all,

I would like to first warn anyone that is too sensitive. I have pics attached here that are graphic and you may not want to see. So turn back now..

Steve

[Slither]

Re:Hurt snake

What pics? :P

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

OK folks, if your reading this far, I assume you want to know the story and see the pics.. And Chris, I will warn you this involves one of the sankes that came from you.. So even if you do look, don't allow your son to see them...

OK. I took in two rescues in on 6/17/03.. One male, one female. Female was about 7 foot, male is about 6 plus. Even know these two snakes were taken in as rescues. This is one case of the temperary owner was giving the wrong care infomation. Not an abuse. So Chris I do not blame you, and I hope you are not blaming yourself. Anyway. the male was real thin and under nourshied, the female was heavier in girth but abit under weight for her size. Both appeared slightly dehydrated. But both snakes were total sweethearts and strong. So everything looked good. They were moved up to bigger food items then they were getting in hopes to put some meat on them. Thei last feeding the male had a nice fat guiena pig to give some extra fat to his diet. He is doing great. Looks like he swallowed a football.. The female was given her first rabbit to gain some weight. It was a 4.5 approx. The girth of the rabbit streched out shouldn't have been any problem. She was fed a few days back, it took her 8 hours to swallow this rabbit. I know that is crazy slow, but since she is not used to food this big, I gave her all the time she needed.. Here is where the story begins..

After she got the rabbit down, she was returned to her cage to relax and get it all the way down. Since she still had the back feet out her mouth, I just moved the whole feed tank in her cage without the top on the feed tank. ABout two hours later Tara went in to check on her and noticed she regurged it back up.. Big mess according to her. the rabbit, lots of fluid, etc.. Yuck..

Well since this was all done in the feed bin, she just removed the snake from the bin, and took the bin outside to empty it and clean it.. One thing we always do with any snake that regurges is clean the mess and leave the snake 100% alone for 3 days. Thats what we did. Except for fresh water and poop cleanup, they are left alone and not disturbed. Nomally this has always worked well, except this time. By leaving her alone for 3 days, we were unable to see the damage that was done. I took her out today as planned and started to go outside when I noticed a weird wrinkle on her side just 2 inches behind her head. I figured it was just streched skin that didn't snap back yet, so I moved it a little to get the shock of my week. She had a split in her skin that started 2 inched behind the head and went for 8 inches back. this was on her side. It was deep, didn't know how deep, but it went beyond the outer skin. I seen ripped muscle as well. I went right back inside where I could see her better and put a flashlight on her. During this I noticed the same size tear on her other side, same place and same lenth. OK. I am freaking now. I have never seen this and no clue how it happened. I have dealt with cuts, peels, scratches, bits, etc but never seen one so deep. OK, this was getting my mnind racing, how did this happen. Never heard or seen a boa tear from eating, so that didn't make any sence, Looked the cage over again to see if there was anything that could have hurt and cut the boa.. Only tiny wood chips in the cage and a ceramic bowl. Check the bowl for cracks, etc. But that wouldn't have panned out anyway. Remember each side has an 8 inch split in the skin.. OK now I am bugging.. I call the local vets, no one is answering. the only one that did won't touch a snake.. $#^^%$#%^$#... OK, let me try and get ahold of some boa folks and see if they have any idea what to do.. Keep in mind, one thing I didn't mention was the one cut was all the way through. I can see the other side through the cut.. this is not good. I can treat it like a cut, but would that effect the throat since that is exposed.. OK I know when I am getting in too deep, momma didn't raise no fool..LOL Let me try to call some folks who take in snakes, maybe they have seen this. So I seen Cuda on line, called her, she was a bit baffiled like me. But we were on the same page, clean it, remove the healed skin, clean it again, find a way to close it, put some Neo on it and hope and pray.. OK, that is the plan, but let me see if I can get someone else thoughts, maybe someone who had more info on how to treat this.. I was lucky to bump into our own Xzylum and Bry in the chat room. I asked if they had and contacts with someone I could talk to about this. They suggested our own Eddie101. You know the guy who is always in chat, but never talks..LOL.. Go figure he would be a mountain on info.. Eddie you rock.. Eddie filled in blanks where my plans left off. I won;t get into all the details of what I had to do with her. But lets make it simple. She was taken out, both cuts were cleaned like crazy, removed all healed skin in hopes I could get the pieces to join again. Dab dried it, used surgical tape and made makeshift stiches, put some Neosporin on it, returned her to her cage without water, lower humidity and higher heat on paper only.. I can say one thing. that with all the messing around I did with her cuts, she only flintched, never once hissed or tried to bite. I wasn't sure before this, but if she makes it, she will be with me for the rest of her time..

I do think she will make it. She is strong and has a good will. She showed how strong she was a few times, but calmed back down fast..

Just wanted to thank Clay, Cuda, Xzylum, Bry and Eddie101.
Thanks for all your help..

Best regards
Steve

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

Another image
steve

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

Another
Steve

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

Last one.. Give her some good thoughts
Steve

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

I forgot to mention what we narrowed down as possible reasons for this..
Dehydration.. Although he has been soaked several times, humidity is 70% and he drink alot of water and showed no signs of it, it could have been a long term problem that made his skin brittle and able to split with the larger prey.

Another possible was suggested that the rabbits teeth could have grabbed going down, which is why he was so slow at eating.

The last possible Cuda suggested that maybe their were systs in his throat that when put under pressure popped like a zit..

I may never know, but I am sure gonna do everything i can for her..
Steve

[___LEE___]

Re:Hurt snake

sad to hear steve hope she does make it hate to hear a bad outcome over this.. did u ever find out what did it food or what?

[Red]

Re:Hurt snake

I've never had any thing big enug to feed rabbits to yet... But do you leave the claws on them... I mean it seems logical that the snake had a hard time getting it down for what ever reason and then threw it up.... right... Well if the claws are still in and it came back up backwords.. then may be they tore it on both sides right where the feet would be... Just a thought... Do both go all the way through or just one....??
Make sure you give this snakes some electrolytes so it stays hydrated.. got to be loosing alot of moister out of those holes....
That is just about the worst thing I have seen..... Welll not that bad but really bad.... yiks I would hate to be in your shoes man... I would be driving 200 miles to a vet that would see a boa....
Well good luck... She seems to be holding together well seems as she is nearly cut in two.... I hope she makes it.... Well good luck again...
Eric aka....Red

[Barracuda_41]

Re:Hurt snake

:'( :'( :'( Sooooo sorry to even see them pics steve, you know been doing some talking with JR and talked to a buddy of mine also and Red may be on to something here if she didnt have that when she ate and then did after she regurged then more likely it was the regurge that did it, im not sure but if the back feet splayed out on the way up then the nails could have caught and ripped thru. and the fact that she was so dry could have also contributed to this prob like Eddie said.. Also due to the lack of muscle tone from not eatting right all that time befour you got her and the way she was kept could all have contributed to this prob.. I think anyone that feeds rabbits should clip the nails off befour feeding, most the time JR and i take off the first part of the nails so there not so sharp.. Man i hope shes gona be ok and i pray she makes it.. :'( :'( :'(

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re:Hurt snake

OMG!!!!!!! I am so sorry Steve!!!!! I hope she makes it!!!! She will most definantly be in my thoughts these next few critical months!!!!! Good luck man!!!!!!

[ClayEnglish]

Re:Hurt snake

I just got off the phone with Steve, and to be honest I have not seen anything like this. Cuts are one thing but this is a tragic tear of the muscles and skin tissue.

I am sure the tissue had been weakened from the extremely long time during swallowing the rabbit, and if weakened already from malnutrition/dehydration then that period of extended stress could have caused this.

Steve has temporary bandaging in place until he can see the vet tomorrow, and it will take sutures to heal properly I'm sure.

Keep us posted Steve.

[bigmitch]

Re:Hurt snake

HOLY Poop!!!! I have never seen anything like that! God I work on ambulances as an EMT and this type of stuff doesn't usually bother me..Using my own medical knowledge of humans..what it looks like is a tear in the muscle and skin...It is not cyst..Cysts are usually very hard and usually won't pop..That poor guy!! I really don't know what could have caused it. I don't think it was from the rabbits teeth or claws..there sharp but, they wouldn't cut through the skin like that!! I have to agree I think this Boa was dehydrated and along with the stretching the tissue and muscle just gave way.. Steve good luck we will all be rooting for him..Keep us posted on his status... :-[

jAySoN

[XzyluM]

Re:Hurt snake

That really bites Steve. I'm sure you are doing everything you can to help and you are definately taking the right road. I hope she pulls through this.

[sclark]

Re:Hurt snake

Thanks gang.. Honestly as bad as it is, she is doing good. She has been relaxing from the cool side to the hot side. She is not jumpy when I reach in to pet her. The make shift bandages are holding well. I will be making a ton of calls tomorrow moring to try to get some of the local rescues and shelters to try and help with vet bills for her. I have no plans of just giving up on her as long as she is fighting I will too..

I did get a call back after I spoke to Clay on the phone. the call was from one of the local vets that will treat snakes. One of the two.. He did get me worried, not about if she can recover, but what he charges are for treating something like this. I do not want Tear to go to him, because I had bad luck with him and reptiles years back, and I know the female vet who is good is more expensive. I wouldn't be suprised if this treatment will run $400 for her if not more. So I am hopeful these rescues and SPCA will help out.

I will make sure to keep everyone posted.. And I am real thankful for all the help and kind words..

Thanks again
Steve