Retic Self Harming

[PsychoSnake]

I discovered upon feeding my Mango that she has some cuts on the top of her head. It's got to be from the lid on her tub. She's becoming quite the pusher and I think she's been trying to force the lid off her tub to escape. :(

FYI, the rat is small because she got several of them. She was very happy about that.

[FWK]

Take a lighter to the edges of the little structural tabs on the bottom of the lid. Melting them just a tad will make the plastic bead, dulling the edges by eliminating angles and maximizing surface area.

[MDT]

They push like crazy. Sometimes it's because they're too warm....sometimes too cool. Sometimes not enough hides. Sometimes enclosure too big. Or too small. Sometimes they push because they're hungry...sometimes, they just push. Out of my 3, one just pushes all the time. She has a swollen upper lip about 50% of the time no matter what I do. The other two, kept in exactly the same manner don't push a bit.

[PsychoSnake]

Thanks FWK!

MDT, yes, they are quite the poopheads.

[IW17]

Yep mine has a swollen lip at the moment as he stares me down while I type

[wendhend]

Yeah, this is unfortunately common thing that retics do! Such beautiful snakes, and then they go and mutilate their own faces! I've owned a couple of them that gave themselves permanent facial scarring by doing the nose rubbing thing. :(

[PsychoSnake]

Melting the plastic didn't work so well. It was still quite sharp and I'm trying to prevent her from cutting her head. She completed shed last night and I caught her at it again. This time I've taped some cotton balls to the indents in the lid so hopefully she'll at least be forcing her head against something soft. The little brat is out and about right now.

[SnakeAddiction]

I would take the tape off immediately because it can get stuck to her and cause scales to be pulled off. Get sand paper and lightly soften the edges if melting didn't work. Perhaps another melt session is in order. It usually does the trick.

[Tsubaki]

never put tape inside! it's going to get stuck on the animal, if it does you could pull scales off trying to get it off.

[PsychoSnake]

Okay guys calm down. The masking tape is just for last night and today. I plan on feeding her today and that will relax her. I know the risks with tape and removing scales and underlying skin. I was very careful with the application and knew it was only going to be there for a few days at most. Her head was all red last night from the pushing and it freaked me out. She was so determined last night! As of this morning she is okay and resting. If I get to feeding her before she usually becomes active all the better. This will buy me time for her next round of self harming.

The cotton balls gave me an idea. I am going to attempt to crochet a stuffer to the inside inlay of the lid and secure it to the inner tabs by drilling a hole in them and threading yarn through it to tie it in place. The stuffer, made from super bulky yarn, should prevent her from being able to use her head as a wedge and her neck as a crank in the corners of her tub.

Really I think the permanent solution is she needs a new (bigger) enclosure. But that is not something I can get quickly right now.

[IW17]

Why not just use clear silicone? Apply it to all the sharp edges, smooth it out, and once it dries no more problems.

[PsychoSnake]

Why not just use clear silicone? Apply it to all the sharp edges, smooth it out, and once it dries no more problems.
I might do that later. I did crochet a cushion that is held in place by tension for the little beast. I crocheted it because I had it on hand already and it doesn't take very long. When she first saw it she was quite puzzled by it.

[PsychoSnake]

Update on the little princess: in addition to her crocheted lid stuffer I went and applied the silicone to the corners. I'm cleaning her tub more often and making sure she's not just hungry and looking for food.

Yes she is determined to get out at times. She now has a scab on top of her head and a few small ones behind her lower labial heat pits. I treated the injuries with diluted povidone iodine so hopefully she won't develop any nasty infections.