My snake had a run in with its food please help...

[junglejim83]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the site. I have a 7 year old Rosy Boa(30 in long), well the other day o went out and bought its typical meal two feeder mice. I started feeding her live ones b/c the pet store by me school does not sell frozen ones. I know i should have fed her dead or killed them first but she has taken care of them with out issue. WELL, i screwed up big this time, she didnt eat them and i wasnt around to take them out in time. The did a pretty good job on her. Her tail is pretty raw, no actual chunks taken out, but most of the scales on the tip of her tail are gone and she's alittle scrached up the next few inches above. I spoke to my friend here at the UPenn vet school and he said that it only takes a break of the skin for them to turn septic really quickly and he said she will most likely die really slowly. He said to give her a chance cover any raw areas with neosporin regularly. He said i could take her to a vet and the would probably say the same thing and then give her an antibiotic shot that probably wouldnt help much. Anyone who has dealt with this situation PLEASE let me know if its worth taking her to the vet or not, if it will help the situation significantly i will do so. Is the situation really that grave???

[Alicewave]

Good to know you realized you messed up but you shouldn't have let it get that far. Never feed live if you can help it, and ALWAYS watch the entire feeding with live. If you can't, take it out and feed it when you have more time to watch the whole thing. That said, without seeing a picture, get it to a vet ASAP. Something like that...vet first, forums afterwards.

[Gregg M]

You can use triple antibiotic ointment....... I doubt the snake will die as a result....... I have caught snakes with the tail cut or bitten off all the way up to the vent and they seemed to heal fine out in the wild with no help from people....... I think your friend needs to study alittle more........ It is not that big of a deal and happens offten in a captive situation when people feed live....... You can also do what Vic said before you but the antibiotic ointment on....... Your snake will be fine......

[BWSmith]

First thing is to get it off the sand. Get it in a sterile environment. i am dealing with a similar rescue at the moment. Someone decided to yank the shed off a Sinaloan Milk's tail.
http://photo.reptilehaven.net/albums/albut50/szBW_028.jpg
http://photo.reptilehaven.net/albums/albut50/szBW_027.jpg
(pics taken by JuliusSqueezer at www.reptilehaven.net)

Cleaned the wound. Constant neosporin, raw tupperware enclosure with newspaper substrate and a hide. A regiment of Baytril. That was what I did. He has improved a little, but he main thing is that he has not gotten worse and he has eaten for me. He is in the blue right now so we will see how that goes.

It just goes to show you that a rodent can do alot of damage really quickly. I am however irritated that you knew you should be whacking them and you didn't. Particularly when feeding two. That takes alot out of a snake. But I digress. You sought help, even if it was after the fact, and are trying to do what is best for the snake. Mistakes happen. So be it. There are enough threads about the evils of live food where many a herper has been chastized. I think I am safe in assuming that from now on you will be feeding dead preay and preaching the gospel of it to other keepers. Good luck with the little sand sniffer ;)

[makeajazznoise]

as someone mentioned... always watch the entire feeding when live... and *especially* (no-one has mentioned this) dont put in 2 live at a time (ESPECIALLY if yer gonna walk away!). Theres been some good advice offered in this string - I hope you take it.

[Bryce Masuk]

I would follow what every one has said kill them the best method for mice i find is to pin there neck flat down to a hard surface and yank the tail toward the head this will give a quick and painless death and use tongs to feed the snake or completely leave it alone in the tank with the snake and it will gladly eat it if its shy

[snake_girl]

If the Tail does turn into an infection, which is shouldn't if you fallow the other peoples advise, take it back to the vet first, but go out and buy some Betadine. this stuff works wonders on cleaning the wound and healing it up nicely. it did a great job on my BP with scale rott. you can even buy it now to help keep it clean.

I hope from now on you'll feed pre-killed.

Grace

[reptilesalonica]

First thing u must do is put antiseptic ointment to the wounds, put only clean newspaper at the bottom of the terrarium, switch off any heat pads (u don't want to burn it's tail more) and provide steady heat to 28 Celsius from above. Put a small bowl of water to reduce humidity and periodicaly change the antiseptic ointment. Of course -needles to say- we never should leave any live feeder animal alone with the snakes. Good luck
~Greg~

[Emily-Fisher]

Ouch! That looks painful :( If your petstore doesn't sell dead or frozen mice, just buy live and kill them yourself at home. Grab the mouse by the tail and whack 'em really hard against the edge of an aquarium. Instant, instant death- no pain at all. I'm sorry about what happened and I hope that she recovers well...in the meantime, take everyone else's advice...it all sounds right :) Good luck and I hope it doesnt happen again :( Poor snake :(