Rat Bite

[swingline76]

well i am a fairly new snake owner and would like a littel info if possible. I have a 5 year old Bull snake and for the first time he has been biiten by a medium Rat. I was curious as what i should do. anyone with any information for me i would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks

Swingline

[LPacker79]

Well.......stop feeding live prey for one....and post this thread in a different forum. This is the invert forum.

[Oliverian]

Yikes! Well, first of all, get him on frozen thawed rats as soon as possible. Live rodents can do a lot of damage, as you can see. I don't think most bullsnakes are too picky, so it shoudn't be too hard.

How serious is the bite? If it's worse than a minor flesh wound, i'd get him to a vet who would look at reptiles. If it's not too serious, make sure it's clean and keep it that way. I don't think it would hurt to put something on it, someone else on this site should be able to help you with just what.
The main thing is to get him on frozen thawed rats right away.

-TammyR

[Oliverian]

That's helpful, Leanne..

-TammyR

[Matt_K]

Is there any particular reason as to why you're feeding live??? If not, or if it's just for the 'thrill' of the 'hunt' i would suggest feeding f/t or f/k..

[MouseKilla]

I'll let other people beat you up about feeding live in the first place, more of us did it that way at one time or another than will likely admit to it. The important thing is that you learn from this and switch to dead prey as of now.

Unfortunately a bite taken by one of my snakes is what it took for me to recognize the dangers of feeding live prey. Snakes kill rodents, I reasoned, screw what other people thought about it. Then it happened, the snake got the rat by the tail and the rat bit the snake on his back. The sight of my snake bleeding was a wake up call, why would I let that happen?

The good news is that bulls, Pits in general, eat well and should convert to dead prey very easily. Get a pair of bbq tongs and dangle the dead rat in front of the snake, I'd put money on him taking it within 20 seconds.

[Simon Sansom]

Get that bite tended to immediately - rat bites can become infected very quickly.

And get the snake off live food as soon as possible.

Good luck.

Simon R. Sansom

[sapphire_moon]

if you want to put something on it try neosporin non medicated original. There is something else as well, specificly for reptiles, but I'm not sure of the name of it.
I use original neosporin for all my animals, and even used it for my rabbits eye infection at one time. Works great. If it is bad, find a good reptile vet.

Goodluck and keep us updated......


P.S yes I feed live, but if you feed live, feed live responsibly! Feed live restrained.

[mattoxcw]

Neosporin is definately what should be used. It will keep everything cleaned out. Make sure you keep the wound clean. If it starts to swell or puss up, definately contact a vet.