Cleaning snake

[Elmo]

This may seem like a strange request but i fed my ball last night and he completetly gutted the mouse. The enclosure and the snake are bothe covered in blood. I cleaned the enclosure with no problems but I want to clean the blook off my snake, how do i do it?

Two other questions?

When i check my snake i never get to check its mouth, should i be checking it? What is a safe way to open it?

I also never see my snake bathing.....EVER..... is there something wrong?

[Rosy-enthusiast]

Well, I have never seen a snake gut the mouse until theres blood everywhere. Just give it a bath in some luke warm water and wipe him down a bit and dry him off and put him back in. You can look in there mouths by kinda lifting the side of the lip (thats what I do) but im not sure if u can actually get them to open it fully. Thats fine, your snake probably does it when your sleeping or when your away. Its no problem.

[Elmo]

thanks man, what temp should the water be. He is only 4 months old and i dont want to alarm the snake. I think he put a lacaration in the snake at the stomach and when he constricted it blood poured out.

[thunder]

Don't bath him. Just get a washcloth wet with lukewarm water and wipe the blood off. As far as opening the mouth all the way (not just the lip) I generally use an index card on a small snake. However, you shouldn't need to check in his mouth on a regular basis, only if you have a reason to believe he may be injured or sick.

[deborahbroadus]

thanks man, what temp should the water be. He is only 4 months old and i dont want to alarm the snake. I think he put a lacaration in the snake at the stomach and when he constricted it blood poured out.

What were you feeding it? I don't know of any small mouse that can do that kind of damage, you are speaking of blood POURING. :jawdrop: I am confused is it the snake's blood or the mouse's?

[Elmo]

WOAH!!

Sorry, that was a typo!! I mean a lacaration in the mouse and blood sprayed everywhere!!

[sapphire_moon]

i had it happen when I had my bp's, not pretty.

You can either use lukewarm water, or a warm wet cloth.

[deborahbroadus]

WOAH!!

Sorry, that was a typo!! I mean a lacaration in the mouse and blood sprayed everywhere!!

Whew!! Ok, no harm, no foul. :groove:

[thunder]

Yeah, it happens every now and then that the prey ruptures, especially food that has been frozen. Ball pythons are very powerful constrictors. Also, if the meal is fairly small, sometimes the snake just exerts to much force and pops it. Or the teeth rip the prey more than usual.

[End Times]

I recently had one of my balls do the same thing but with a f/t rat. And the blood PUMPED out of it! I'm not very squeemish, but this was one of the sickest things I've ever seen! What a mess!