Rat Bite

[keg_1981]

Hi all,
In 3 years of owning snakes I have never had a problem in feeding live until tonight. My femal red tail looks like she got a bite on the top of her head right near her mouth. I cleaned her up as much as she would let me and put some polysporin on it. I was thinking of using liquid skin but it look like the bleeding was stoping and i thought i would ask first. Is there anything else i can do for her.
Thanks all,
KEG

[Aaron_S]

Keep it clean. It'll heal up over the next few sheds. I recommend using paper towel or newspaper as bedding though. Don't want anything to get into it. Just keep the cage simple and sterile. Iodine could be used to I think. maybe someone else with more medical knowledge on animals can comment.

[keg_1981]

Do you think I should claen it and put some liquid skin on it to keep it clean?

[TailsW/Scales]

Do you think I should claen it and put some liquid skin on it to keep it clean?

No! Liquid skin is for human skin not a snakes.
Call your vet and see if you cannot get some Silvadene Cream .
Keep the wound clean and put that cream on once or twice a day. That will help to heal it up

Good luck

[The Snake Guru]

Definitely no on the Liquid Skin, it is basically a lesser form of super glue and should not be used on reptiles.

Neosporin or an equivalent type anti-bacterial ointment will work fine....may scar but snakes are rather tough individuals and it will heal up fine.

~B~

[keg_1981]

I never used the liquid skin, been checking on her, cant even tell were bite was. She is doing great. Thank you all.

[gonesnakee]

Keep it clean & polysporin works good for healing. The big concern is a secondary infection. At least it wasn't her eye or she would have been blinded. Personally I would switch them all to fresh killed or FT, why put your snakes at risk every feeding? You state "it looks like" so you didn't see it happen then? So it was left unattended with live prey? I sure hope not. Mark

[Raven22]

Well i have to say somethings. I wouldn't recomend an iodine solution, they require specific contact time between 2-5 mins. I know this cause i just finished the surgical preperations unit in my animal care course. Though i find the course lacking in herp care, its more focused on the warm blooded pets out there.

When applying the polysporn check the directions and ingrents frist. I dont know how often it is used in vet med so check and try and see if it might have anything thing that might hinder the healing of even make a snake ill. Also it might have recomended dosages, so youll have to check that to and adjust it if there wieghts involved.

Also feeding a snake live food is not risking its life. It is nature. It is the way things are suposed to be. Yes theyre are risks, regaurding bites and scrathes but those are usually a result from a snake not strangling it enough and wakes up while its being swollowed. And with proper care the wound inficted shouldnt be a problem either, as long as infection doesnt set it.

[gonesnakee]

Reality check LOL of course it is "natural" & when out in "nature" a snakes at risk everytime it eats or does anything for that matter. Feeding dead prey totally eliminates ANY & ALL risks involved with prey. Feeding live prey ALL the risks are there still. Ever have an older wildcaught snake in your collection? Ever see how many scars its packing? I guess not if you only keep a couple of lizards. I have some older female BPs here that were orginally WC & they all full of scars in their face & neck areas, big scars. Not too pretty. Why if the snake will take dead prey would you put it at risk unnessicarily every feeding? Convience? The thrill of the kill? It has ZERO benefit to the snake itself, just risks. Personally I eliminate all the possible risks I can, but hey to each their own. I'd rather not have any snakes with big a$$ scars or no eyeballs & go out of my way to prevent it. As far as it goes nothing to do with keeping snakes in captivity is "natural". Just my 2 cents. Mark
P.S. as far as Polysporin goes it is used by us snakekeepers all the time, it is a topical ointment there is no need to weigh anything for a dosage, just apply as required ;)

[The Snake Guru]

All I'm going to say is....it's actually more convienant to feed frozen thawed. The Live VS F/T debate could on forever....9/10s of my collection is on F/T I do have a few oddballs that won't take it but probably will eventually.

I think a lot of people forget snakes are natural born killers, and they are damn good at it.....the problem is in captivity if the snake isn't hungry, it feels no need to kill and that's when the tables turn, now you've got an uniterested snake trapped in a tiny box with no escape from a feaked out prey item that has the potential to do damage...worth the risk? Ehhh not in my book....monitored correctly I don't personally have a problem with live feeding, but when I end up having to feed live I'm sitting in a chair in front of the cage until the prey has been dispatched.

Anyway that is all I'm going to say on the subject.
~B~

[gonesnakee]

I too have a few in my collection that will not take FT etc. (wildcaught BPs) & their meals are always monitored. IMHO it is far less convient at feeding time than FT, plus keeping live mice for a snake is far more work than keeping the actual snake itself. The ones in the freezer don't need food & water everyday & I don't have to clean up after them either ;) Cheers Mark

[The Snake Guru]

That's the truth man! I hate hate keeping live stuff on hand....but you have to do what you have to do....luckily most of it is lizards and frogs for the picky Indo Tree Boa..LOL

~B~

[treeboa34]

yeah it is natural for them to eat live food but they are not in nature! In the wild most of their food escapes and has a chance to escape in a vivarium they do not! it is staged! IM sorry your snake got a bit its awful and you shouldnt go through that and im not preachin! There is also a chance of passing endo parasies to your beloved snakes so at the end of the day whats worse ? Vet bills! Worms? frozen defrost may seem unatural but your snake wont be disfigured or Killed by its own food! im only concerned about the snakes i do respect peoples opinions but in cases like this switch to defrost and cut out any pain suffered by both parties every one wins!It could have been worse like an eye or the throat something that couldnt have been treated so easily?