Unbelievable what they try to squeeze through [Slightly graphic]

[Tsubaki]

This surprised me a lot, a snake squeezed himself between the ceiling and RHP and barely escaped death.. Let me first tell you why I never expected this to have any chance at all of happening. Several snakes have lived in this enclosure, the RHP in question has been placed like this with all those snakes. Even smaller snakes very quickly gave up trying because they had no grip on the plate and the gap was very small. The snake in question (Hiro, Genetic stripe Superdwarf) had been in the enclosure for about a month, without any issues as well. And his head definitely was several times thicker than the gap. Here is a picture of the actual gap.

As you can see, I can't even fit my fingertip through even while trying to wriggle them in there.


This is the snake in question, his head is visually much thicker and wider than my finger.. I would have said there is NO WAY he could do anything with that gap. And I still can't really grasp how he managed to do what he did.




I was checking on my snakes, I usually check the SD's lasts because they're up a bit higher than the rest. I saw something strange from the corner of my eye, all the branches were knocked over and I saw Hiro hanging from the RHP. I was taking pictures of my freshly shed red-tail, and I quickly took a picture of what I saw.. Not really realising what was going on yet, quickly put the boa back in his enclosure (and my phone with him apparently).. I rushed over to Hiro.. His body was completely limp and he was not breathing. His body contorted and squished in between the RHP edge and the ceiling, his mouth slightly open and tongue out though that is hard to see on the picture. I was just stunned, How? How did that happen? I snapped out a second later of it, then I noticed he wasn't dead yet! I'm not sure if I actually saw that or if it was wishful thinking on my end, but either way I assured myself he was not dead!



The RHP was fixed to the ceiling really well, no way the snakes could ever get them off. This unfortunately also meant I had no way to get it off easily! I would have to detach it from the top, where it's bolted. No time for that! Using all my strength I shoved the tips of my fingers in between the RHP and the ceiling using a screwdriver, and ended up hanging on it with my entire body weight (Hurting my fingertips but at that time I really did not notice). I could feel the metal starting to bend and the gap increasing bit by bit, after a few seconds of trying to jerk it down I heard a loud and creepily deep gasp as Hiro came back to life! It took him a few deep breaths to start moving again and he managed to crawl on top of the RHP completely. This allowed me to detach it from the ceiling.. The RHP came down quickly. He was still a bit in shock and I took a minute to breathe myself. What a nightmare! I went to take my phone back from Lucifer and took a picture of him still laying on top of the RHP in a bit of a daze, his body was twice as thick as the place he was trying to squeeze into... The raised edge is what got him stuck, there was only a 4mm gap. Could already see his body swelling up and some scale damage, I decided to give him a minute before picking him up though.



I checked the initial damage, The skin seemed to be intact but there was quite a lot of swelling and it seemed really sore. His scales dented inwards to the point you could see the skin underneath, and there was some bruise forming. At this time I decided to call my vet, she asked me if he was was still limp or unresponsive in places. (Asked me to pinch his tail on several places that weren't injured). But thankfully he wasn't, if anything he just seemed really sore. She told me to clean it and to keep an eye on certain things like the swelling and types of discolouration, colour of his gums and other things. Chances are he may have broken a rib or two, but there isn't really much you can do about that besides wait and see. She said to not feed him for at least 2 weeks, and start with a small meal and see how he takes it.



The swelling stayed for a while, but it did slowly decrease thankfully. His scales were bruised on multiple places, on his back he had a few scraped and folded scales as well but noting a few sheds wouldn't clear up. He had 2 spots on his neck that worried me, the main bruise where the swelling was, and some scraped irritated scales where his neck had been stuck as he ran out of breath. He was acting normal again, being annoyed at not being allowed to explore my bed.



After a few hours the swelling had gone down, his scales slowly started to get back into place. Everything seemed to slowly come back to normal. I had repaired the things I broke in his enclosure, and sealed the edges with a waterproof sealant so there is 0 gap left. He stayed in a tub until I deemed him good enough to go back in his enclosure.

This picture was taken the next morning if i remember correctly. Looking a lot better!




Kept a close eye on him and he seemed to be doing quite well especially given the circumstances. He went into shed and gave me a nice full shed which fixed a lot of the minor scale issues. You can still see where the damage was, because the scales are much whiter on that spot. (Out of room for pictures in this post, see next post)

[Tsubaki]

After that shed it had been long enough and I decided to see if he wanted some food, he grabbed the small rat and ate it like nothing ever happened. He is still digesting at this point and has gone back into shed, but I suspect after next shed he will look normal again. I'm posting this more as a heads-up than anything else, I have been keeping snakes for the better part of 17 years and they can STILL surprise me. And don't think that because a smaller snake decides it won't fit into something, a bigger snake will also not fit. Because snakes defy reality!! If I had not noticed him getting stuck like that, I would have most definitely walked in on a dead snake in a very gruesome way. Hiro was lucky, I was lucky.. I Immediately also sealed his neighbours Lyras RHP even though she's twice his size. Anything smaller than 12ft got sealant on their RHP's! It's been a while now and I'm still shocked..

[Jim Smith]

Very interesting and informative story. I'm so glad that it has a happy ending and that you were able to share it with us (especially the photos). I never would have thought that your snake could have squeezed himself into that tiny opening. This should be a good lesson for all of us to be very careful with our enclosures, and to be prepared for the unexpected events that will happen when we least expect them. Thanks again for sharing this.

[Tsubaki]

Thanks Jim, that's why I decided to share this story. They can do the most unbelievable things.. I didn't think he could either!

[EL Ziggy]

I agree with Jim. Thanks for sharing this important lesson Tsu. I'm ordering RHPs with my new enclosures and will make sure to seal any gaps. I'm really glad Hiro wasn't seriously hurt. He looks amazing btw.

[Tsubaki]

Thanks Ziggy, and that sounds like a good idea!

[trailblazer295]

I'm really glad mine happen to be flush with the tops of the cage so there isn't any gaps. Be terrible thing to walk in on too late.

Bad boy Hiro bad boy

[akane]

Every time you think they securely can't get themselves into or out of anythings.... I will keep this is in mind because I was going to put items into the ceilings of one cage for double stacks and there are structures on every wall of the room I can use that I may need to redirect through the cage with some cover (outlets, air vents...).

[bigsnakegirl785]

So glad he's ok! I think I caught the tail end of it when you mentioned it in the chat. I saw the pictures but couldn't scroll up that far. XD Snakes can truly be amazing in the worst possible ways sometimes. haha

[Tsubaki]

Yeah I wasn't really impressed with him being amazing at that moment.. But I'm really glad he's ok as well! Thanks everyone, glad it was a useful read for some.

[SnoopySnake]

Wow, good you found him when you did...... My SD retic did something similar, I had him in a tub with an RHP and he managed to get his whole body wedged in between the lid and RHP. That was the end of his RHP.......lol

[Tsubaki]

Well RIP RHP, little Hiro had no chance to win against this RHP though!

[richardhind]

So pleased the story ended well tsubaki,it would of been an unbelievable shame to loose a snake that stunning,that's for sure