Caution to some of my fellow snake keepers

[Jim Smith]

Like many people here, I like to keep my snakes in "display" cages with several hides and plastic plants etc. In one of my cages for one of my female BRBs, I had plastic plants that were like a vine with plastic chain links about 1/2 x 1 long used to connect sections of the vine together. I would wrap the vine around part of a hide to give the snake more privacy. I was on a business trip this week, but before I went, I made sure that all the water bowls were cleaned with fresh water and that my "babies" had been fed. About two days into my trip, I called my wife to check in and chat and she mentioned that she found an odd looking "deposit" in one of the cages. She described it to me over the phone and it sounded like a partially digested rat, but did not smell very badly so I didn't think it was a regurged rat which would have really concerned me. When I got home, I noticed that the snake had done a lot of rearranging the hides, etc. (I call it gardening), but this was a bit excessive. When I took her out, I quickly saw that she had somehow managed to get her head through one of these links and work it about 1/3 that way down her body where it got stuck, constricting her. This snake is a yearling BRB, large enough to eat small rats, so I couldn't imagine this being a risk to her. I quickly removed the constricting plastic chain link from her and other than a few scales looking a bit dented she is fine. I then removed and threw away all of the plastic vine plants. I wanted to post this so that other people who may be using similarly constructed plastic plants to take them out of their enclosures and dispose of them. This is one of those hidden hazards that when they pop up, you ask yourself why you didn't see that risk before you almost had a tragedy. I hope that this posting helps someone prevent just such a tragedy.

[kudzu]

That is quite sad, but thank you for sharing.

[ClockwerkBonnet]

Man, I'm glad the snake survived the incident. I've never kept vines in my reptile cages, but I suppose I should consider thinking of the risks if I ever buy such herbs.

[phenyx]

Glad to hear your snake is ok! Do you still have the offending vines? Could you post pictures of them? I'm having trouble picturing what you're talking about.

[craigafrechette]

Awesome thread!!

First and foremost, I'm glad your snake is ok.

But also, thanks so much for bringing this to our attention. Hopefully this info prevents another disaster from occurring with sadder results.

I agree with phenyx, pics of the vines would help if you can.

Thanks again!

[kudzu]

Am fairly sure I know what Jim was describing. It is vine like greenery attached to plastic chain, sort of like this:

[Jim Smith]

Kudzu has the correct product. Interesting since he goes by the handle of Kudzu that he would know about vines

[ClockwerkBonnet]

Wow, those are really neat looking!

[kudzu]

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

... Interesting since he goes by the handle of Kudzu that he would know about vines

Yeah. There some distinct advantages to the plastic varieties, like not trying to swallow my house.

[Jim Smith]

Only someone who is familiar with Kudzu vine would understand how aggressive those vines are.