Maggots on decomposing rat.. Will it affect my retic?

[Squirtle]

First and foremost, I take the blame for the whole thing and will most certainly never do it again.

About 10 - 14 days ago, my retic was in shed. I thought I'd give him his second small rat ever while he was in shed since he always eats mice when he's in shed; thought it'll be no big deal. He struck at it once, didn't get it, and then gave up. So I thought I'd kill the rat for him and leave it in there for when he wants to eat it. Today, I go over to my friends house to check on my retic, and I found a disgusting decomposing rat FULL with maggots.. My retics aspen bedding looked like ocean waves because they were moving with maggots. Me and my friend thoroughly cleaned everything out and took about 2 hours disinfecting. I cleaned my retic off with warm water and he didn't seem to be affected by anything; I then proceeded to give him 2 mice and will try a small rat next week. My question is, will he be affected by anything that has happened? He looked fine to me with no maggots on him..


My retics staying at my friends house for a while and I have no clue how he didn't even notice this! If this isn't the right section, please move it towhere it'll be seen by a lot of people.


Sorry if this is long but I desperately need help!!

[infernalis]

No maggots will not affect your snake. Maggots will only consume dead materials, and completely ignore living tissues.

The most effective treatment ever for gangrene is to apply maggots to the wound, they consume all the dead tissue, and then the wound gets washed and covered.(just some trivia to erase your fears)

As for any other bacteria, as long as the snake is kept at the correct temperatures, it's own immune system will keep anything from developing from this.

Virtually ALL health issues with reptiles fall back to incorrect husbandry in the housing. Temperatures that do not support immunities and organ function stress the animal and it gets sick.

[ZStone]

It shouldnt, maggots tend to only bother rotting flesh. Unless your retic had a big nasty sore or bite from live prey I doubt they wantedy anything to do with him besides share a room for a little while. keep an eye on him to make sure but I'd say he's ok.

[DragonsEye]

How did your friend not notice the smell? Even a small decomposing mouse dead behind a wall can create a huge stink. A rotting rat in a room would produce a stench that would be obvious even with stuffed up sinuses. And for the rat to be that thoroughly maggot ridden, it would have had to been there for more than just a day or two.

[Revenant]

There are only a select few types of maggots that will go after healthy flesh. Spend some time volunteering at animal shelters and have fly strike nightmares forever (shudder).

The maggots were most likely just housefly maggots, and wouldn't be attracted to your snakes' flesh or able to liquefy and drink it as it was non-necrotic. You did the right thing washing him off just to be super safe.

I'd be most worried about the type of care my friend was providing. If he didn't notice a rotting, maggoty rat for two weeks it is hard to imagine he'd done any spot cleaning or watering in that same time frame.