Thank you for your feedback! I have already aired out the enclosure and am playing around with the humidity to get it right for a black house snake, around 80%. I currently have driftwood and some cork being sanitized in the oven. The hottest part is under the paper towels, in a place where the snake should not be able to get to. The hottest part of the warm side is ~88, and the cool side is 78. I also have some fake vines, I got them from a past bearded dragon owner, so I’m just going to sanitize it with some chlorexidine.
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That’s great! But 80 percent humidity is still too high……
For all the sources I’ve gone through that speak of specifically black house snakes, the best humidity is from 75-85%. @kabre , is that true?
Again, thank you for your advice!
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They are a humidity loving species, yeah! From what I’ve seen, the 75% is ideal.
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Ok i guess my humidity research has led me astray! 75 percent it is 
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Thank ya’ll so much!
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So, news: I got my snake. The next morning he was gone - he got through a hole smaller than the size of a pencil. So I searched my entire house, laid out hides with brained pinkies and heating pads, I thought I removed all of my family’s insect glue traps, and I set alarms for dusk and dawn to check the house. I came in at dusk with a flashlight, started searching, and found my baby in a glue trap. We used vegetable oil to get him off, but it still pulled off a section of his scales. It’s not bad, and it didn’t bleed, but I feel horrible. I’m using a diluted iodine to clean it and antibiotics daily. Should I do anything else? I’ve moved him to a much more secure area and sanitized everything he’s touching.
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Oh no! Snakes are very, very good escape artists. I’m sorry this happened.
Make sure he’s on clean paper towels for now so nothing gets stuck to the area. You can still give him a bunch of crumpled paper towels or clean fake plants to hide and feel comfortable in.
How are you giving antibiotics? Did he go to a vet to have it prescribed?
If this is an ointment, you want to use very little. Just enough to dab the area the scales are missing and that’s it. Because of the jelly ingredients it can actually damage healthy scales on snakes if you use too much. Also make sure it has absolutely no painkillers for humans added to it
It will take a while for the scales to grow in since they will need to shed out to heal. He may start going into shed very soon. It’s a bit of a immediate response to damage if the injury is large enough. If that’s the case you should be able to ease off the treatment but keep him off loose substrate until it looks better. (Maybe a couple more sheds)
Ahhh, I’m so sorry your baby gave you such a scare! Baby housies in particular are notorious for being little Houdinis. Glad you found him so quickly, even if the method was painful.
@armiyana has given you great advice here. I’d also encourage keeping handling to an absolute minimum until he recovers, and then maybe for a bit after that – no doubt he’s had a scare too, and young housies are jumpy little things.
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Thank you for your advice! I am using pain-killer-free triple antibiotics. He’s in a new temporary enclosure with paper towels, hides, etc. He’s sleeping under the paper towels right now. To apply antibiotics, I’m cleaning the wound with a diluted iodine, wiping it gently, and dabbing on a bit of the antibiotic cream. There is a picture of this morning, since then the wound has turned less pink and more grey, and has stopped producing any liquid (it was leaking a clear liquid). I don’t think the skin was too damaged, thank god. He’s brand new, so I do feel bad about handling so often to clean the wound - I was planning to leave him be for a week, but I cannot take him to a vet, so I can’t let the wound be infected. How do I tell if he’s going into the shed, and what do I need to prepare for that? Is it just a humid hide?
Poor buddy has not had a few good days, between shipping, a new place, and the injury. Also, I was wondering, should I clean the remaining oil off his scales? I’ve wiped him down with a paper towel but was nervous to do much more. I did make sure there wasn’t any oil around/in his nostrils, and there wasn’t, thank goodness.
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I actually can’t believe he got out. There was no hole larger than a pencil, and he’s tiny, but looks much larger than the holes. Little escape artist. There’s a photo of the new enclosure - I am filling with clutter right after posting this.
Oh, poor little guy. That raw patch looks sore. Definitely keep him in the sterile tupperware while he heals up.
You’ll be able to tell if he’s about to shed if his eyes go milky blue-grey and kind of opaque. Shed will happen a few days after that, after they’ve gone clear again. He may have a difficult time shedding around the injury, so be sure to keep his humidity nice and high.
I salute you for taking such diligent care of him.
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If you put a bit of vitamin E oil on the spot it will make healing faster. My reptile vet has recommended this in the past………
That wound definitely looks pretty rough……
Thank you all so much for your help. I have no idea what I’m doing, but the wound looks a bit better? The poor guy also didn’t seem as stressed when cleaning it today (looser coils, slower movements, etc.). I need to drill more holes in his temp enclosure, because when I woke up today, the humidity was at 99%. Nowhere is wet, and my hydrometer is accurate. Do you all know if being at that high humidity for a short time would have harmed him?
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The downside with the location and the injury is that this could take a good amount of time to scale over properly or scar. It’s not a great candidate for surgical glue or stitches I would think because of the location, but I could absolutely be wrong. I know the last injury I saw like this was left to heal on its own by the vet.
It does look better. I can see the scales around the area are also looking a bit rough. You’re doing what you can. But the real test will be when this baby sheds. If any of the other scales in that area start to pull off or the skin is just stuck to that area I would take him to the vet.
If any weeping or swelling happens anywhere on that area that is also a 
go to vet.
I really am rooting for your little guy tho! I had a rescue snake with a lot of skin loss from a burn and it took a while for him to heal, but it is possible. Even with just soaks and some ointment. My vet didn’t want to risk more injury and stress with antibiotic injections unless absolutely necessary.
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Just out of curiosity, what would stitches/surgical glue do? The wound never bled, so would you use glue as a protective layer?
Thank you so much. I really hope the lil guy gets better. There was some weeping on that area right after it happened, but it stopped by the next morning, is that alright?
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Also, I just wanted to thank everybody again. The MorphMarket community is so kind and helpful, ya’ll are making this horrible thing so much better.
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The glue or stitches may potentially keep the area from additional damage or an infection because the skin would be protected by the scales. But I don’t know if the benefits are really worth that much at the moment. You found and treated him almost immediately and he’s in a clean hospital setup.
It could also make the scar pinch that area a little too much. Leaving it open can still do that or it may just make a crust patch of scarred skin over it and leave the tension the way it is
I forgot to mention earlier, when you go to feed him I would go with smaller meals if possible. I don’t know what size feeders you have access to. That should keep from tugging at the area when the skin stretches. You may want to do a slightly more often feeding schedule like every 5 instead of 7 since it would be small meals. That would reduce the risk of regurge from eating more than one prey at a time.
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Thank you. I’m currently feeding pinky mice, I’m going to feed in a couple of days. I know he hasn’t fed for a bit over a week, due to shipping, but I would like to let the wound heal a couple more days before doing anything. I don’t have access to anything smaller.
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