I figured I might as well make a thread for ease of following my little guy’s healing progress. This is also here in the hopes that no one makes the same mistake I did; so really make sure your safety cages are properly secured, and check on them from time to time!
He was found burnt quite badly on 08/12/19, lots of fresh open wounds and overall a very unhappy noodle.
Here are some of the wounds, freshly made that night:
Along with some blisters and some less severe surface burns.
For the following night the only treatment available to us was for a bathe, and the application of a burn ointment known as Savlon (it seemed to do the trick for the following two days of its use, however have now discontinued).
He was moved to a sterile setup, where monitoring his progress is made a bit easier.
A trip to the vet 3 days later (11/12/19), as soon as I could have booked it: we got some iodine, Metacam and Flamazine (silver sulfadiazine)
And of course a slightly hefty bill…
Feeding was attempted that day, but that was the last thing on his mind. He’s due a feed so I am concerned for his weight, but another attempt will be made in a few days.
Seeing the size I would not be concern and would not attempt again before 7 to 10 days, treatment will be stressful enough that he will probably not eat for a while, if he does fine but it’s not a big deal if he does not at this point.
Yeah he’s a healthy weight at the moment for sure, I’ll be watching it though. The painkillers I’m administering call for it to be given with food… But seeing as he’s a reptile, it’s not quite as simple. I’ll try next week, that’ll leave him almost 3 weeks off a meal
His wounds are looking much cleaner, and far less fleshy. I’m quite confident they’re starting to heal nicely and the dead scales are coming off.
He absolutely hated his oral painkiller, drooled a lot, seemed like he was trying to spit it back up.
Snakes, even young ones, can go a long while without food. My female, Bellatrix was a very difficult snake to get to feed for a while. Her breeders never told me she wasn’t eating well until after I got her. She went a solid 2 months without eating one time, and was about 90 grams at nearly 1 year of age. She still had enough meat on her bones to not be skin and bones, and was still alert. I got her to finally start eating after giving her some live mice. She now takes frozen thawed rats and is up to 200 grams at a little over a year of age. Small, but a healthy weight given her size.
With all that in mind, even if he gets a little on the thin side, he should still be fine. If he doesn’t want to eat frozen thawed and it is making you worry that much, try a live mouse. I recommend stunning the mouse before giving them to your snake to keep him from getting bitten. I have noticed with my snakes, live rats never trigger the same feeding response live mice do (might be because rats are nowhere near as skittish as mice). So if I am ever having really bad feeding issues, I always use a mouse.
Live feeding is illegal in the UK so I try to avoid it as much as possible, although the wellbeing of my snakes will probably come before the law in future. Bellatrix sounds very small for a yearling, but I’m happy she’s feeding and looks well!
At her age the “normal” weight is around 250 grams, sometimes 300 if they were larger as a baby. She is getting bigger with every feeding so she should be up to size in no time.
I find it strange that live feeding is illegal there, since some snakes adamantly refuse dead prey. What happens if a snake never eats frozen thawed? Do you just have to feed in secret or are there exceptions?
@ashleyraeanne I’m not sure how it works here really, I’ve been quite fortunate to have young snakes that I can immediately get on f/t. But for those not as lucky, I’m sure they just go ahead with live anyways.
The reason it’s illegal here is because the Animal Welfare Act (2006) states that you can’t cause any suffering on animals, with the exception of invertebrates. And somewhere else in the welfare act it mentions that exposure to a predator is not a humane euthanisation method for vertebrates.
If you get caught feeding live you could face anything between a £50 fine and a 10 year ban on keeping animals.
Another day, some more treatment (12/12/19). I opted out of giving him the oral painkillers, seeing as his response to them yesterday wasn’t the best.
I’ve noticed a few more smaller blisters come up recently, and there’s some spots of blood dotted under his scales. Anyone know what it could be?
I’m quite pleased with his progress still, here’s a look at him during his bath yesterday (14/12/19), you can faintly see the dotting of blood under his scales… Still not sure what it is.
While it doesn’t look infected, it still looks a lot bloodier than the rest of his wounds. I’ve managed to book in with a specialist vet who should know what’s up.
Anyways here’s a look at how good his scabs are looking!:
I approve and agree with all the actions you are taking to treat him but other than needing to handle him to treat his burns I hope you don’t do extensive handling? If so it would greatly put his wounds at greater risk to split open and not heal
I don’t touch him at all until its time to treat his wounds, the most I do is lift his hide to check out how his injuries are doing. Im as careful as I can be but he does end up with split scabs sometimes.
Aaand a vet update as of today (17/12/19) the reptile specialist has decided that antibiotics would be the appropriate treatment now, and so he’ll be getting his shots every 3 days! He took his first shot like a champ
I’m a little concerned for his injuries today, they look a lot redder around the sides and darker in the middle where the burn is worst. He fortunately still seems lively, and I’ll take that as a good sign.
They look more scabbed over and crusty so that’s a good sign. I’d say just keep doing what your doing and take him to a vet. Even though it’s red it seems to be scabbing.
He went to a vet just two days ago, only recently prescribed some antibiotic shots.
I’m wondering if bathing every other day in iodine should be done daily? And silver sulfadiazine only applied every other day? Since currently the routine is bathe every other day, and apply the ointment daily.
I’ll say this much… seeing where this snake started, and where it stands today you’ve done a great job helping it recover. I’ve been following this thread for a while now, and very glad to see the progress being made. Unfortunately with reptiles the healing process is very slow. Stay the course with treatment. Keep her on clean paper towels still so it keeps the area clean, and she will continue healing the way she has been for you. I also 2nd applying the cream everyday. It really does wonders. I’ve used it twice for motorcycle exhaust burns I got from my bike. Amazing stuff keep up the great work .
