So… Was supposed to be leaving early for a concert when I decided to peek at the Retics before I left.
You know those little twist on vents for the side of the enclosures? They are now a big DO NOT RECOMMENDED FOR SNAKES.
I don’t know how she did it. All I know is now she’s a mess from me having to fight her back through the hole. It was also not smooth. It had ridges for cable management if you had anything inside the cage like probes or whatever. I had to force her back through it because she still has a huge lump from the meal she had Friday.
She was then immediately taken out and moved to a room she cannot get out of if she tries to Houdini again…and hopefully calming down in a small for her but heated tub in a dark room. I’m currently typing this from the passenger seat on the way to the venue so I won’t have more photos til later. I had my partner snap one while wrestling her so I can bring this up with the manufacturer. =\
She’s obviously a very light colored snake being a white albino…so she’s probably going to look worse than she really is. My plan is to give her most of tonight to rest (aside from a quick check in when I get home). Tomorrow I’m going to give her a soak with some chlorhex I have on hand. Then continue to monitor her for any swelling or wounds. A quick peek while getting her into the tub just looks like irritated scales and red friction welts for now.
Anyone have any other advice in the meantime? Obviously we’ll be switching her up to a cage with sealed in and immobile vents from now on. We’ll be on alert in case she does worsen or become lethargic so she can be whisked away to the vet.
I’m still frustrated with myself for not thinking that vent would be an issue. It also put my roomie’s 2 new kittens at risk since they were out and about before I saw this. But mostly wanted to post as a adrenaline dump and warning in case anyone has something similar.
Ah I understand, no intentions to shame any company. Just curious about it so I’ll know what to look out for but I think this info alone should be sufficient.
I’ll just avoid the enclosures that have those types of vents lol.
(Edit): Hope your Retic turns out ok! I’ve seen a few rare unfortunate instances where snakes will get stuck in less than adequately designed enclosures and lose their lives because of it
But from the looks of it and the description hopefully its nothing more than maybe a light scale abrasion/irritation that’ll heal up well with the chlorhex treatment and a shed.
The only advice I can really give from experience is to take her to a vet for antibiotics if the wound gets worse just to prevent an infection from forming
One of my Kingsnakes got a mild injury on a rock hide that I hadn’t noticed had a sharp protruding spot on the inner bottom lip, had to take her to the vet for oral liquid antibiotics but she healed up amazingly it looks like nothing ever happened to her. Felt horrible for it but it happens sometimes, maybe you could find some sort of sealant that’ll keep the vent from coming out?
Dang, I’m so sorry that you and your snake are dealing with this! Hope that you were able to set the worry aside and enjoy your concert. So glad that you saw your not-so-smooth criminal before you left this evening! That had to be a heart stopping moment.
I know that you’ll take good care of her and will do what she needs for healing. Hugs and prayers.
I saw her body going up along the inside before realizing what happened. So the heart stopper moment was leaning in to get a better look at what happened and coming just short of a faceful of fangs.
The “WTF?!?” I yelped as I leaned back again got my partner and roommate to drop everything and see what happened though.
Concert was actually really fun! It helps knowing that the worst trouble she can get into at the moment is being locked in a room no one else will go into and maybe eat a couple rats if she figured out the tubs.
I just think she’ll spend the time sulking for now though. She got upset once because she dropped her rat in her water dish. She’s probably just going to sit for a while and blame me.
Golly, that facefull of fangs must have been a shock! I’m sure I would have fallen over backwards. I’m glad you had a good time at the concert. Live music is a special thing, for sure.
Don’t you love it when even the animals think everything is your fault? Story of my life.
Definitly let the cage builder know. They can’t improve the process if they do not know there is an issue and sorry to hear about your situation, hope the snake makes a full recovery.
Already shot off a message to them. I haven’t heard back yet.
On the plus side … This girl is thankfully looking a bit better than she did last night but still will probably go through one of those stress/injury shed cycles. This is the worst spot that I see at the moment, but she’s in a pissy mood and I don’t wanna wrestle with her for the moment while she’s feeling owwies.
Poor girl! Sorry this happened, but glad that the injury doesn’t look too bad, and that you caught and remedied the situation before she got loose in the house.
I’ll admit, I always wondered a bit about those vents. It just never looked like the greatest design for an enclosure for an escape-prone animal with a talent for squeezing through round holes. But I also kinda figured they must be secure if so many people were using them with no apparent issues (that I’d heard about…until now). So thanks for sharing this story. I’ll definitely avoid that vent design when I buy my boa’s adult enclosure.
I’ll post this so you know exactly the kind of thing I had the issue with. They’re actually referred to as grommets. But I figured since I covered most of the screen lid I would leave the six openings exposed for a little more air pass through.
I suppose if you wanna make things permanent and glue them in, but otherwise be careful of you noodles somehow figuring them out.
