My python is about 9-10 months old and 3 feet long. Just recently a larger- small rat attacked him after he went for the rat. the rat kept biting his back. luckily my snake knows the top of the box is always open, so he shot straight up out the box once the rat was attacking him. nearly 4 weeks have gone by since then, and he will not even eat a small mouse. not only, but tonight he shed, and from the looks of the scars now on his back, some spots are red and missing scales. i was told that these would heal after he shed. but that seems to be false. is there anything i can do to aid him so he heals? or are these scars now permanant ?
2006-11-29 17:53:28 · 15 answers · asked by Kyle G 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
I never said I "let this happen" to my ball so stop accusing me of this. in fact, i love my python and it was shocking for me to see this happen. Not only, but it was real fast, the rat just started attacking and proceeded biting while my python was shooting out of the box. Secondly, the scars/bites did not look that bad after a week, he just shed, and now they look bad. I did take him to a vet and they just told me to keep him moist and use neosporin. And i have tried dead rats / frozen, and he shows no intrest at all (yes for at least 4 hours he was in there and he was next to me all the time) ALso, this did not change his temperment at all. In fact he is very happy when i pick him up and he proceeds to rub his head on my cheeks. Anyways, thank you for the responses. Any more feedback i will appreciate it.
2006-12-01 17:14:06 · update #1
It may take more than one shed for the redness to go away. You can apply neosporin to promote the healing if it appear still to be a bit raw. I have not had a snake have a animal bite, but my sand boa got out of her cage via the slats of the grate that was over her cage. She nicked up her back all the way down her spine. It took at least 3 sheds before it looked better. Now you can't even tell she was injured. She has more lives than a cat having managed to escape from every cage I have put her in. We finally have the present aquarium barricaded so she can not do it again.
As for feeding live food, it is best to do the pre killed food, but contrary to what some of the people have said on this list, it is not always possible to get them to switch over. One of my two ball pythons never would no matter how long I left him with out food. Starving the animal to get it to switch isn't a good method either.
Just make sure you stay around while they are eating. Having the lid open as you did gave your snake an escape route which he was smart enough to use.
I am trying to get two finicky snakes to eat right now. One is roaming around on top of her cage instead of eating . Silly snake
2006-11-30 06:17:54 · answer #1 · answered by Ruairi 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately, sometimes it's unhealthy to feed a larger snake several small meals, and they may not accept them if they are frozen. The fact is though, it's always a possibility when feeding a live mouse/rat to a snake, that it will defend itself. This isn't good, and can harm the snake, get infected, etc. It's always best to stun or terminate the rat before feeding. My ball is about 4.5ft long, and is a complete mouse trap when feeding. As soon as the meal is in it's feeding container, it goes straight after it. However, I feed her one large rat every two to three weeks, and will at the very least stun it before feeding. Is it nice? Is it humane? Probably not, but my snake needs to eat, and it's higher on the food chain. Not to mention, that's what the rat was bred for :)
2016-03-13 00:55:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As everyone else said, you should take your snake to a vet immediately. Hopefully you will be able to get the snake to switch over to dead mice/rats. If you do not have any stores in the area that you can get frozen ones from then look on-line and order them through a reptile page.
2006-12-01 15:04:14 · answer #3 · answered by Nadia G 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ok.... first on live feeding.... i have 11 ball pythons ( getting into breeding them) and i feed all of them live prey. But, i also keep a good eye on them when i feed. For being only 9 or 10 months, 3 ft. seems big. for the scar... use a triple antibiotic like neosporen.... it will help with the healing.... only feed ur snake a prey that is no larger then the widest part of its body.. it might take a few sheds for it to heal, and look better . for the scars being permanant...i hate to say it but yes it will be... it will look better with time, but will never be back to normal.
2006-12-01 09:46:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like one tough rat to me. Sounds to me like you need to get the snake trained in self defense.
2006-11-30 05:35:33 · answer #5 · answered by Mister R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a dog and cat vet, but I think your best bet would be to take your snake to a vet who specializes in exotics. If he's not eating normally, and his skin looks odd to you, you should have him seen by a vet who knows about snakes.
Good luck!
2006-11-29 18:00:30 · answer #6 · answered by PennyPoodle 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is why it is recommend never to feed live food, and simple research would have told you this. Negligence is all this is. The reason your snake won't touch food now is because he's terrified and who can blame him?
Immediately STOP offering live food. Give your snake frozen/thawed now and never feed live again. Wait a week and do NOT handle the snake at all. Place it in a small dark container with a DEAD prey item and leave it well alone for several hours so the snake can eat in its own time.
Why did you not also take this animal to the vet at once? Are you telling me you left him for FOUR weeks before wondering if his scars will become permanent? I am inclined to agree with the person above, you should not be in charge of an exotic animal. Shame on you. Take that animal to a vet NOW and get some common sense.
EDIT: Poutypitbull - you can't make a fresh kill? Then you should not have a snake. If you can't kill the mouse, you put your snake in great danger. That is a highly irresponsible thing to say and obviously owning a snake is not for you. You should make yourself do it for the snake's sake.
Also - a mouse can't hurt a ball python? That's complete rubbish. A mouse can and will kill a BP.
2006-11-30 04:15:03 · answer #7 · answered by Jason 3 · 2⤊ 3⤋
First off for the person who says this is impossible...GET A CLUE. Can this happen? Yes. Should this happen? No. And as for the ones who are saying DON'T EVER FEED LIVE...you can't always get f/t from the pet store which means you have to do a fresh kill and a lot of people can't do that. (I'm one of them.) And to whoever mentioned live pinkies... a 3' ball??? Do you even own a ball python??? You would have to feed the poor snake like 15 pinkies at a time. If you want to feed rats, feed f/t. If you have to feed live, stick with mice. They can still bite and scratch but it really doesn't hurt a Ball. My Ball is 3.5' and she gets 2 lg mice a week. She is very healthy. The trick is to get her hunting around a bit with scenting, so as soon as they are in the tank, she's on them! I was considering switching to rats but I like how she is doing being a mouser! As for the wounds, I hate how everyone always says "Take it to the vet." I mean if it is in need of stitches, (which I highly doubt) of course take it in but if it is minor, just treat the wound like you would if it were on you. Keep it clean and dry. Polysporin should be safe for it. Not 100% on that but you could CALL the vet. They won't charge for that!!! Good Luck hope your snake is feeling better.
2006-11-30 05:36:29 · answer #8 · answered by poutypitbull 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Firstly- Is the snake in obvious pain? Moving unusually or not at all? Balling strangely? If yes, go to your exotics vet speedy quick. Those may be signs of serious muscular or skeletal damage.
Think about how long it takes you to heal from what sound like fairly major injuries. For example, a bad car wreck. It takes a long time. The snake will take even longer. Also, the scales may not grow back, if the scar tissue is especially bad. The red is most likely raw wounds.
About the feeding- How long since he fed? Snakes (Balls in particular) can go for long periods without eating. Force feeding is not a good plan. It distresses the snake, and it will probably regurgitate anyway.
In the future (Say this one with me) WE WILL NEVER LIVE FEED. The danger to your reptile of just this happening is to great. At three feet long, live pinkies or maybe MAYBE a small mouse would be acceptable, but not as a regular feeding program.
If your snake doesn't feed, there are some things you can try. My last ball was a finicky eater too, but heating the food to roughly body temp (I used the microwave oven) or covering it in warm chicken broth can help. Depending on your feed setup and the reptile's docility and comfort levels with you, long forceps can be used to move the rodent, imitating its motions were it alive.
Best wishes to your snake, and let's try to avoid a repeat of his, shall we?
2006-11-30 04:06:07 · answer #9 · answered by pixel_seamstress 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is exactly why I don't feed my snakes live food. I would take him to a vet that specializes in exotics and don't feed your snake live anymore. The same thing happened to a buddy of mine and he wound up having to force feed his snake, only to have it die later. Sorry :(
2006-11-29 23:32:38 · answer #10 · answered by Michelle 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋