Injured banded water snake advice please?

Question

I got a call yesterday from a woman who had a banded watersnake caught in netting over her pond, managed to untangle it and get it home, put some gentimicin ointment on it and set it up in a very simple, very clean cage with a -small- water dish so it wouldn't be able to submerge (No bleeding wounds, but some oozy-looking spots and some gouges on it's head and some areas where it nearly rubbed it's scales off.

Anyone else deal with anything like this and have additional ideas or suggestions on rehabbing?

Not to worry, once I see that it's looking healed up and has a few decent meals, I'll be letting it go somewhere where hopefully it will never see a net again.

Answer 1

Sounds like a good setup to me. I doubt that it will take food for you. Watersnakes are generally not good in captivity and a w/c animal that's been injured will usually be too stressed to eat. If the injuries look fairly clean in a week or two, you can probably release it and it will be fine. Snakes are quite hardy and injuries to the skin rarely result in problems. Snakes in generaly can go quite a long time without food, so I wouldn't worry if it doesn't take any food. You might provide a warm basking spot for it to help heal the skin though. Be careful that it doesn't dry out too much. Watersnakes do spend much of their time in the water, and you don't want it getting dehydrated.

Answer 2

Sounds like the tissue on it's head is damaged quite possibly. Try feeding it minnows from a pond to help it get the nutrients it's probably used to getting. Also try to provide 12 hours daylight and 12 hours nightlight for it and try to keep the cage it's in temperatures around the 80's degrees. Let me know if this helps.

Answer 3

Sounds to me like you've got it covered.
I find that with most minor skin injuries, keeping the animal in a spotlessly clean environment for a few days is enough to keep the injuries from becoming infected, and they will most likely heal quickly.