Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this evening I dropped one of my bloods from about waist high. I was carrying him back to the snake room from the tub and I bumped his tail into something. Of course he latched onto me right on the knuckle and I dropped him. Thankfully it happened over the carpet and not on the tile, but should I be worried?
He's a little over five pounds and in his second year, so he's not really heavy but dropping him scared me. I felt all over him for about fifteen minutes (of course getting nailed again) and I didn't feel anything unusual or find any softspots. Should I get him ex-rayed or do you think he will be okay. Need some help.
-Bryce

Definitely not good for them to be dropped.. but I would just keep a close eye on him for awhile. If you notice anything out of the ordinary it might be time to take him to the vet. A drop from a couple feet up shouldn't really harm the animal too much.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Doing this to a hatchling on hard floor could be fatal though not suddently and not in all cases. If ribs are broken resulting in some hemorage, it could prove problematic. I had a pastel ball python escape on my a few years ago and while on a call with Kara Glasgow in my basement, her some rattle and thud. The snake was crawling on my water pipe and fell about 7ft with no problems.

See talking with other herpers brings you good luck. That snake was missing for three weeks!

Keep an eye on your snake. The carpeting helps a lot.
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Thanks for the advice/comments guys. He's my only Blood left and he is a bear to handle, but that's why I like him and I definitely want to be sure that he is healthy. I am very anal about my animals and they all get inspected from head to tail on cleaning day each week. My blood, "Slash" always keeps things interesting. I will keep a very close eye on him for a while and hope that everything is alright.
-Bryce

A friend of mine dropped one of my bloods a few years ago, and it was almost exactly the same size/age as yours, on berber carpet..he was completely fine.
Kim

I have kept a very close eye on him over the past few days and so far everything seems great. On a positive note this has made me handle him much more than normal and I think I may me able to tame him down if I keep up this routine. Hope so anyway. Thanks to all who replied, dropping him scared the poo out of me.
-Bryce

My blood has fallen off of my snake stick probably about 4 times from a few feet up...He always seems to be fine...Think about it this way, I'm sure wild snakes fall from things all the time...It doesn't kill them. I'm sure he's fine.