Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My ball python was attacked by a rat he was bitten several times on his back with a couple of good size chucks taken out ho him one down to the meat what should I do and what should I put on his wounds

any pics of the bites?

If it's really bad, I'd get it to the vet for some antibiotics.

I just went through the same thing, only my snake got bit in the head. No chunks taken out, but there was a lot of blood loss!

See post below, and pictures would help.

Good Luck!
Ken
-----

0.1 Mojave Ball Python (Mitena)
1.0 Spider Ball Python (Sarki)
0.1 Pastel Ball Python (Panthea)
0.1 100% Het Albino Ball Python (Hazina Adamma)
1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)

1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)


www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

I would put triple antibiotic (neosporin) on the wounds for now and then get him to a vet asap.

Man, thats the second thread about a python attacked by a rat in the last 24 hours. I hope everything turns out OK for your snake. Man, defintely going to feed my guy f/t.

Accidents like this is why snake keepers always push feeding fresh killed or frozen thawed whenever possible. There is always a chance the rat can get a bite in before the snake can constrict it.

For those few snakes I have who refuse to eat anything but live, I keep pliers handy, so if the rat isn't' grabbed right by the snake I have something to shove down its mouth (the rat that is) before he can do much damage. Or just pinch its nose. Really amazing how fast a rat will let go if you pinch its nose hard with a pair of needle nose pliers.

As for what to do with the injured snake. Neosporin and switch the substrate to clean paper towel (if not already). Take him to a vet as soon as you can. Deep wounds can fester fast and you also want a vet to make sure nothing major was damaged.
-----
PHLdyPayne

I beleive my arwen was bitten by a feeder as well before he came to me. He has numerous scars behind his head in the neck area. I tend to beleive that they are from rodents because his strikes always land on the butt area, and it leaves plenty of room for a rat to turn and bite. I feed pre killed and I am lucky in that he is a pig and is always looking for his next meal.
-----
This is courage.. to bear unflinching what heaven sends. -unknown

2.0 chocolate lab (Harley) and basset (Capone)
0.1 leopard gecko (Nacho)
1.0 Normal ball python (Arwen)
1.0 pastel ball python (Merlin)
0.1 Spider ball python (Rogue)
1.0 Normal ball (Arwen)

feed frozen or pre killed, this snake was brought to me, the owner left a live rat in over night, animal had to be put down by vet,

mine looks nothing like that also he wont eat pre killed i have tryed

Depending on the size of the python, you could feed it a few mice in the place of one rat. They can still bite the snake but as long as they aren't left in with the snake overnight and the snake is monitored while it's feeding, the injuries caused by the mice are not nearly as bad as those by rats.

I agree feed f/t or p/k when ever possible . But if you have to feed live don’t leave un attended and keep something handy to put in the rodents mouth for it to bite instead of your reptile . David

You can clean the wounds with a small drop of hydrogen peroxide, rinse it out of the wound with clean water, damp it dry with clean cloth, and then dab on a small bit of triple antibiotic neosporin. Do this 2-3 times a day an keep a close eye on it, if you notice swelling or puss I would recommend taking it to the vet.

For future note get a pair of feeding tongs when you feed live use the tongs to guide the rat close to the snake but still far enough a way that the snake can make the call if he wants to visit with the rat or not and then when the snake strikes put the tongs by the head of the rat so that the rat bites on to the tongs. You don't need to break the things nose with a pair of pliers. Also keep an eye on the back legs of the rat as they are the rats secondary defense it never hurts to hold those down as well.

I hope this helps.

Matt

first i'd like to start by saying this is super sad to read especially when we invest so much time and money into our snakes for something like this to happen.

second: call me inhumane but i "knock" my rats out before i offer them to any of my snakes. no matter how big the snake is no matter how comfortable i am of the snake making a good kill.
i do this to avoid this whole entire situation.

We herpers invest waaay too much money for something like this to happen.
I hope your snake and ocballs's snake recover completely.
-----
-----
"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

Bill Cosby

WHAT I GOT!
------------
2.1 Pastels
1.1 YB's
0.1 Normal BP

I will tell you... this is the worst. Not only for the snake but also for us animal lovers. I pride myself on taking very good care of all of my animals. But I learned a very valuable lesson a few years ago. My normally very aggressive male albino ball decided that he didn't want to eat right away. Well I went upstairs for 3 HOURS... that is it and when I came back down what I found was absolutely stomach turning... The rat chewed him up... I am talking about 2/3 of his body was chewed and in some spots his spine was showing... Well I rinsed his wounds daily and put antibiotic ointment on every day. I also cleaned his cage atleast once or twice a day and placed new paper towel in there each time... Well that was almost 3 years ago and he is now doing great... He is around 800 gms and hopefully will be a daddy this year... He has been breeding like a champ. These animals can take a lot of trauma and recover with nothing more than some scars and we get the mental scars of what we did. So I recommend frozen thawed or prekilled as often as possible. If not then watch until that rodent is killed by your animal.... Good Luck.....

First things first if the wounds are bad, the snake needs to see a vet. I know everyone likes to save money be foregoing the vet visit if possible, but I've seen some "at home" treatments turn out worse for the animal. That said, if the wounds aren't too bad, here's what we usually do at the clinic I work at when we see chewed up snakes...

Clean the area first with water and a mild soap (we use a chlorohexidine scrub type soap). Dry the wounds. Pack the chewed up area with sugar. Just plain jane sugar that you buy at the store for your baking purposes (usually everyone has this already, but it's not expensive at all). Now comes the hard part...wrap the area up and leave it over night. With dogs and cats this is easy, but with snakes can prove a little tricky. We use a slightly tacky ace bandage type material called Vet Wrap that seems to work pretty well. You might check with your local vet or pet supply store to see if they carry anything like it. Now the next day you'll need to unwrap the wounds and perform "hydrotherapy" on them. This amounts to nothing more that rinsing the wound with warm water for about 15 minutes. The spray hose on your kitchen sink is excellent for this, but use what you have and make sure you get it good and washed out. Dry the area and then repeat with the packing/wraping/leave overnight.

I know this seems kinda weird and most of the staff at the clinic thought so too when the Dr first started trying it. However, I've seen some pretty gnarly degloving injuries heal incredibly fast compared to more traditional treatments. This technique also has worked to heal the couple of chewed up snakes we've seen lately. It may take a little more time daily than simply dabbing a little antibiotic ointment on it, but it's probably worth it if your injuries are severe enough.

Hope it helps.
Dan
-----
1.0.0 Snow Corn - RIP
0.1.0 Normal Corn Snake
1.0.0 Amelanistic Corn Snake
1.1.0 Black Racers
0.1.0 Normal Ball Python
1.0.0 Pastel Ball Python
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider