Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new baby is on antibiotics for a respiratory tract infection. I have to give her intramuscular injections which obviously she does not enjoy. She is not very tame since I just got her. It is pretty obvious that P. regius has some capacity for memory and I was wondering if my new snake is going to hate me because she associates me with painful shots and otherwise unpleasant things. My other snake is very tame and I figured that is because he knows I'm not going to do anything to hurt him from experience. The only experience the new snake has with me is nasty things like being in the car, going to the vet, having her mouth pried open, and getting jabbed with hypodermic needles. She doesn't hiss or try to bite but I have to give her four more injections of antibiotics and one of worm medication and I'm afraid she'll get touchy by the time I'm done. Would others who've had to give their snakes shots give me opinions and share their experiences please?

They remember for a while but soon forget.
Good luck with the shots!

Any suggestions on injecting a snake by myself? I live alone and my friends who are in the local area are afraid of snakes. She is only about two feet long but like I said not very tame I want her to get better but I really don't want to be bitten or hurt her

It is pretty hard to do by yourself.
I always tried to have someone help hold mine.

I've never had a snake try to bite while I was giving it shots, I think that they usually don't associate a needle stick with a predator attack, and so the defensive response isn't elicited. I'm sure there are exceptions though. I've also never had a snake not like me after giving it medical treatment. They're not dumb, but their little brains work differently from ours. But like the other poster, I've never done injections by myself. I'd almost want to recommend a restraining tube, just to keep the snake in place for the shot.

I always have to do it by myself. I've found that if you put tour fingers from the hand you are holding it with to one side of the head the snake will curl his neck around it, moving his head to that side, leaving a clear shot on the other side
just me smooth, and quick.
Oh, and if you peirce the skin and the snake pulls away, go in a different spot not too near it, or the meds will leak out the first hole!

Be sure to handle the snake at other times, so he doesnt associate being held with shots or feeding, or he may end up being a biter.

Best of luck,
gratefulFred
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GratefulFred

I had to give 2 of my boas shots. They had to get shots every 3 days for a little over a month. They were friendly and giving the shots was no problem. Neither one of them ever associated me with pain or anything like that, they were as friendly as ever. Ball pyhons are probably the second "tamest" snake species behind corn snakes, so I would say your BP will be fine. Just give it a little time to calm down and it will be tame.

Snakes are pretty low on the emotional complexity ladder/totem pole. In fact, I would make an educated guess that snakes do not experience emotions, only sensations like pain and something that could be comparable to contentment- not pleasure, just satisfactory.

As for snakes "knowing" things, this also is a bit of a stretch, but that's just me being anal rententive about word choice and too many psych classes.

All the bps I've injected have never bitten me, and have never displayed defensive behavior during or after the treatment.

If you need help, I would suggest pleading to your mom or a mom you know and trust. The only way my mom would let me bring a snake home is when it needed 24 hr care. Moms generally have a soft spot for sick things, use this to your advantage .

Best of luck, I hope your snake makes a quick recovery. -Whit

Unfortunately my mom lives 300 miles away (grad student here, not little kid) but fortunately I have a freind who is a vet tech who offered to help I wasn't saying anything about snake emotions when I said "hate me" I was thinking more on the lines of the snake is smart enough to associate me with getting jabbed just like most snakes know they're getting fed when they go in thier tubs or boxes.

You can put her in a snake bag or pillow case and only take out the bottom half of her body so that she does not struggle as much and you won't get bitten. I have given my balls shots before though and they have never bitten me or even seemed to mind the shot at all. I have had to open my males mouth and give him oral medication to and he has never tried to bite. Good luck and I hope she gets better soon. I am glad to see that you took her to the vet and have her started on the road to recovery. :0)

Thanks for all the input from everybody She was breathing normally the day after the vet gave her the first shot. I gave her the second on Saturday. She wouldn't unball but I could get the relevent piece of snake. Unfortunately I didn't do a great job so I don't know how effective it was. Is it ok to inject when they are balled? She now will not let me pick her up at all. She used to just ball up now she lashes around and frantically tries to escape. No biting yet but she coils her neck back. My friend is helping me with her today. I should have mentioned originally that I've only had her a week and she is not tame at all. I feel bad about having to do unpleasant things to her, she is so pretty and it makes me feel bad because my male is so tame and sweet in a reptilian way. I had no trouble taming him and he was bold to start with. I don't like it when she lashes around because I'm afraid she'll hurt herself. I never handle her expect to medicate and/or soak her. Right now she's in my office awaiting her shot, hopefully it goes a bit better.