Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had my Nigrita out for some sunshine today, and after that I decided to let him crawl around a bit in what I thought would be a safe place of the house... Well, he somehow found a 1" by 0.75" hole that goes into the walls of the house to crawl into. I was keeping an eye on him, but the "Oh s***!" factor didn't kick in until he had gotten more than half his body in. I grabbed his body and just held onto it for about 10 minutes hoping he would give up and back out, but he just kept trying to work his body in further.

Eventually I decided to pull him out, which inevitably damaged his scales since the hole was smaller than his body. I did it as slowly and as carefully as I could, but I still had to pull pretty hard and I'm worried about the damage he may have incurred. A potentially injured snake is better than no snake at all, though. After I pulled him out, the half of his body he had gotten through the hole was extremely cold and covered in spider webs (I could feel a draft coming from the hole).

Anyway, I'm just curious if there's anything I can do to help his scales heal. They look pretty bad on the outside but I'm not sure how deep the damage goes. Also, are there other types of injuries I should look out for that can result from pulling a snake from a hole? I have a good reptile vet that he can see if he's showing signs of more extensive injuries. Here are some photos:

The hole:

Thanks in advance for any help.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

Nothing you are going to do about the scales now. They should return to normal with the next shed, if not then definitely by the second shed. Just keep an eye out for secondary infections that could affect the injured scale areas.

The only other concern with pulling a snake out of a hole is spinal cord injury. If you snake is moving/eating/constricting normally you should be fine.

Thanks for the reply! That's what I'm really worried about, injuries to the spinal cord since I had to pull him so hard. After I got him out he was pretty lethargic from the cold (the air coming from the hole felt like it was probably in the 50s) so I couldn't really tell if he was moving fine and everything. I just went and checked on him again and he's alert and seems to be moving fine, the only behavioral difference is that he hates me now (rattling his tail as soon as I opened his enclosure).
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

Nothing that time won't heal.
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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)