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Yesterday I fed my 4' Leucistic rat snake a med size live rat. She has never had a problem, got bit or anything negative in the several years I have owned her. The rat was on the large size and it took here about 30 min to get it down. Well tonight I smell something funky coming from her cage so I wearily approach. I find he regergitated the rat, and has a swollen neck. I was running out the door when I first saw it, and she wasn't moving and in an odd pose so I assumed she perished. I got home and she is alive and about 75% of her normally fiesty self. Her neck is about double its normal girth and is swollen right at the base of the jaw. She did get bit by the rat yesterday, the spot of that is about 2" down her side. It is not swollen at all in that area, but I assume it is possibly that it is the cause. I opened her mouth, and she has some blood inside her mouth. I assume it could be from the regergitation, it appeared recent (hours), but the swelling disconcerns me.
I do not know about the vets in town here. I saw what I was told was 'the best herp vet' in town years ago for a dragon, and the guy was clueless. If anyone can help here itwould be greatly appreciated. I will seek out one of my breeder freinds tomorrow, but if I need to do something tonight to help it would be great.
Sorry for the long post. I"ll try and get a picture to help show what happened.

Alright I have some pics. I'll post them in this thread as replies, if I can.

This is the bite. Its on her flank just below half way up. Nothing major.

This is inside, you can see two spots of blood. There is some on her body too, that is from her mouth.

THis is another of her open mouth

THis is just a shot to show the swelling

here swollen throat.

first off, get the snake to the vet. The bite is too far away from the swelling to cause it in the neck. Looks like possible blood pooling in the tissue, could be caused by another bite inside the mouth. The blood inside the mouth looks pretty fresh, not old, so there is a chance your snake got bit in the back of the mouth. It could be a ruptured blood vessel. Take it in to have it checked out by the vet. Rodent bites can be very nasty, as they are a puncture wound and have a much higher chance of becoming infected. If it were my snake, I would not take any chances. You caused the wound, it is your responsibility to get it fixed, period, no matter how much it costs.

Second, hopefully this will be a lesson for you as not to feed live prey. Especially rats!! Rats have huge incisors that can inflict some very serious damage, even death to a snake.

So for your snakes sake, get it to the vet, and think about feeding F/T!

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1.0 Corn snake
1.0 Black rat snake
1.0 Albino Black rat snake
1.0 Everglades rat snake
0.1 Yellow rat snake
1.1 California king snake
1.0 Prairie king snake
0.1 Black king snake

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

I do know that I should feed frozen, and I do a lot of the time. I talked to a buddy of mine that has been breeding snakes for 10 years or more and he said that it looks exactly like a strained or torn esophagus. The vet that he sees is coming over tomorrow (mobile vet). He said that it really looks totally unrelated to the bite and is probably that something went wrong when she was swollowing and caused the strain. He said it happened to him one time, just on a kind of freak thing.
Hopefully that is what it is and the antibiotics will do the trick...
I did watch when she killed the rat and she definitely wasn't bit inside her mouth. It was that one spot and only for a very short time.
Thanks for the replies.

I know that this can be a touchy subject, but if feeding live is the only option then grab the mouse/rat by the tail and give it good hard wack on a hard surface. Make sure that the head gets the point of impact. I used to do this, but now have become quite efficient with severing the spinal column in a speedy manner. Hopefully no one will be offended by this, but if you’re going to feed live prey, I for one would rather be knocked out or paralyzed, than being suffocated along with my skeletal system being crushed slowly and more intensely every time I expelled my last few breaths. -Brett

I too would "prekill" my mice before I fed them to my snakes. The only things I feed live are pinks and fuzzies, and that is only if a snake hasnt been converted to F/T. My prairie king still will not take F/T, thank goodness he is still small enough that he still requires pinks. Once he gets some size on him he should make the switch easily enough.

>>I know that this can be a touchy subject, but if feeding live is the only option then grab the mouse/rat by the tail and give it good hard wack on a hard surface. Make sure that the head gets the point of impact. I used to do this, but now have become quite efficient with severing the spinal column in a speedy manner. Hopefully no one will be offended by this, but if you’re going to feed live prey, I for one would rather be knocked out or paralyzed, than being suffocated along with my skeletal system being crushed slowly and more intensely every time I expelled my last few breaths. -Brett

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1.0 Corn snake
1.0 Black rat snake
1.0 Albino Black rat snake
1.0 Everglades rat snake
0.1 Yellow rat snake
1.1 California king snake
1.0 Prairie king snake
0.1 Black king snake

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

First off, I'm assuming you fed the snake live prey as dead mice lack the ability to bite...

I strongly disagree with live feedings for these types of things are bound to happen sonner or later...also it helps to keep the snake somewhat more aggressive.

Anyway...as for your snake...offer her water, and a few hiding spots. Do not handle her unless absolutely necessary. The jaw is swollen from the bite, it will heal with time. She is probably having trouble breathing so if you can...raise the temperature in the tank a few degrees and it should help...give it a couple days...if things start to get much worse, call a vet...no matter how dumb they are, they can still get in contact with someone who knows better...just be very inquisitive.

GOOD LUCK
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Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
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"Call a vet, no matter how dumb they are....................... "

Truer words were never spoken. Avoid at all costs. If you really must, ask the local zoo for their input, which isn't worth much either.

Keep the animal on newspaper with hide box and wait. Hopefully it works out OK.

Good luck,

Mike

NYC, NY