Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, here's the story. My baby female tiger only eats live right now. That's what she was already started on and she won't even look at dead so that's what I have to give her for now. It's a pain in the ass and I hate feeding live. She's the only snake I have that I feed live to because I have no other choice. Just thought I'd get that out of the way because I know there will be more people itching to talk about that than to tell me how serious the bite she got yesterday is. Here's the real issue: I was feeding her yesterday and she got bit in the side of her neck, like 4 or 5 inches down from her head. There was a noticeable bump on her after she swallowed it. I've been putting Neosporin on the bite area for the last 2 days, 3 times a day to at least keep it clean and hope the antibiotic part keeps out infection. I was just rubbing it and it's gone down alot but you can still fell it. It's a little lump under her skin and it's darker, like a bruise. By the way, she seemed to like when I was rubbing it. I really love this little snake already and I've only had her for a month. I can already see that retic inteligence and personality. It really sucks I have this to worry about already. My question is, is there anything else I can do to make sure it doesn't become a problem? And does anyone think it sounds serious from their past experiences with bites, because I know it happens all the time? I had a yellow rat snake when I was about 9 or 10. (12 or 13 years ago) And I had it together with a garter snake for a day and they got in a fight and the rat snake got bit by the garter. (Don't say anything about that either. I was 10 and it has absolutely no relevance to the story) The rat ended up getting a huge abcess and eventually died about a month later. I know the bacteria is different between garter snakes and mice, but still, I do not wanna see that happen to my baby tiger. I've wanted a tiger for years and I finally got one. I have a 10 foot male normal too right now, so she's not my only retic. And I've had about like 3 or 4 other retics over the years. Covering all the bases for anyone with something annoying to say. If anyone can offer me their ADVICE, I would really appreciate it and I'm sure my little tiger will too. Thanks alot.

I had a similar problem with a baby normal retic. Bitten by a live mouse and it left a small lump. Although I didn't think it would be anything serious so I just let it be. It was fine. It did get discolored slightly. Darker around the bite area. That was until it shed. It was totally gone after a couple sheds. Personally if it's gone down at all I wouldn't worry about it. If it were going to get worse it would have before it got better, right? Oh well good luck with your baby.

Randy
HerpTech - Web Design

Sounds like your doing everything right. If it gets real serious find a good herp vet. Other than that check the antibiotic on it and keep it in a clean cage. What substate you using? Paper or paper towels would be good if you want to keep the bite extra clean. Good luck with the live feeding. I do what to say one thing: When I first bought my albino there was no way I was gonna let a live mouse in with my snake. But he wouldn't eat f/t so I bought a tiny hopper mouse. Fed that to him and then right after that gave him a f/t small rat. That was his first meal and he has been on f/t ever since. GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING. I am sure the snake will be fine.

I have a few retics and burms that eat "live" only too. And a bite here and a bite there are sometimes unavoidable. They have always healed and I have never had any problems with subsequent infection or abcesses. I don't even bother to put any neosporin on them and these are sometimes 3k snakes. But it certainly does not hurt to apply it either. All the same, try to not worry too much. But one thing I do successfully do 99% of the time is I trick these particular snakes into thinking freshly killed prey items are live. This may sound silly, but I will actually animate the animal as if it is running and hiding and will make it "peek out" from behind a water bowl or soak tub. This usually excites these snakes into action and they buy it hook line and sinker. Worse case scenario if they don't take the dead bait (rare) I give in and let them have a stunned live animal and I watch until it is completely dead. Once your tiger is on rabbits you won't have to worry about bites but I would suggest holding the back feet a minute or so until the rabbit is dead. This is what I do (just in case, as I have yet to actually see a rabbit do serious damage to a snake) when feeding live rabbits. But you also have a very good chance that your tiger will outgrow this live food thing altogether by that time. Most of my picky eaters do. Like 9 out of 10, so your chances are very good.
I hope I have not overstepped my advice bounds here, and good luck with your tiger.

>>Ok, here's the story. My baby female tiger only eats live right now. That's what she was already started on and she won't even look at dead so that's what I have to give her for now. It's a pain in the ass and I hate feeding live. She's the only snake I have that I feed live to because I have no other choice. Just thought I'd get that out of the way because I know there will be more people itching to talk about that than to tell me how serious the bite she got yesterday is. Here's the real issue: I was feeding her yesterday and she got bit in the side of her neck, like 4 or 5 inches down from her head. There was a noticeable bump on her after she swallowed it. I've been putting Neosporin on the bite area for the last 2 days, 3 times a day to at least keep it clean and hope the antibiotic part keeps out infection. I was just rubbing it and it's gone down alot but you can still fell it. It's a little lump under her skin and it's darker, like a bruise. By the way, she seemed to like when I was rubbing it. I really love this little snake already and I've only had her for a month. I can already see that retic inteligence and personality. It really sucks I have this to worry about already. My question is, is there anything else I can do to make sure it doesn't become a problem? And does anyone think it sounds serious from their past experiences with bites, because I know it happens all the time? I had a yellow rat snake when I was about 9 or 10. (12 or 13 years ago) And I had it together with a garter snake for a day and they got in a fight and the rat snake got bit by the garter. (Don't say anything about that either. I was 10 and it has absolutely no relevance to the story) The rat ended up getting a huge abcess and eventually died about a month later. I know the bacteria is different between garter snakes and mice, but still, I do not wanna see that happen to my baby tiger. I've wanted a tiger for years and I finally got one. I have a 10 foot male normal too right now, so she's not my only retic. And I've had about like 3 or 4 other retics over the years. Covering all the bases for anyone with something annoying to say. If anyone can offer me their ADVICE, I would really appreciate it and I'm sure my little tiger will too. Thanks alot.
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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

I feel better knowing that she should be fine. I haven't seen her for 2 days because I'm out of town but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's ready to shed to right now, so that should help. Thanks alotfor the 3 responses. I guess you guys are the only ones that can give advice without being condescending. And I do appreciate all the advice. It's all good to know. Thanks again.

The one thing I'd be worried about is the slight possibility of an abcess forming. If the lump doesn't go down but starts to get bigger that will be the first sign. I have a book that says you can open abcesses by yourself (yuck) but a herp vet can probably do it, and it probably wouldn't be too expensive. What you're doing now sounds fine, though.
And I feel your pain with the live food thing, although I've been lucky enough not to have had a bite yet. (I've got a stupid picky BRB).

start feeding baby ( weenling ) rats if you can, lots more food, same size and they don't bite cause they are all but helpless.