>>I have a juvinile albino cal king that got let out of her cage about a week ago... My cats found her this morning in the bath room, and unfortunatly i wasn't able to get to her before their claws did. She's got multiple puncture type wounds, as well as scratches up and down her body. There's no herp vets within quite a distance of my house... What should I be doing to insure that no infection sets in, until I can figure out what else to do. I've soaked her in tap water to clean it out a little bit, but i'm sure there's got to be something better to do for her. Any thing you could tell me would be helpful, I've never had to deal with open wounds on a snake before!
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>>Thanks,
>>Tina
Open wounds on a snake are pretty much like open wounds on anything else. How you treat them depends on th elocation and severity.
For relatively minor wounds, just keep it clean, swab it once a day with some betadine or iodine solution and keep some triple antibiotic on it. If the wound is severe enough that it is "wide open" or the skin at the edges of the wound are sort of rolling up, then it may require suturing. In this case, the edges of the skin would likely need to be cleaned up (trimmed to get rid of the dead or necrotic tissue) first.
While the snake has open wounds, it will be necessary to clean the cage and disinfect it every day, as well as changing the water and disinfecting the water bowl. During this time, there should be nothing in the cage except newspaper (not wood chips,mulch or dirt) for substrate, a hiding box and a water bowl.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson
