Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this kid across the way found a garter snake that has a injuie and i dont know if theres any hope . about 2/3 down to the tail the back has like a bite chunk taken out and there is maggots inside !!! the wound is dark looking and probly around for awhile , dont see any blood , i guess it could just be dirty too . is there any hope or should it be put out of its misery ?also the rest of the way to the tail looks pretty skinny . some sheeding flakes on the tail end too . when i looked at the snake it flickers its tounge . im no a vet or anything and im not sure of the most responisble way to deal with it . besides its a wild snake and i cant afford to take this thing to the vet . help please !!!

sean

Call around to your local vets, and ask them if there is a veterinarian who takes wildlife. If there is, bring the snake into them. It is not your animal, they will not expect you to pay to treat it. Vets who do this will treat the animals for free, and then send them on to a wildlife rehabber.

I'll second that. The herp vet that I take my iguanas to will treat indigenous (native) herps for free. You should at least be able to get some advice over the phone, without necessarily having to take him in to the vet. My guess is that they'll recommend treating the wound with some kind of disinfectant, but if there are maggots in it, it may be too late. michaelb

Maggots are not necessarily a bad thing. It depends on the species.

There was some work done with maggots after World War I. Seems that they cleaned dead tissue out of wounds suffered in the trench fighting better than a surgeon could and thus prevented infection. The research was dropped after antibiotics were developed though.

Anyway, IMHO the snake has at least an even chance of pulling though. I've caught a couple of snakes with nasty-looking wounds, and they survived with little beyond food and a snug cage.

Paul Hollander

I agree. Maggots can be a GOOD thing. They only eat dead flesh, and by doing that, clean out the wound. (They use sterile maggots for bedsores, and foot problems with diabetes) Call a vet, and they can refer you to a local rehaber.

Snakes are actually a very hardy animal!! I once found a DeKays in much the same condition that you have described. I cleaned the wound as good as I could and used a betadine/iodine solution to help cut down the infection. Once the wound started healing I used neosporin to help it along. I kept him on paper towels in a 10 gal aquarium and fed him worms. The wound he had was pretty nasty, could even see a few of the little guys ribs. But once it closed up and healed in about 2 weeks he was fine. Had a decent scar, but other than that he was ok. I let him go once he had healed enough to not get another infection. Im sure he has done just fine.
Happy herping and good luck!!
Brian