Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It has been raining all summer here east of Dallas and the herps have been few and far between on the roads. But I've caught a couple juvy tx rats.
The female is my problem. She's pretty aggressive, but eats well. A couple days ago tho I was checking her container and there was blood everywhere. She had split her nos eopen on something. I use rubbermaids with very good lids and all my holes are deburred. There are no sharp edges to accidentally get cut on. I have 2 dozen snakes in the same containers withnot one single incident. I cleaned everything very well (considering that she's still isolated from the others and I always handle wc's last to prevent contamination back to my established snakes) and put her back. Today its covere dwith blood again. I have checked her vent and the rest of her body. There is no feces or uriates mixed with the blood. Just blood in nose wide swaths. She is, naturally, not eating and very very cranky. She has a slit on the rostal scale (sp?) which I believe is the injury.

Any ideas?
Any way to keep her from busting it open again? Maybe a cardboard box inside rubbermaid?

I appreciate the help.
-Michael-

Some wc dont make it, will to be free again I guess. Anyways, I havent had this problem before but I would try putting it in a container with non-see-through sides, or like you said perhaps cardboard around the sides.

Good luck

They'll often rub their noses on just about anything in the container, trying to find a way out. Anything with any kind of abrasive surface at all could have caused the injury.

Another possibility is an altercation with prey. What do you feed her? If it's live mice, that could explain it. Occasionally, the mouse gets the upper hand even if the snake is much larger.

You probably should apply an antibacterial ointment to the wound, to prevent infection. Check with a local herp vet for specifics.