Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I friend of mine asked me to come and look at her sons kingsnakes. I was going to sell them for her, but found that they were in pretty rough shape. This one was by far the worst. I had been bit by a mouse a couple months ago. Unfortunately, it was not treated and started to get infected. It went into rapid shed cycle, but the shed just kept on piling up on the wound, covering the infection. Once I got it home, I soaked it for about an hour, and then went to work on removing the crud. What was underneath everything, made me sick. Anyway, the whole wounded area is very stiff and hard, and the 5" of tail past it doen't move much, but it can move. He just crawls around, dragging the last 10" of his body around. He seems very attentive, and normal, as long as you don't look at his tail! If I can keep infections away, which I will go to the vet for if necessary, do you think he can survive. If that part of his body stays hard and stiff, I'm afraid that it's digestive tract will suffer, if it hasn't already. I have him in a very sterile cage, just a hide and water bowl on newspaper. I'll also make sure that the temps are right. I had the area bandaged, but he had worked it off overnight. Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jake

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1.1 Blood Pythons
1.0 Haitian Boa
0.1 Boa Constrictor

My top priority would be to take the snake to a reptile- qualified vet. Systemically, a blood panel should be taken to get a status on whether or not there is still an infection. If the snake can swallow prey (frozen/thawed) & also can still deficate, it should probably be saved; the vet should be able to qualify this. You can check out my previous post about keeping dressings on snakes with a human condom appropriate for the diameter of that portion of the snake's body. Again, the main priority would be professional treatment by a vet.
Goodluck

The immobile portion of the snake's body should probably be x-rayed & or CT scanned for vertebral trauma & be treated for that, if possible.

Thanks, I'm hoping to take her to the vet tomorrow. It's kinda tough, though, cause the closest herp vet is 1.5 hrs away. I also didn't take these on expecting a big expense. Thanks for answering my question as to whether or not she potentially could be saved.

Jake
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1.1 Blood Pythons
1.0 Haitian Boa
0.1 Boa Constrictor

Good job in deciding to take to a vet. Reptiles have slow, but very amazing healing capabilities when it comes to trauma and infection. With veterinary help, and yes, probably a few hundred dollars in expense, this critter still has a fairly good prognosis.

The expense part isn't really the topic in this forum, but I'd think that the owners would pay for treating these snake?

If treatment is not an option for whatever reason, this snake should be humanely euthanized. This again, needs to be done by a vet for reasons I'm sure I've discussed in previous threads.

Good luck, for what it's worse, I've seen worse make it through this