Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found this poor snake and it can only drag the lower third of it's body across the ground. It was trying to swim away when I first saw it but the injured lower third was on the shore and the upper 2/3's where thrashing away in the water trying to swim but there was not enough resistance to pull the lower half in.

Since these guys feed almost exclusively of crayfish it may be
difficult to try and save it. Does anyone have any suggestions. I can find crayfish easy enough over the next few months but the colder months may be a challenge even with brumating. This is of course assuming that it survives it's injury and can pass fecal matter.

You've got a long row to hoe. They only take freshly-molted crays, which is a very difficult diet to provide if you don't live on a crawfish farm; you can try offering other prey like tadpoles, fish, and dragonfly larvae, but don't be surprised if it rejects them all. It's even possible that you could get it on crawfish-scented pinkies.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

This may be controversial but you can induce molting in crayfish by cutting off the eyestalks.

i had a similar issue with a queen snake, and i could not get it to eat until i made the water in her LARGE water bowl move with a pump, then induce shedding in crayfish[remove there eyestalks], put the crayfish in the water before it starts shedding, then the little girl ate wonderfully, 2 months later, just as her wounds were healing up, she had 18 babies, which would happily eat small crayfish and ghost shrimp