Should I feed this baby?

[hypnoctopus]

About a week ago, one of my babies escaped right after she shed. I don't feed in blue, so it had been about three weeks since she had eaten when she escaped. She was just found today, but unfortunately she was caught underneath the rolling glass patio door and had been rolled over. I managed to extract her, and she clearly has some bruised pinchy areas and a very tiny spot where a few scales are peeled back, but otherwise seems okay. She was moving in my hands completely normally and I gave her a big drink of water and put her away. Now my question is, it's been a month since she last ate, so should I offer her something small or should I wait for her next shed (which I am sure will be imminent due to her injuries)?

Here is a picture. This area is the worst. There is another area that is less damaged and there are a few spots along the top of her back that have some small damage.

http://i.imgur.com/BEBBNmyh.jpg

Thank you!

[Ravenessa]

Poor little girl! Glad you found her... This is a question I know nothing about... but Im sending my well wishes <3

[nancyg]

Same here! Other people here have more experience and I'd go with their advice.
Here's hoping for a good recovery!

Where are the injuries on the body? are any near /above/before the stomach area?

If the injuries are not near where solid (pinky) food would be passing or sitting (stretching the tissues there) I think my impulse would be to offer a small undersized food item. As a baby, I would think she might not have a lot of 'stored' food to pull on for healing (and shedding is the external skin healing - her internal tissues are healing all along, right?) How does her condition look otherwise?

[hypnoctopus]

Her condition looks mostly good and her personality seems normal. The two main injuries are above and below her stomach, so I was also thinking an undersized item might be okay.

[Rigby & Marcy]

My gut says feed her but small enough not to stretch the skin. Happy that you found her and she survived the door!

[hypnoctopus]

Okay, so I went ahead and fed her a meal on the day she was found that was half the size of what she would normally eat, which left just a barely noticeable bulge. She was eager to eat it, as well.

I checked on her today and she had pooped, but the urates have sort of an orangey red color in them. I'm concerned that maybe it's blood from an internal injury. She acts completely normal - somewhat feisty, very active, her body moves normally. I also carefully let her slip through my fingers to feel if I could feel anything abnormal and I couldn't feel anything wrong. She doesn't seem sensitive to being touched anywhere.

Odd-colored urates:

http://i.imgur.com/5qtOWIyh.jpg

New picture of the worst area:

http://i.imgur.com/9JAILRJh.jpg

Anyway, I'm not really sure how to proceed at this point, so any thoughts or advice is welcome.

[djc3]

My thought would be her kidneys are passing myoglobin from muscle damage resulting from the crush/ pinch injury. If that's the case, making sure she's well hydrated is going to be the most important thing for best chance of recovery.

Good luck!

[hypnoctopus]

That is helpful, thank you. I was reading about orange urates in dehydrated chameleons, but I wasn't sure if their physiology is closely enough related to corn snakes.

I'll make sure to give her a little soak once a day while she's not digesting.

[Rigby & Marcy]

Wow, she's healing really nicely! Orange doesn't scream internal bleeding to me, but hopefully the next poop is normal.

[Ravenessa]

Just here to send some well wishes <3 I have no knowledge on the topic Im afraid.

[hypnoctopus]

Thank you for the well wishes.

I soaked her for a little bit tonight in room temperature water. She wasn't inclined to drink any. After that I gave her a soak in a weak strength betadine mixture. She was not happy about either soaking.

[Ravenessa]

awww not easy being little and ill :(

[hypnoctopus]

Well, in case anyone is wondering, this little baby is doing great! She's been eating normally and having normal poops. She just had a shed, which had scabby bits attached to it. All the scab areas on her no longer are scabby, but the scales where the scabs were are now white. I think the color will fill back in with more sheds, though. The scales themselves are normally shaped. Here's the damaged areas:

http://i.imgur.com/DRTgNxBh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/DK2o1mWh.jpg

Throughout her healing, I gave her a couple of soaks in a weak-strength betadine, which she hated. I also gave her some regular water soaks to make sure she stayed hydrated.

[DollysMom]

Thanks for the update. I'm so glad all is well with her!

[lannvouivre]

She looks like she's healing very well, I'm glad she's ok.

[MysticExotics]

I'm glad to see she is healing! That's great news!

[djc3]

That's good news. She looks great.