Bad injury help!

[rosehairboy10199]

I just received a full grown female? reverse okeetee. The owner said she had no problems with eating, and she shed not too long ago. But then she also told me there was an injury on her neck about two inches away from her snout. I didnt get to see the injury until after i got everything set up and its pretty bad. It looks like it happened some time ago,because it looks like it has healed alot but it still could cause problems in the near future. So my question is how can i treat this? I will post pics in a little bit of her and the gash. I also think she is kind of obese, they were feeding her quite large mice and im afraid if i feed it to her when its going down the gash is going to stretch and split and cause more problems. I will definately post pics as soon as i can but for now any help would be appreciated. She also moves with her neck in a weird way because of the gash kind of like its paralyzed but not really. Thanks for any help.

[danielle]

Did you buy this snake or was it given to you? Do you know if this snake has eaten since the injury, when the injury was, and what caused it? Without a pic and some backround all I can say is keep her dry and clean.

[CrousesCorns]

***If it's just the outer most skin.*** Use q-tips with non-medicated neosporin or triple antibiotic oinment. Place a little bit on the wound daily and do it for 7-14 days. It should heal up. After it heals it will look bad. Everytime the snake sheds it should help the wound look better, but this will take some time. I recently purchased a snake with mice bites and it has been shedding those injuries every 2 weeks. Everytime she sheds check the wound area and the whole snake for leftover dead skin and remove that with a damp paper towel.
Hope this helps and I really want to see those pics of the wound.

[Caryl]

If the snake is healthy weight or above, you can wait for the injury to heal before feeding. Adults can go for weeks with no food when necessary. If the seller sent you an injured snake and you weren't aware of the injury, they did wrong. IMHO they ought to refund your purchase price or pay for a vet visit, if you think that's merited. I personally wouldn't return the snake to that individual; anyone who'd ship an injured animal is obviously not going to care for it well.

[Silvergrin]

If you have a decent reptile vet near you, and the injury "looks pretty bad" to you, then I too recommend you take her to a vet and see what they say.
Without photos though we can only guess - if it's on her neck and still scabby I would definitely say at least feed her smaller food items so she doesn't hurt it.

[rosehairboy10199]

Well at the moment photobucket is not working for me but i did go to the petstore and bought a smaller mouse and she ate it no problem! Just like the owner said, she was a great feeder. By the way, i got this snake for free along with a thirty gallon breeder so i thought it was a steal! Ha ha but i did take pics of the wound and her eating so maybe you guys will get a better thought on this. Thanks for the tips too, i do have triple antibiotic ointment so i will try that. Also this was not a shipped snake, she lived only a few blocks away from me. The cause of the injury is unknown but she said someone must have been careless and she scraped her neck on the corner coming out of the tank... But now she is in a better place so hopefully i can get her back to health! I will try photobucket again!

[rosehairboy10199]

Well i promised pics! Here is the beauty with a mark! haha
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2213/32909017.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php?image=32909017.jpg)
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/32909017.jpg/1/w320.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img18/32909017.jpg/1/)
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2213/32909017.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php?image=32909017.jpg)
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/32909017.jpg/1/w320.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img18/32909017.jpg/1/)

So i just put some antibiotic ointment on her and she kept jumping everytime i touched her, so im guessing it still bothers her but hopefully this helps! thanks

[rosehairboy10199]

bump!
bump!
bump!
bump!

[danielle]

It seems like a nice gash, but really other than putting the ointment on and keeping her on newpaper to keep it clean thats all you can do. A vet will say the same thing so just keep on treating until it is completely healed over and unless the wound is oozing discharge, smells, or appears to swell more so than now I would wait a vet visit out. Good luck!

[Silvergrin]

Yeah, if the snake's eating and healthy, that looks like it's already healed over mostly so I don't know if there's much most vets can/should do. I guess just feed her smallish prey items so she doesn't re-injure it.

[Caryl]

That looks a lot better than what I was imagining. I concur with applying antibiotic ointment daily, feeding small prey, and keeping her on some non-particulate substrate. Good luck with her.

[rosehairboy10199]

well she is on newspaper and i will keep applying the ointment on her... Will this heal over time to where you wont be able to tell it was ever there? Like nice and smooth or will there always be an indentation? Hopefully not because it seems like thats where the shed gets caught and doesnt come off properly. Also her scales seem to be really flakey.. it sounds like she has skin that wants to come off but it doesnt look like it. I put her in a container with some luke warm water papertowels to see if that helps if she does but otherwise thanks for the help! I will update when things look better!

[Caryl]

Most injuries cause the snake to shed frequently for a while. Usually after several sheds, scars disappear. Some wounds do leave a permanent mark. Time will tell for this one. It's not surprising that her shed would get caught there. Just keep an eye on it for a few shed cycles. It sounds like you're taking great care of her. :smile:

[rosehairboy10199]

Hey i wanted to update this thread, its been almost two months now since i got her, and i was reading the posts, realizing it had answered a question i was just asking myself. Since ive had her, she has shed twice now, which is quite fast considering my other two shed every three to four months.. But Her injury has practically disaappeared! So thats probably why she was shedding faster than my other two was because of the injury... For about one week i put ointment on it, then after her first shed it became raw looking and then hardened up, she shed again and i can barely tell there was that gash! And on the plus side, she can move it better now too.. When i first got her she moved that part very cautiously and in a hurt manner.. So im glad to say she is mostly recovered. Ill post a pic when i can.. Not too shabby!

[bitsy]

Great job! I'm glad she found her way to someone so conscientious.