Emergency! Pinched in his tub. :(

[raynefyre]

I came home from a holiday vacation to find Charlie had gotten himself wedged in a lip on his tub. (I've had him for 3 years now, 2 of them being in this tub with no problems.) I'm in total shock right now and have no clue what to do.

He still has mobility throughout his whole body, but only about 10% usage of his pinched part. In one spot a couple of his scales have ripped off. He has zero appetite, which is a first for him. He lets me touch the area but if I use too much pressure he starts to get really thrashy, but shows no aggression. It also looks like he did a lot of thrashing in his cage because his bedding was really messed up. There is also a slight odor similar to a regurged mouse smell coming from the area.

I don't know what to do. I just moved to Cali so I don't know any herp vets around here, let alone ones open during the holiday. I'm in complete dismay right now. One thing is for sure though, come morning I'm running straight to the store to buy new tubs for him and my other adult corn. (For tonight I've cleaned out both their tubs and shoved paper into the lips to close them up.)

Any wisdom or advice you all have I would greatly appreciate. I really hope he will be okay, but I'm no expert on emergency herp care. Here're some photos:

 

[Christen]

I don't have any words of wisdom for you but I am so sorry and I wish him the best.

 

[Shiari]

That's a nice bit of bruising there. :/

Vanay did something similar, but he got his head stuck. He had a huge dent, ripped a bunch of scales off, tons of bruising around his whole head.

Look up reptile vets that you can take him to tomorrow, just to be certain. The fact that he still moves okay is promising.

 

[rich333]

Not much wisdom here either. Just hoping for a full recovery!

 

[AliCat37]

Wow, no experience here either, but the bruising is what worries me. He may have a few broken ribs, I would definitely say a trip to the vet is in order. I personally would not offer him any food for now, just lots of water, maybe bump his temps up a bit to help fight any possible infections. I hope he recovers!

 

[Hexadeci]

I have read good reviews about an exotics vet in Yorba Linda: Dr Greek. I haven't contacted them yet, so I really have no idea how they are. Hoping for the best for you both!

 

[BloodyBaroness]

Vet really needs to check him over.

Not to be alarmist, but I just had a boa die from this. His head and part of his body was wedged like that.

It would be well worth in the investment to get him seen ASAP.

-try google or a local yellow page web search. That should produce a list of vets in the area.

 

[Lennycorn]

I think put some neosporin on it and paper towels for bedding and let him chill for awhile. If the bruises don't go away take him in.

 

[bitsy]

If it's just broken bones, then he has a good chance of recovery. One of mine has much more severe crush injuries over a larger area of his body following a failed escape attempt (seriously - what adult Corn in their right mind would try to squash between sliding glass doors that were only 3mm apart??). Whilst he looks very distorted now and pulls himself into some dreadful-looking contortions whilst moving, he eats and behaves completely normally. My vet said that he'd seen them survive even worse and live normal lives without any apparent discomfort.

However, if there's internal damage to organs, then things might not be so hopeful. I think a vet check would be in order if he was mine, but I'm not sure the vet could do more than offer an x-ray to check for broken bones.

Fingers crossed for both of you.

 

[CornyApollo]

As I use tanks, this is a first for me. I would try finding him a vet, and if impossible, giving him water and high temps. for a couple of weeks and letting him heal. He could comfortably go about a month without eating, and some have reported longer.

Just give him time to heal.

I hope he gets better!

 

[raynefyre]

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and wishes.

I'm looking into Dr. Greek mentioned above, and he's only 30 minutes from me. I'm planning on calling them in an hour when they open. I'm just praying they are open today with the holiday.

I just checked on Charlie and it looks like his sides are returning to normal. The pinched area is only about half of what it used to be. He's also still acting normal too, no aggression or anything. I didn't want to disturb him too much to check as I still plan on taking him to Dr. Greek. I'll try to grab some more pictures later when I move him into his transport tub before leaving.

Again, thank you everyone for your thoughts and concerns. I don't know many herpers in my area, and it feels great to know that no matter what I have a community to be there for me. It definitely makes things feel a whole lot better.

 

[Susan]

After having lost 2 breeder males to that (one was dead when I found him, the other was completely paralyzed on the rear 2/3 of his body), I no longer use any kind of tub that has a lip on the inside like the one shown in your first photo. Since he still has usage above and below the pinched part, there is hope. He just needs time for the inflammation to go away and to heal. There may be slight permanent damage, but not probably not enough to prevent him from living a normal life.

 

[Lennycorn]

I no longer use any kind of tub that has a lip on the inside like the one shown in your first photo.

I'm sort of at a lost here. Stop laughing...
Cause I can't see how they could get stuck even when I look at the picture. What brand of tubs where use here. How can this be prevented from happen to someone else.

More pictures could help.

 

[raynefyre]

It's a Sterilite tub identical to this one. The only difference is mine has gray latches instead of blue.

I'll get some more pictures up in a little while. Time to call the vet.

 

[Christen]

Where did he get stuck? At the latch or the side? I use those but I am so scared of escapes that each tub has a few binder clips on each side so they can't even lift the lid a little.

 

[AliCat37]

I use those tubs too

 

[Optreptiles]

I too have no advice for this sort of thing, but I am very sorry for you and your snake. If anything, I would switch him to a bin without that sort of lip in it. I have heard a lot of stories similar this one, about snakes being injured by the handle lip.

 

[raynefyre]

Good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the vet isn't open today.

However, he is actually a lot more active and cruising around his tub! I got him all set up in his new (and safe!) home which he seems to be in love with; and it is spacier. He also showed significantly less signs of struggle when touching the area as opposed to the lashing yesterday.

His body seems to be returning to normal shape with some swelling where he got pinched the worst. He seems to have no problem getting around. His hurt area is 40-50% functioning now, and the areas before and after it are working perfectly.

Here's how he's looking, the pinched part is at the very top of the picture.

When he's on the ground it's not as obvious as when I pick him up and his body stretches out.

This is the (right) side that got the tightest pinch. The gap was an L shape kind of like this. ---;

A few more pictures.

I'll post the tub next.

 

[Susan]

Some models of containers (one specifically I had the problem with) have a "lip" where a person would hold the container to carry it that creates a small shelf that, when the container is closed/has the lid on, has just enough space where an adult snake will start to crawl over it but get stuck when it reaches a wider part of it's body. And like many animals, they either can't figure out how to back up, or can't back up because they are stuck. I threw all of the ones I had like that and use only containers that either do not have such a lip or it's basically flush with the lid when it's closed.

 

[raynefyre]

His tub.

Here's his old tub. He got caught on the lip by the handle inside.

I tried to get some closeups of it closed.

Here's a rolled up washcloth to show how I found him.

And finally in his new home, which he is currently exploring. To be safe I got my other adult, his sister named Aly, a new tub too.

I built a rack awhile ago for when all the wormies grew up so I could house them all in those tubs. I will definitely be getting rid of it now and using the old tubs for feeding only or storing my stuff.