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Snake injury... advice?

This happened to me actually, I went on a weekend trip with my gf and had my brother feed my snakes. My two opals are underweight for their age so I try to be very accurate for feed days. My brother didn't close a tub and shimmer was gone for about 3 weeks. She got outside as much as we can figure or at least in the walls and about 3 weeks later we found her outside pinned to a wall by my cat. to date she has made a full recovery I didn't feed right away I gave her some time to heal she had some pretty bad wounds. Now she eats better than she ever has and she also lost an eye which really bothered me. Lots of fresh water like always and again let them be for a bit in my opinion. But yeah I was very surprised how quickly she got better she turned on her shedding and cleaned up pretty quick.
 
Well, I fed her Friday morning and it's now Sunday night. As I was cleaning up a massive poop (so very big for only half a pinky!) I realised that she is now in blue phase.

I suppose her going into shed is a good thing, but it kind of ruins my more-frequent-feeding plan.

AND as I was cleaning the water dish, I dropped it! I was a really nice dish, too. *sigh* She wasn't pleased when I put in a foreign dish. Ah well.

I was thinking by the time she's shed I could put aspen and some stuff back in the tank. Does that sound like a good plan?
 
See how she looks after shed and then if it looks like she's healed, put the aspen back in.
 
Well she shed last night and it was perfect, except for a missing eyelid. But it wasn't the bad eye, it's the good eye that didn't shed! (the bad eye is significantly less dented now, which I'm glad for!)

I tried to force just her head through a bit of wet cloth but this just aggravated her (any longer trying and she probably would have bit me!) When I finally could rub the eye nothing came off, which makes me think it had already rubbed off on something but I couldn't find it. (I mean, they're small AND translucent, on white paper towels... Yeah, good luck to me!) So I don't know if I should just let it go or try again.

All the tiny wounds and the tip (maybe 2mm) of her tail came off, and the big wound on her neck is pretty much just a big scar; doesn't look open at all, just all rough. I took out the paper towels and put fresh aspen and some rocks back in and she was just too happy for that, I think!

Anyways, aside from the mystery eyelid, I don't think I have much to worry about now. I think she'll do well. Thanks to everyone for advice!

I'm feeding her tonight so I'll update if anything happens.
 
Just remember that they shed inside-out so the skin is backwards when we look at it. You probably took that into account, but just thought I would mention that it still could have been the bad eye that didnt shed.

I recently had my cat attack one of my rat snakes, and her jaw was all screwed up too. I havent fed her in a couple weeks, and she seems to be healing up nicely. I'm glad your snake seems to be healing up pretty well. Its amazing what they can go through and still survive!
 
You can usually spot a retained eyecap. The eye definitely looks different. Sounds like she's well on the road to recovery!
 
MegF. said:
You can usually spot a retained eyecap. The eye definitely looks different. Sounds like she's well on the road to recovery!
Click to expand...
What do you mean by different? Is it noticable right away? The eye looks fine though.

And yeah, I figured out the mirror image thing after much confusion. "Why is that mess on the left side? Am I crazy?"
 
It usually looks a little bigger. There might be a rim around it where the retained eye cap is stuck with skin or it will be dull. You'd see a difference between the two. I suspect that it came off but tore away from the shed skin as it's kind of trashed there from the other injury as you stated.
 
Well here's an update: I tried to feed her Friday, she refused, and so I waited a couple days (it's Sunday now) and she refused again. I think I'll wait 'till Wednesday before trying again, but as this isn't the first time she's given me issues, I'm not too worried. She has eaten once since the incident so I don't think that's the reason, but I wonder if it's maybe the trauma plus recent shed combo? Maybe I'm just bugging her too much lately. WHO KNOWS. What I do know is that she better eat soon!

*shakes fist*

I'm leaving the pinky in there (in the deli cup in the tank) overnight, but she hates the deli cup so probably won't go near it. If she does, then great, if not then I guess I have a stinky pinky to flush in the morning. (I rhyme!)
 
Don't try to feed too often. Every 5 days is fine. If you bug her too much, she might just not eat at all. They can go a long time without so don't worry.
 
Yup. Don't force it onto her too quickly. I'm glad to hear that she's doing much better, though. At least refusal to eat is better than a regurge. Now that really sucks.
 
Well, she ate yesterday but it wasn't as instant as usual. Also, I'm getting really fed up with the quality of pinkies from the local pet store. At $1.99 per pinky, you'd think that when I thaw them their skin wouldn't disintegrate in my hand! REALLY GROSS. And, it's not the first pinky I've had to flush without bothering to try feeding it to my snake. The other one I picked was alright though, aside from the freezer burn. (I get them in packs of 4.)

Anyways, she ate! So I'm glad.

I think in a couple days I'll take a picture, as I found my memory card. Her injuries are looking REALLY nice compared to before the shed.

She's a trooper! ^^

I just hope she stops being timid soon... Right before the incident she had finally accepted my existence! *sigh* Worse than a cat.
 
Good to know that she's getting better. As for her shyness, I'm sure that'll be fine eventually. Just don't force it on her. Make sure she's eating well, and make sure she's completely healed, and THEN try holding her more often and getting her over her shyness.
 
You might be heating the pinkies too fast if the skin is breaking after thaw. Use water that's less hot at first and then get a little warmer at the end for the final heating. They are perfectly safe to feed though and even though they are gross, my kids seem to really like the smelly messy things!
 
That may have been why, (although I'm pretty sure it was the same temp as usual) but I've been given pinkies that had obviously rotted for while before they were frozen...

Anyways, she's doing really well now, she's being very energetic (like she was before) which makes me feel good; climbing up the glass, wriggling hither and thither. She's still nervous with me touching her though, of course, going into the S position (but never biting!) whenever I have to put my hand in the viv (changing the water, etc). I handled her yesterday and she was very good after a couple minutes of smelling, she calmed right down and went to her usual curious manner. She was much less timid than she was a week ago as well!

I don't think I need to worry much anymore, thanks again so much everyone for the advice, and everything!
 
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