Rat munched on the snake

[Slinky2]

My 🐍 snake & I live in frozen NORTH. DAKOTA!!
. We haven't had the best of times lately. As you can guess it's COLD up here and as we all know, my serpent friend is not meant to be in such a unfriendly climate... Well to make. Long story short, she froze. I got my power cut & couldn't get to her in time. I and everyone else really thought she was dead. But I remembered that she was probably in. State of hibernation /shock. Well after about 3-4 hrs, she was showing signs of life) I think she's ok. But... I thought MAYBE she would eat a small rat even tho she was trying to shed in. Not.! .. I made the mistake of leaving her unattended w said rat for too long. The rat had taken about an inch off the tip of her tail. . What to do? What will happen? [should she b seen by the vet?? Please she's about a 690 1

[Tsubaki]

Please take this animal to a vet, it needs medical attention for the cold and the injury it has endured.

[Little Wise Owl]

Take her to a vet and never, ever, ever leave her alone with a live rodent again.

[Primal Rage]

Meh, as long as you have her heated up and she is acting normal I would hold off on a vet visit. Clean the wound ASAP with betadine and apply a triple action antibiotic. A vet is going to do the same thing and charge you $150+ for the same meds and an office visit. I figure reptile vets are few and far between in North Dakota as well.

Why the heck would you try to feed the animal after its metabolism slumped down to winter survival mode?? Insane! Hopefully your snake makes a full recovery and this is a lesson learned. And why are you feeding live? That seems kind of silly given the species you are talking about.

Watch your snake closely over the next couple days and specifically the area that was damaged by the rat. The cooler temps and the slowed metabolism might be on your side. Post pics if you can and keep us posted!!!

[shaunyboy]

could you post pictures of the injury please mate

we can then give you an educated opinion on which course of action to take

it may be that you will just need to keep it clean and watch for signs of infection

when retained shed causes tail tips to die and drop off.you just let them heal themselves.unless infection sets in

cheers shaun


P.S.I wouldn't beat yourself up too much as we all make mistakes.we are only human after all

[kuester]

id bring it to the vet to make sure it doesn't need antibiotics from the cold. the snake could literally have a cold(white blood cell count would be up) as for the rat incident im sorry to hear that but that's one of the reasons I don't feed live, the living can fight back the dead is just a harmless meal. and I wouldn't recommend feeding an animal that almost froze. were you gone while the power went out?

[kuester]

no hard feelings though. as said above we're all humans and make mistakes. I lost my BTS in the fall on the last nice day before WI cold weather started kicking in. i would feed him outdoors and he was being supervised by my bf(at least i thought but really he was working on his car) and he was gone for 2 weeks outside, through the wind, rain, frost and light snow he survived under dead grass i layer around my gardens to prevent weed growth. I found him while digging up my annual bulbs, I was moving dead grass aside with a pitch fork and there he was im lucky I didn't get him with the pitch fork and he was still okay but had a cold so just needed anti biotics for a couple weeks but hes all good now :)

[Slinky2]

Thank you all for your suggestions advice and yes even the scolding. I checked with a vet and they did tell me basically what we all knew regarding the 1st aid. She is doing well. She does seem a bit slow and kinda"stupid" tho. Like she may be brain damaged. She just is a little sloppy & slow. Like she doesn't have full control of her body. She "flops". I hope she is just recovering from being almost frozen. That was about a. Week ago, by the way. The tail chew was 3 days ago. But I think she's gonna be fine I have a funny story I'll let u in on tomorrow when I read more. Replies. Thanks again and I HAVE had snakes before. Just didn't think this would happen to me. (her). And I will try pre killed but I have my doubts. I have not had luck in the past w that... :D

[charlesc84]

What temperature is the boas enclosure?

[shaunyboy]

you'll have to show a little patients when crossing over from live to fresh killed as it may take a few attempts...

imo don't give in and give her live...

just stick with the fresh killed and once she's hungry enough she will take them


cheers shaun