Stripped copperhead

SCReptiles · 10-25-04, 12:00 AM

She is a pure blood northern from Buckspocket, AL. We got her from one of the serpent handling churches. She was so far gone by the time we got her, I will be surprised if we can pull her thru. I picked her up Friday night. She had dropped 10 babies 3 weeks prior. Probably had not ate since the spring and looks like she had not had any water in a while either. We talked over feeding options, I was pretty sure she was too week to digest a mouse even if we forced her. We soaked her in Gatorade for about and hour, she drank quite a bit. We then tubed her about 40cc of a baby food, cat food, and vit mix. Saw immediate results. I went back today and gave her another Gatorade soak. These pics were taken today. She still looks bad, but much much much better then Friday night.

BWSmith · 10-25-04, 12:23 AM

I wish I still had my male, we could see if it was genetic or temp related.

SCReptiles · 10-25-04, 12:25 AM

wow looks very much like this one. where did that end up?

BWSmith · 10-25-04, 12:27 AM

Unfortunately, that one did not make it. The worst feeding Copper I have ever had. After over a year of not feeding on his own, he passed away.

By the way, what is a "stripped Copper"? I thought they were already naked

BoidKeeper · 10-25-04, 05:44 AM

Wow Chuck it looks better than I expected from your description. Good for you for putting in the effort. I'm sure she'll come around for you. I certainly hope so, they're my favorite hot.
Keep up the good work,
Trevor

snakehunter · 10-25-04, 10:55 AM

poor girl, I never realized that the snake churches didnt take care of their animals, now we know why "god doesnt let them bite'' because THEY ARE FREAKIN KILLIKG THEM ARG.

mudflats · 10-28-04, 12:37 PM

LMAO, i saw on national geography channel awhile back ona few southern churches handling fully hot snakes,dancing with them etc.. Saying in the name of the lord the snake shall not bite me. Totall BS in my opinion, aswell as the care of these creatures where horrible, and what if one of those 6 year old girls dancing around with the copper gets nailed.

SCReptiles · 10-28-04, 09:52 PM

I don’t want to turn this into another snake handling discussion, we had had too many already. They are good people. They do not have the medical knowledge to treat a snake that has deteriorated, so they called me and asked me to come get it. What more could they do? I think they made an admirable decision. Stripped coppers are prized animals and they gave it away to someone whom they hopped could help it. And if you don’t think God told them to take up the serpents, read mark 16:18. No one under 18 is ever allowed to pick up a serpent or drink the poison.

As for the snake, I felt it was too weak to digest a mouse, so we tube feed it a mix of Gerber stage II turkey baby food, Fancy feast chicken cat food, Reptisile, and t-rex bone aide (liquid calcium). He defecated 2 days later, regular feces and some of the mix that seemed to undigested. Gave him one day, then tubed him 60cc of just the baby food and vits. I think thinking this should be easier to digest and perhaps his body can get more from it before it passes.

cobraman · 10-30-04, 10:17 PM

with my entry!

(BTW, How come I can only post small pics, and you all get to post big pics???)

Mustangrde1 · 10-31-04, 11:44 AM

Because he is bigger then you. That and you need to size your pictures just right.

By the way Chuck you got any pics of that monster watersnake ?

SCReptiles · 11-01-04, 10:53 PM

Ah, the big water. Thus far she has been my closest call for a word record. My new copper is 4 inches from the world record. And my cane is almost 5 inches from the record.

However, this girl was under two inches from the record when she died. I almost cried!