snake trauma/tragedy/mistake # 347983

[fr0glet]

My apologies in advance if you also read rec.pets.herp, where I originally posted this.

This morning I went to an outreach at an elementary school down in Seattle. There were only two herp society members there, myself and a gal who raises monitors.

I brought 2 snakes (Mistake #1), one of the corns I'm halfway housing (the big lumpy one, he's a sweetheart), and Mooshoo my milksnake. The other gal brought her Savannah Monitor, Nefer (http://tinyurl.com/8s7l).

After she and I had both spoken and displayed our animals, the teacher asked if the children could gather around a table and touch/handle the animals. We were in the library and were offered a small round table to display on (Mistake #2).

The kids gathered 'round, and as Mooshoo was still all wiggly I kept him lying on the table (Mistake #3) and allowed the children to handle the corn snake. The Savannah was also on the table (Mistake #4). One kid took the corn snake and turned his back to me, so I reached out and said "please face this direction so I can keep an eye on the snake" (Mistake #5).

At this second I heard 30 kids *GASP* all at once, and looked down to see....

THE MONITOR HAD CHOMPED ONTO MY SNAKE'S HEAD!@@!!~!~@@!~@!!@

I grabbed the monitor and pulled him off my snake, who immediately started bleeding. I left and headed to the bathroom to rinse off the wound, and he promptly crapped all over the sink and my arm. He was blowing blood bubbles. At this point I became internally very calm and externally the faucets
started flowing. I went back and got my things and thanked the other kid for holding the corn snake... and took off to the closest vet (weeping my eyes out like the emotional mess I am lately).

The vet, Dr. Kamaka at the Bird & Exotic Clinic of Seattle, was awesome. The service was great. They determined he had a hairline fractured skull, a near-missed eye, one tiny puncture through the roof of his mouth, and a torn up lower jaw. They sedated him with Ketamine and gave him two stitches in
the lower jaw. Man, a sedated snake sure looks/acts like a dead snake! They were very glad he sustained no eye or esophogeal damage... and hopefully we'll stave off the effects of nasty monitor bacteria with Baytril.

They showed me how to give him an antibiotic shot... unfortunately I pricked myself with the needle before the shot and my finger immediately swelled up. It's quite black and blue now. Apparently me and Baytril don't get along so well.

Pictures available. Not for the squeamish. The last two are at home, after sedation and sutures.

http://www.cnw.com/~fr0glet/mooshoo/
(I still can't reach fr0glet.org, although I'm sure all of you can. Grrrr!)

[Dom]

Wow - i can't beleive the snake is still alive ..

Everyone has done mistakes before... as long as you learned something out of it .. then it was not a total loss..


U are really lucky the sav got the snake as he could of easilly had bitten a kid as well.. (personally the kid bitten would of been better but uknow what I mean)

Best of luck..

Dom

[eyespy]

Oh, the poor sweetie! Thank heavens it sounds like none of the wounds did heavy-duty damage but it's still quite unsettling. Please try to keep his environment as low-key as possible and watch hydration status carefully after all that he's been through. Avoid bright lights or anything that would vibrate the snake's enclosure so that he feels like he's holed up in a den during the recovery period.

Was Ketamine the only sedation used? That doesn't even control pain! All it does is induce deep sleep but it doesn't deaden nerve endings. I hope he was given isoflurane gas as well.

[fr0glet]

Dom: the savannah has done TONS of outreach and is a regular attendee to our society meetings. He is handled by children on a regular basis. I don't consider any luck that he bit my snake, as he's known to be very gentle with children and well behaved. Anyway, it was my mistake.

Eyespy: he was indeed gassed as well to control pain. I'm sure he's a hurtin boy today, he's swollen and a bit gaspy. I just saw him in his water dish so I'm glad to see he's drinking. I transformed his tank to a hospital tank, stripped it down to newspaper substrate and 2 dry hides (removed his moist hide to prevent bacterial growth/infection) and his water bowl. I also upped his heat to 88F on the hot side to facilitate cell regeneration. REALLY looking forward to giving him his first non-sedated shot tonight... :S

[Katt]

Holy mackeral! That's horrendous. Monitors and snakes do not mix!

Best of look with your corn!

[Katt]

Sorry, your milksnake. I got a bit confused about who got chomped.

[marylyn101]

poor little crusader

[marisa]

Wow! What a tale. I hope your snake recovers fast.

Marisa

[Tim and Julie B]

I hope Mooshoo gets better soon! Don't feel to bad! My cat got into my tree frog cage after 4 years of co existence. Went right in through the lid! It really sucks but mistakes happen. Don't feel to bad. I think it's great you do shows for kids! The more shots you give the better and easier it gets. All the best.

[fr0glet]

Originally posted by Tim and Julie B
I think it's great you do shows for kids!

Hey thanks! It's so rewarding! My herp society is really big on community outreach and helping people conquer their fears/myths/misconceptions about herps. I love the WOW factor that comes out of kids, and talking about basic and advanced husbandry with people. It's so fun.

We are re-sceduled to visit this school again in two weeks. Apparently after I left they called off the whole reptile day due to the trauma of the bite.

[Monty Python]

fr0glet,

I am very glad to hear your snake turned out OK, that could have been much worse!

However, I do disagree with you on one point...I do NOT think it was your mistake at all. Rather, I think it was just one more reminder that no matter HOW many wild animals we keep, and how much we handle them...they are still *wild* animals and can behave unpredictably. Then, throw children into the mix...and you don't know WHAT your'e gonna get! But look at it this way...those kids will NEVER forget that reptile show!!!

Again though, I am relieved to see the story had a happy ending! Bets of luck in the future!

[fr0glet]

Monty (giggle), Thanks for the kind words. We're not out of the woods yet, Mooshoo is still very swollen and a bit gaspy. Giving him shots is no fun at all. He's now going into a shed and I am concerned abot him rubbing his face trying to get it started... argh.

It is indeed good to remember how truly wild these animals are inside. I was holding a young iguana today who took a FLYING leap out of my hands and landed on my frog tank 4 feet away... totally unexpected. Awesome.

[snkmn]

wow, what a story. i am glad that your brave little milk is still alive. thank you for shareing that story. best of luck to you.

[Invictus]

Glad your snake will be ok.

[CDN-Cresties]

Poor little guy, i hope he has a fast recovery


-Steve-