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Crushed baby

neondragon

neondragon

Cyber Dragon
My corn snake got looser during her feeding. Her feeding container has no lid... I didn't think she'd be able to crawl up the side. I answered the phone while she was eating and when I came back she was gone! (Never again... getting a tupperware with lid ~_~ Bad mommy...)

In my search to find her, I think I hurt the little gal. She was in my dresser, in the tracks that the drawers slide along. I opened up the drawer looking for her, and the draw slid kinda funny. I felt something wriggling underneath and she was caught in the track. Her head especially. I got her out.

She is full of mouse, and went to the bathroom along the track (understandable) Her spine is definately intact because she wriggled from head to tail before settling down in her cage. Before I put her back I inspected her. One of her scales on the side of her face looks slightly dent. The rest of her is untouched. I am worried that I may have cracked her jaw. She still flicks her tongue out, but not as far as she used to (granted, this only happened a half hour ago... she may still be freaked.)

I am very worried about a broken jaw because of the short tongue flicks and the dented scale (and the fact that her head was caught in a very nasty, sharp, metal track.


Here are my questions:

1. If I go in and fork over several hundred dollars for xrays, is there anything that the vet can even do on a hatchling to fix it? If it's a "heal on its own" thing, then there's no point in taking her in just to find out if something's wrong. However, if there IS something they could do to help that jaw along if it's broken, it would be well worth taking her in. I worry about the jaw simply because it's able to unhinge, and I have no idea if it will set itself right.

2. She currently is full of a pinkie and was rather plump. In the event that her jaw was broken and she cannot eat, will she be able to last the 2 months it will take to heal? Keep in mind that she is just a hatchling, and doesn't have the reserves of a full grown snake.

Any advice would be appriciated. I'm really worried. I love my pet.
 
I've never heard of such a thing, and am horribly sorry about this. I don't want to bum you out, but my brother had an incident with one of his snakes like this some time ago, and it was a problem, so he had it euthanized, instead of letting it have a slow death. Hopefully there is nothing wrong, but I'd feel more comfortable having a professional give you an honest opinion right away. (Most give opinions for free, or a minimal fee, to just look at your snake and give an assessment). Again, I hope nothing is horribly wrong.
 
I think I may have overreacted. I just didn't see how her fragile jaws COULDN'T have been crushed with what I saw. Her tongue flicks and that damaged scale really scared me.

She's behaving normally again. I have not attempted to pick her up after putting her back in her cage, but I put my hand in front of her face and her tongue flicks are back to their normal length of tongue. She seems much calmer. Before the tip of her tail was shivvering.

I guess the only way to know for sure is to wait another 5-6 days and try feeding her. I hope she is unharmed. I was very upset!

(And I ran up to walmart today and got her a sterilite container with lid to eat in. It's shallow, but if I put a book on top, I think unescapeable!)
 
Their jaws are quite flexible and can unhinge so there's a good chance that even if she did get pressure on it, it flexed and moved so that little or no damage was done. You might want to keep an eye on her for the next few days (at least until she digests) before deciding if you need to take her to the vet. As long as she's calmed down and acting more normally, I wouldn't completely freak out yet. You know best what's normal for her, so you ultimately will have to make the decision on whether or not to take her to the vet.
 
Talk about bad snake Mommy! I was putting my favorite hatchling back in her sterilite shoebox and my chatterbox kid interrupts me. I snap the lid on and as I start to slide it back I note that my poor snake's head is smashed between the lip and the lid. :eek1: That's been a few weeks ago and she's fine, though she doesn't seem as quick to bolt for the great outdoors like she used to. Freaked me out, to see that poor snake with her head flat & eyes bulging. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:
 
In my youngest cornies cages, he has a giant heavy "ceramic" like fake tree to climb on. I was cleaning the cage and put him in a huge steralite tub and began puttin the supplies in there too, I accidentaly put the big tree down on his head (its really heavy) and i immediately realise after i saw the poor guy wriggling like crazy, i just thank god i didnt put it down all the way before i realised what happened. The SAD part is when i picked it up i was SURE he was out of the way, and i put it down again and i put it on his tail...But hes fine now! And is currently eating 4 pinks once a week:)

Good luck with your baby keep us posted!
 
If he's eating four pinks, you need to move up to fuzzies. Glad he survived his multiple squashings though.
 
I never squished a head.. yet *knocks on wood* but I did shut my poor little Hunter's tail in his ziploc feeding cup. He freaked out and I was trying to figure out what was worng, then I saw his little tail!! He was fine, ate his fuzzy 15 seconds later like nothing happened, but I still feel SO bad!
 
poppycorn said:
I snap the lid on and as I start to slide it back I note that my poor snake's head is smashed between the lip and the lid. :eek1: That's been a few weeks ago and she's fine, though she doesn't seem as quick to bolt for the great outdoors like she used to. Freaked me out, to see that poor snake with her head flat & eyes bulging. :eek1: :eek1: :eek1:
Click to expand...

That made me chuckle. Its like when the cats get under your feet, then you step on them (after practically falling over yourself trying not to) and they scream and stare at you like your the meanest person ever!
 
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