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INJURED SNAKE, need expert help***graphic***

Wow, poor guy! Did the vet give you any instructions on feeding him? It seems like stretching his mouth over large food is going to be an issue for a bit. I assume he may need to fast for a bit, then have smaller items for a little while. The stitching job does look really neat, I'm glad you were able to get him into a vet so quickly.
 
Alaya said:
Wow, poor guy! Did the vet give you any instructions on feeding him? It seems like stretching his mouth over large food is going to be an issue for a bit. I assume he may need to fast for a bit, then have smaller items for a little while. The stitching job does look really neat, I'm glad you were able to get him into a vet so quickly.
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The vet actually wants me to get Marty right back on small pinkies, injecting the antibiotic into the F/T pinkie prior to feeding- one every other day for the next three weeks.
 
razrbak said:
The vet actually wants me to get Marty right back on small pinkies, injecting the antibiotic into the F/T pinkie prior to feeding- one every other day for the next three weeks.
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How interesting! I was kinda curious how you give baytril to a snake. My vet and I are not fan of injecting it strait into the animal as it can cause tissue damage around the injection site. Hopefully he takes all think pinks strait away and considers himself spoiled for getting that many meals.
 
Dakafall said:
Don't wanna sound rude by asking, but roughly how much does a procedure like that run
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WHAT????

Just kidding, was just north of $100(including the 3 weeks of Baytril)... pretty reasonable considering.
Gives you a little taste of how f'ed up our health system is... thank you insurance/gov't! Sorry, stepping down from soap box.
 
Thats pretty good! My baird's ratsnake is getting an abscess removed soon and its going to cost around $250! And thats with a "discount"!
 
Well we just tried feeding a very small f/t and it did not go as I had hoped. He was interested and made several attempts, but was not able to get more than 1/4 into it and spit it out. It appears the jaw is giving him problems and he is not being able to "walk" the food into his throat. I ended up giving the Baytril orally, which he did not seem to care for at all.
I think we both feel pretty defeated now. It will be a week tomorrow since his last meal. He was eating 3 small pinkies every 3-4 days prior. Feeling pretty concerned.
 
As long as he got the Baytril in I wouldn't worry too much about it not eating right now. Most likely a bit painful/awkward to eat, but hopefully it will get back into eating pretty quickly. But if he was nice and healthy before this occurred with a nice weight then it can go without food for quite a good period of time if it must. A couple years ago I had a hatchling cornsnake refuse to eat for a good month or so before I finally got him going again and he is still alive and healthy today. Maybe weigh it every few days/week just to keep an eye on it.
 
I would not worry abput the feeding either, not worth the stress. He won't feel like eating a lot most probably too because of the antibiotics.

Over here administering liquid meds orally with a syringe is very common, I never had to inject it, though I have had quite some cases to handle in the past.
 
SnakeAround said:
I would not worry abput the feeding either, not worth the stress. He won't feel like eating a lot most probably too because of the antibiotics.

Over here administering liquid meds orally with a syringe is very common, I never had to inject it, though I have had quite some cases to handle in the past.
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Best case scenario... vet wanted me to feed Baytril injected pinkies every other day.
#2 option is orally... how far back into the throat do you stick the syringe(needless of course). This first time I went about 1/4" in... to far, not enough, or just right?
Again, he did not like it at all... he did some very spirited crawling around tub, rubbing his face, then went full body, head submerged into his water bowl for a minute or so until I pulled him out, then he settled down.
 
Yes, it does. Though to give you a bit of prospective I put $625 down today on getting senior checkups and blood tests done on my two kitties. That is cheaper than standard where I am.
 
Now that I realized there is another page of responses -

I'm not experienced with medicating snakes, but I have a lot of experience with baytril (enrofloxacin). If what you have is 100 mg/ml it is really irritating, and needs to be watered down with something. If you have 22.7 mg/ml it is better, though with mammals I still always watered it down with something. It shouldn't cause the animal to go off food at all. I know it is not usually given to pregnant mammals or mammal babies due to cartilage development issues, but I don't know if that apply to reptiles at all.

Too bad he seems to be having some troubles eating. Hopefully with a bit of time he will heal up enough to eat the medicated mice.
 
It's easier if you have a syringe with a small tube attached. Make sure you go past the opening in the bottom of the mouth that leads to the lungs. I wouldn't expect him to want to eat. It was a nice suturing job though. Baytril can be caustic if not injected far enough but you can also give subcutaneous fluids to help with that. I gave amykacin injections to my snakes for injuries before and it's pretty easy on them. Never had an issue with toxicity or tissue damage. I'm betting once he heals you'll barely notice where he was injured at all. Might be some scar tissue there for a bit though. Were you able to determine how he cut himself in the first place?
 
Update on Marty- he looks to be healing nicely, suchers are due to come out in one week and I am giving the Baytril orally. He is still not eating nor is he showing any interest what-so-ever in the f/t. He is feeling lighter, though is still showing decent muscle tone.
 
I would be concerned that if he tries to eat several times while it is still painful, he could associate pain with food - that could be a problem.

I would avoid offering food until you think he is pretty well healed. If you are concerned with weight loss (shouldn't be a problem for quite a while if he was in good weight previous to the injury), you could consider adding some liquid food to his medicine. That would also help dilute the medicine, achieving two goals at once. Your vet may be able to give you some Carnivore Care powder. Or you can put some ferret food in a blender with water. Or eggs, or cat food. All will help for a short term diet. If you find the liquid diet gets stuck in your tube, just push it through a tea strainer first.
 
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