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Mizeria   Cphill58   Mizeria   Cphill58

Member	Message
#2268558 Mizeria View Profile	Injured corn snake A few days ago I found a beautiful red corn snake in my yard, normally I catch and release what I find, being a huge herp collector/enthusiast and herpetological veterinary hopeful, I just do this for fun. However this guy that I found has several small lacerations on his body and what can best be described as old ’gnaw’ marks on his tail... Or lack there of. The wound is pretty severe although in a small area (1/2 - 3/4 inch of injured tissue maybe? ), there is what seems to be a tail vertebra exposed, well exposed is putting it lightly, its entirely in the open with no surrounding tissue as well as several puncture wounds on the area. I will have a picture up shortly. What I’m asking is if there’s anything that I can put on it that wont cause excess damage, pain, or do nothing at all. I’ve been cleaning it out daily with warm water and a Q-tip, I’m far too scared to use betadine on something like this; I wanted to see if there was anything I could put on it whether it be a spray, salve or what have you. Any information/help would be greatly appreciated.
06/02/12  01:51pm
#2268567 Cphill58 View Profile	Message To: Mizeria   In reference to Message Id: 2268558  Injured corn snake Ok ...you have to clean the wound , as you said ...daily. You will also need to keep ot sterile and the best way to do that is in a clean tank with paper towels only. A small water dish for drinking and maybe a clean tupper ware dish for a hide. Don’t be afraid to use Betadine ...dilute the betadine 50/50 with water and use it often...make a few oz in a separate bottle just for the snake. Beta dine is very safe mixed 50/50...I use it all the time on all my herps ...it kills bacteria and fungi and sanitizes surfaces too...kind of expensive but my tack and feed sells it much cheaper. Also after you wash and clean you can put some Neosporin ...or any generic TRIPLE ANTIBIOTIC ointment on the open tissue. Make sure it is the type that does not have "Pain Reliever" If the vertebra and tissue start to turn dark or any systemic / necrotic symptoms start you will have to amputate the dead vertebrae and tissue and start treating the wound fresh again. Dead and rotting tissue and bone will look very bad and it’s not hard to mistake....many vets will cut off an extra 1/2" just to make sure they are dealing with clean tissue. Sounds like a cat really tore into him....or some other natural predator. Good luck.
06/02/12  03:49pm
#2268979 Mizeria View Profile	Message To: Cphill58   In reference to Message Id: 2268567  Injured corn snake Sorry for the late reply and lack of uploading a photo, your insight was very helpful! You’ll be glad to know my colleagues that I work with at the local zoo helped me remove the dead tissue and other smaller treatments. The snake is healing perfectly and accepted food yesterday.
06/06/12  07:36am
#2269314 Cphill58 View Profile	Message To: Mizeria   In reference to Message Id: 2268979  Injured corn snake Very very nice ...well done !!
06/09/12  12:37am

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