Wild caught snake with wounds

[count dewclaw]

I caught this wild garter and noticed it is injured. The wounds look like they have been there for awhile. Should I do anything to treat the wounds at this point? What are the chances of it being able to hunt if it loses that eye? Thanks for your help.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/headsideview.JPG

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/headtopview.JPG

[adamanteus]

If it survives without getting infection in the wounds, it will do fine with only one sighted eye. I would be tempted to release it without further interference.

[count dewclaw]

I was wondering if that would be best, just let nature take its course. I'll release it and let it fend for itself.

[adamanteus]

I think that might be best. To be honest, LeAnn, some of those wounds look like they might already be infected. Does the snake smell?

[count dewclaw]

No, it does not smell. I have not let it go yet, should I watch it for a few days. I have everything I need to set up a nice place for it...

[adamanteus]

It's your call, LeAnn, but if it were me I'd release it and catch myself a more perfect specimen.

[Lori P]

And I'd keep him and make sure he heals well and can eat normally... and coddle him and spoil him...:rolleyes:

[count dewclaw]

James, I thought about that, there are some other nice snakes around...

Lori, what would you do if he doesn't heal and can't eat? I just saw it "spit up" a clear thick fluid.

[Lori P]

Uh oh. I'm not by any means an expert in treating wounds in snakes, so me personally, I'd run him to my vet-- who is only 10 minutes away and a snake guy. So I don't know how to help you to help him... :-( I would assume, keep him warm, very quiet, and decide if being in confinement has stressed him more... and if you think it has, I guess releasing him to his own environment and letting him take his chances is kinder than keeping him scared in confinement... does that ramble make any sense??

[adamanteus]

I see it this way.... we can't bring home all of nature and make it better. If we're going to go out and collect a snake to keep, I think we should be choosing healthy ones.

There's always going to be sick and injured wild animals out there, by the very nature of their illness/injury they're going to be easier to find and catch than a healthy, alert animal. Nature is indeed 'red in tooth and claw'.... and that's the way it's meant to be.

The choice..... Keep it, and blow your savings on vet bills. Or catch a good 'un!

[count dewclaw]

I let it go...I was leaning in that direction to begin with.

Thanks for the help.

[Lori P]

I'm sure that was the right thing. James is the voice of reason, I am the voice of AwwwwwwIwannasaveallofthem. LOL!! Hopefully, he finds his way back to health. If not, I guess he becomes a meal for another critter that also needs to eat, and that's ok too.

[enigma200316]

good choice and a hard one but the right one good job and props to you.......:D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I have a big heart but I honestly would have released the garter also :)

there is only so much we can do...

I think the hardest thing I ever had to do was two years ago I was walking on my road and i found a huge female garter snake, her entire back half totally flattened. The front half was still trying desperately to get away. I actually cried. But I put her out of her misery and I buried her. I won't go into any more detail because I am actually tearing up thinking about it :(

[adamanteus]

I would have cried too. But we're only human... we can only do so much.

[Thamnophis]

My opinion. Let nature take its way.There is a good chance this snake will survive.And if not, there will be other creatures that take advantage of its death.This is how it goes in the wild.

[count dewclaw]

I agree. My concern with this case was whether or not the snake could hunt if it lost its eye (I know, starvation happens in the wild, but...). James relieved my fears on that issue. Also, at what point is it more humane to put the animal out of its misery? The snake that Shannon found obviously was not going to survive, thus I think she chose the right action. Alas, life is not black and white, but too many shades of grey. I do appreciate the input I got from all of you, thanks.

[anji1971]

LeAnn, in nature you just never know what will happen. That snake may very well go on and survive for a good long time.
I saw a big(at least 3 ft.) female the other day with huge, horrendous scars, and they looked like they'd been there a long while. Whatever it was that happened to her, it looked like something that would have been quite serious when it first occurred, but she seemed to be hanging in quite well now.
I think you made a good decision here -- it's always a hard choice, though.:)

[Lori P]

It always amazes me, too, what animals can survive. But then, they aren't whiny like us humans!!!

[jules]

what did you finally do. its hard when they are hurt and instinct to help but its not always ethical.

[jules]

sorry leann i skipped a page when reading posts. you have done the right thing.

[Spiritwolf]

I would have probably kept the snake, but the reason I am posting is to say that the wound in the photo looked like it was healing very well without infection. In the photo there was no swelling around the wound and no sign of oozing. The color of the wound didn't show any presence of pus. An infected wound will usually have swelling around the wound, ooze with pus (especially if gentle pressure is applied around the outside edges of the wound, an abscess with a lot of pressure in it can squirt pus out for several feet when pressure is applied!) or will show the typical greenish to yellowish color of pus in the scab.

I lived on a farm when I found wounded snakes, or more often when the cats found and brought a wounded snake to me, there was no vet in the area that would deal with snakes. So I treated them as I would treat mammals with abscessed puncture wounds, cleaniing the wound, applying antibiotic, and providing the snake a place to recover and rest (which was a 10 gallon tank with a good lid). At the time I had no pet snakes so I used a folded soft towel for substrate, gave the snake a water dish, a cardboard den, and covered half the cage with a towel so the den side was in the dark.

I've treated a number of snakes with abscessed puncture wounds by first gently softening the scab if it had scabbed over, then flushing the wound with peroxide. The foaming action of peroxide helps flush the wound and an infected wound will usually bubble up with reddish yellow pus colored foam when cleaned with peroxide. After cleaning the wound, common triple antibiotic ointment can be squirted into the wound. After doing this every day for several days with the snakes with abscessed puncture wounds that I treated, the infection was gone and the wounds were healed cleanly or almost totally healed and clean (meaning free of infection, wound closed completely, with some scab still present.) Before using triple antibiotic ointment, I used Panalog ointment (an ointment used to treat many external problems in animals, it's used for everything from wounds to ear infections!) and it worked very well too.

All the snakes I treated were found and treated in the summertime when it was hot enough that there was no need to supply extra heat. In cool weather or in air conditioned coolness, a heating pad set on low, placed under one end of the snake's enclosure, works to provide supplementary heat. If the snake is nervous, covering half of the cage so the snake has a dark place to rest, will help calm the snake down.

Incidentally, snakes must like me or something since I still have never yet been musked by a snake and still don't even know what snake musk smells like, except for reading about it (sounds like it compares to the stench when a frightened mammal expresses anal glands).

I've never been bitten by a snake except for little Feisty, whose story I will tell one of these days, and whose biting was due to her being about the size of a short shoestring and newly arrived here in her new home! Even she didn't musk me!

However, now that I've mentioned the subject, Murphy's Law probably will see to it that I eventually get the dubious honor of being musked someday!

[infernalis]

There are some soul stirring choices here.

Good luck with whatever road you chose:)

[adamanteus]

This is an old thread guys! She let the snake go ages ago!

[infernalis]

This is an old thread guys! She let the snake go ages ago!

I just noticed now that you pointed that out.

James, that was a "dead thread" I have found many like that.

If someones snake is dying, once they make the final post, and everyone says condolences, is there some way to archive it, yet lock out any additional posting?

Or "squeaky got loose" then 4 house later, "I found squeaky!" the thread just sits till someday someone says "I hope you find it" 6 months after the fact.

any way to fix that??

[Spiritwolf]

Perhaps then, there should be a way to make a separate "Old Threads Archive" folder for the old threads to go into for each topic.

Now, if only Google would learn to separate old stuff from recent stuff when I do searches. I hate it when I search for something such as a freeware, and get links from 2001, 2002, etc, badly outdated, coming up on the first page!