guidofatherof5
07-27-2009, 11:05 PM
Today was a cleanup day for the upstairs enclosures. This is also one of the times each snake gets the once over. The first thing I do with each snake is let the run through my hands a number times. This lets me feel for any skin problems or unusual bumps and or lumps. I picked up one of Speckles kids for inspection. After the first time through my hands I knew I had a problem. Crusty vent(cloaca). This happens once in a great while. I think that sometimes they don't get clean after deficating and they pickup some of the substrate as they move along. This then dries and you have a crusty vent. Left unattended they can get stopped-up and could die. The treatment for this is simple. A good soak in warm water, then rub and pull off the crust. Sometimes as you do this a vent scale may come off, which exposes some of the cloaca. That's what happened this time.
What this means is a few days out of the enclosure and in a recovery box. The recovery box has no substrate. I usually only put a soft hand towel in for them. I treat the cloaca with some antibiotic ointment a few times a day. I usually carry any radix with this problem around with me for a couple of hours after the first treatment, to make sure the ointment has a chance to work. If they go in the recovery box too soon they wipe the ointment off. After holding this little girl for awhile she got antsy. She made her way into the first aid kit I was using. I took this photo as she peeked out. She came out a few moments later. I'm amazed at how tame these little ones are. They've been here since birth and seem to accept the house, dog, birds, kids and everything else as normal. Very little startle response. Interacting with the family is so normal. They do make life fun.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/first_aid_radix.jpg
What this means is a few days out of the enclosure and in a recovery box. The recovery box has no substrate. I usually only put a soft hand towel in for them. I treat the cloaca with some antibiotic ointment a few times a day. I usually carry any radix with this problem around with me for a couple of hours after the first treatment, to make sure the ointment has a chance to work. If they go in the recovery box too soon they wipe the ointment off. After holding this little girl for awhile she got antsy. She made her way into the first aid kit I was using. I took this photo as she peeked out. She came out a few moments later. I'm amazed at how tame these little ones are. They've been here since birth and seem to accept the house, dog, birds, kids and everything else as normal. Very little startle response. Interacting with the family is so normal. They do make life fun.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/first_aid_radix.jpg