Hurt by a crow. Please help me save him!

[Mom2TheDfenceless]

It's been about 2 weeks since I found and rescued Oscar (less than 1ft baby garter snake). He was being picked apart by a crow at the bottom of my street. He needed help. I brought him in my house and set up a nice cage for him. While inspecting his damages caused by the bird. I found 2 lumps which at the time I thought were just from the skin being pecked at. He had minimum use of his lower half. The bird was trying to break his spine directly in the mid of his little body. :-( So, I have been letting him heal and relax. Only taking him out or, going in his cage to feed or inspect him.

He has eaten possibly 2 crickets in this time frame. I'm not sure how badly he is hurt. However, he doesnt use his lower half. He just drags it along with him. He seems ok. But to look at his wounds you know otherwise. Now, where the bird had cause the lumps are open sores. Pretty deep! I dont know if this is part of the healing for him or, if he rubbed the scabs off by accident. I have been loosing my mind worrying about this little guy and trying to save his life.

I live in PA and there is pretty much no help or vet's here that know anything about wild snakes. I have many animals, some very exotic. I need some help to save this little guys life. I would be heart broken if something were to happen to him! I have no intentions on letting him go esp. being hurt and it being cold out already. He just simply wont survive. And I could not let him die alone after being tortured the way he was.

I'm new here, just joined today. I need urgent help for baby Oscar!

Thank you,

Jessy

[guidofatherof5]

Jessy,
Glad you joined the forum. Thanks for coming to the rescue of Oscar.
Ditch the crickets and find some night crawlers.
Here's a link to the forum care sheet. It will answer a lot of questions for you.
Garter Snake Care Sheet - Caresheets

Provide a good water supply and some additional heat and you'll just have to wait and see if Oscar is going to survive his injuries.
It's great that you took the time to inter seed for him. Nice job

[infernalis]

Bless you for helping out.

Steve summed it up nicely, crickets are not garter food.

It is possible for your snake to live with paralysis as long as the internal organs are still functioning, but only in your kind care would it stand a chance.

This may sound sad, but to a crow garter snake livers are a real treat, the crow was trying to open up the snake to get at the liver.

Unfortunatly for the snake, the crows usually extract the liver and leave the rest for the snake to die slowly.

Best of luck with your recovery, I hope it has a happy ending.

[Hornets23]

Seriously? They just eat the LIVER? Seems it would be tiny. I had no idea..

[Stefan-A]

Seriously? They just eat the LIVER? Seems it would be tiny. I had no idea..

When there's plenty of prey around, some animals don't bother eating more than the most nutritious parts. On a snake, I'd imagine that would be the liver and perhaps some of the other organs.

If you've ever watched a nature show that shows bears catching salmon by a river, the narrator will sometimes tell you that the bears usually end up eating only the brain and the eggs.

[Mommy2many]

Welcome! Sorry it is such bad circumstances that brought you here. Hope the little guy recovers. Please post a picture when you can.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Jessy

[guidofatherof5]

When I visited the Narcisse Dens in Canada Narcisse Snake Dens Update Page!
I saw many snakes dead from crows.
The crow will first attack the head of the snake and try to destroy its brain. Then it removes the liver and sometimes the heart. The crows know exactly where both organs are located. I found one snake that was still alive after such an attack. I had to put him down to end his suffering.
This was the hardest part of our trip, seeing all the dead snakes. My oldest daughter started crying. I held back my tears and explained to her that far more snake were alive and doing well. It seemed the crows picked on a certain size snake. Nothing too big, as an adult female and nothing too small. It seemed the adult males where the target. I didn't find any females dead.

[mustang]

welcome and thanks for helping oscar

[ConcinusMan]

I doubt he ate the crickets, it is more likely that the cricket would start eating the snake, especially if the snake has broken skin. A cricket will make a slight wound turn into a huge crater, all the while torturing your snake with being eaten alive. You should make sure there are no crickets in his container. They are a danger to the snake.