Marnie's Snakes

[guidofatherof5]

Very nice photo.

[EasternGirl]

Thanks Steve.

[EasternGirl]

Will be attempting Cee Cee's first "at home" injection with my mother holding her later this afternoon...planning on smelling of musk for the remainder of the day.

[EasternGirl]

Giving an injection to a very skiddish snake who is wiggling all over the place is not an easy task...especially when the person holding the snake has never held a snake before. I managed to give Cee Cee the injection...but I think I stuck the syringe in a bit too far...I hope I didn't hurt her. She felt it...because she wiggled...but surprisingly she did not musk me or try to bite at all. My good girl never musks me...only vets and vet techs...lol. Now the poor thing is all scared and breathing hard...sitting in her tank. I'll give her some worms when she calms down.

[guidofatherof5]

Might try placing a dark cloth over her while she's being held. Leaving only the area you need to work with out.
It might help calm her down.

[EasternGirl]

She wasn't actually too bad. She just didn't like being restrained and we did have to restrain her to give her the shot for obvious reasons. I put her down on a towel and calmed her a little and then showed my mother how to hold her behind her head and on her body and then put the needle in as quickly as I could. It's just one of those things that takes practice...and she wiggled the area where I put the needle in, which made it more difficult. I think next time it will be easier. But I will try that, thanks Steve. I just hope I didn't hurt her...it's difficult to find the exact area to put the needle in and then to get the needle in and give the shot all the while trying to keep the snake from moving.

[EasternGirl]

I just had to perform an emergency "shedectomy" on Hermes...right after he ate a whole bunch of worms. I went to get him..and his dish..out from his hide where he eats, and he was in there with his shed down around his neck...poor little guy. I put him in the shed box...but it started coming off in pieces..so I picked him up and manually removed the rest by using a washcloth to gently rub him and feel to make sure nothing was retained anywhere. Poor Hermes...I don't know how well he is going to digest his worms now...

[guidofatherof5]

Shedectomy I like that.

[EasternGirl]

Just gave Cee Cee her second injection. Poor thing has her eyes all clouded over because she is getting ready to shed...so she was extra skiddish and had to have her shot. I put the towel over her like you suggested, Steve...and it did help. But, she always cringes her skin when I stick the syringe in and jerks and then the needle always goes in a little too far. After, she was doing some open mouth breathing...but I think that is more do to the fact that she was upset and her nares are blocked from the impending shed, than from the RI...because she was breathing fine before we gave her the shot.

In other news...I finally found something to make a platform...after much searching for something safe...I found some little plastic stacking bins at Kmart and created a little three story cave condo for Cee Cee, and Seeley...when he is visiting...and I will make one for Hermes later tonight. They are having a great time exploring it right now. It's on the warm side of the tank so that the bottom sits over the heat pad...and the very top is right under the lamp for basking. The vine in the enclosure runs from the second story cave over to the plant and branch on the cool side of the tank. Here are some pics:

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[EasternGirl]

Set up a platform for Hermes too...

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Please excuse the glare in the pics...had to take them in a dimly lit room with the red lamp. I am finding that Hermes is hiding more and more. He definitely likes the heat...and from what I have been reading about T. marcianus, the species tend to like it warmer. Perhaps because he is albino...even the red bulb is too much for him at times. I think I will buy a blacklight and see if he likes it better "basking" under the blacklight. He does like to "bask" under the heatlamp. I have the heat mat on too...but he likes to get up high on his hanging plant and bask right under the lamp...so I will try a blacklight bulb and see if he comes out more.