Snake Ripped Side Of Neck!! Help Me!!

[Kysarkel000]

Hello, I have a 10 month old ball python. She's been eating 2 nice at a time for some wile now and I went to feed her today and ended up with a disaster!

The first mouse went down fine, but the second mouse she ate kinda sideways and so there was a big bulge sticking out to one side inside of her and then it ripped part of the scales on the side of her neck. I saw this and tried to get her to spit it out (she had the head and shoulders down) by shining light on her and tapping her tail and head with a paper towel roll, but she just kept eating.

The bulge was there all the way until she finished eating, then it went away, so I don't think it'll rip anymore of her. The rip she has still has the skin intact, it's just the scales that ripped apart.

She seems okay. Is alert, and digesting in her log. It isn't bleeding or oozing anything.

What should I do to help her heal? Should I be concerned about any more ripping? Should I be concerned about internal damage?

Thanks for you help

Here are some pictures

 

[BReefer97]

This happens when you’re feeding too large of a prey item. I would feed him smaller mice. It’s much like skinning your knee so he should be fine. Just keep him on paper towels until it heals up.
You can use neosporin if you’d like, just do not use the pain relieving one. Just regular neosporin. But you don’t need to do this either, just make sure the wound is staying clean.

 

[Kysarkel000]

This happens when you’re feeding too large of a prey item. I would feed him smaller mice. It’s much like skinning your knee so he should be fine. Just keep him on paper towels until it heals up.
You can use neosporin if you’d like, just do not use the pain relieving one. Just regular neosporin. But you don’t need to do this either, just make sure the wound is staying clean.

It's relieving to hear it's like skinning a knee... I will be picking up some Neosporin (the pain-FULL one lol) tomorrow morning. I've don't tons of research about this, and there's not much out there.

The second mouse she ate (the problem mouse) was actually a bit smaller than what she normally eats, and it was smaller than the first mouse (went down without any issues). Like I said earlier, she ate it a bit sideways and it bulged out in one lump like this... Excuse the bad drawing ****

 

[stella1979]

Awww, poor baby girl. Bet that hurt some but let's remember, lol, animals are tougher than lots of humans.

With any wound, we want to provide the cleanest possible environment to aid in preventing infection. I am not an expert at reptile keeping but would say, if you can safely do the following, without putting too much stress on her, then... I'd recommend changing her paper towel daily, and well as washing the water bowl and offering fresh clean water every day. While you're at it, you might consider cleaning the inside of the enclosure with a commercial herp-safe disinfectant more often than you might usually do as well.

Lastly, even though she has been eating a particular size rodent, it seems best to offer smaller while the wound heals as well as for a while afterward to avoid reinjuring the freshly healed area. If the smaller size won't provide her with the necessary nutrition on your regular feeding schedule, well, I'd imagine you could increase the frequency of feedings for a time.

 

[Kysarkel000]

Awww, poor baby girl. Bet that hurt some but let's remember, lol, animals are tougher than lots of humans.

With any wound, we want to provide the cleanest possible environment to aid in preventing infection. I am not an expert at reptile keeping but would say, if you can safely do the following, without putting too much stress on her, then... I'd recommend changing her paper towel daily, and well as washing the water bowl and offering fresh clean water every day. While you're at it, you might consider cleaning the inside of the enclosure with a commercial herp-safe disinfectant more often than you might usually do as well.

Lastly, even though she has been eating a particular size rodent, it seems best to offer smaller while the wound heals as well as for a while afterward to avoid reinjuring the freshly healed area. If the smaller size won't provide her with the necessary nutrition on your regular feeding schedule, well, I'd imagine you could increase the frequency of feedings for a time.

Yeah, I plan on feeding her smaller mice until she's healed up good... I'd hate for her to re-tear it ️

Idk if it hurt her, she didn't really seem to care much. I tried to get her to spit the mouse out when I noticed it hurting her, but she didn't. And then when I cleaned the wound, she didn't really squirm or coil up or anything, so maybe it doesn't hurt that bad..?

I am going to get Neosporin today while I'm at work and put it on her tonight. I've heard to cover it with a band aid, but I'm not sure I'm gonna do that, as it could tear more. I checked on the wound this morning and it looks okay, but it's oozing a little bit now. I kinda expected that though. It doesn't stink, so it's not infected yet.

Since all reptiles carry salmonella, do I need to be extra worried about it getting into the wound?

Thanks again guys

 

[Kysarkel000]

Hey, just an update!

I got the Neosporin, and some "tender tape" that scrunchy tape dr.s use after you get a blood draw. It isn't adhesive, it only sticks to itself, so I thought That'd be a good option. She didn't like it since it's so close to her head, so I decided to leave it off so she doesn't get any more stressed out. Her wound is actually looking a lot better already, I'm surprised. Again, I smelled it before the Neosporin got put on and it didn't smell infected, so I'm hopeful. I'm cleaning her cage out tonight, and I think I'll be doing that every other day, and I'll wash her water bowl out every day.

Do you think it'd be a good idea to lower the humidity a little? Would that help keep her from getting infected since bacteria and such like moist areas? It's not like her tank is wet, but it's more humid than normal for these parts.

Thanks again for your helps!
Here's a photo of amusement:

 

[Brenden]

Just gotta say, that snake is adorable

Second off, yes it should heal up nicely as others said. My old roommate had a similar situation with scales being torn.

My roommate had this grand idea to take a mouse we caught in our apartment and feed it to her black king snake, while it was still on the glue trap. The snake immediately pounced onto the mouse before she could pry the mouse off the trap and the snake ended up stuck to the glue trap.

I went in there, her boyfriend went in there, and she went there, and all 3 of us were trying to think of a way to get the snake off the trap. Can't remember how we ended up getting her off it, but her scales were torn off the side of her body. It was horrible.

The snake however, healed and is still alive today