When Forcefeeding goes horribly wrong!!!

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

We have been deliberating about wether we should post the following topic for quite some while. I am sure there are some of you that will have an opinion about doing these types of things at home but under the circumstances it was neccessary to save the animals life regardless of the right protocol. I would just like to start off by saying that we are strong advocates of taking animals to veterinareans for professional help if an animal shows any signs of illness. I do think that this topic for educational purposes is a must as it might become handy if an accident does occur.

I will start off by saying that we seem to have one hatchling every year that seem to be hell bent on making our life a missery for as long as it is possible. This year was no different and it happened to be a small albino male that i shall call "Lucky" from now on. This little snake has turned out to be one of the most difficult hatchlings that we have ever tried to establish.

It hatched in mid november of 2009! At first it had issues shedding its out of egg skin. He eventually decided to shed and then contracted blister disease because of the constant humidity we had to supply to help him shift the shed. We managed to get him back to health after a few weeks of warmer dryer conditions. He then decided to not eat till June by wich time he had really become very frail and skinny. We do not like to force any snake to feed and have found that hatclings usually start feeding by themselves after some time. They even go for as long as 11 months and then only start feeding.

It got to the point where we felt we needed to get some form of nutrition into him. We never get rid of snakes that we have had a history with. I started to force feed Lucky a rat pinkie per week and he started to shed and put on some weight. In mid June i had a defrosted pink rat left over from a feeding session so i decided to use it instead of throwing it out. I had only one snake in mind and Lucky it would be!

It all started off really well, same procedure as always, Not! I suddenly felt no resistance from the snake, i also heard a tearing noise, when i looked the pinkie was sticking out through a tear about 2.5 inches long from the side of the snakes neck.

I went into panick stations as this was life threatening. it was on a thursday afternoon and when i started ringing around i realised that my regular snake vet was not in the office till Monday! I had to make a decision and fast. I decided to pull out the old sowing kit, i sprayed the torn area with F10 solution and asked a friend who was over at the time to help me restrain the animal while i started to apply sutures to the wound. I applied F10 topical ointment to the wound and started the long wait.

I received a phone call the following day from Shane Simpson and we discussed at length the proceedings of the previous day. I was more concerned about the tear in the esophageal wall than the skin tear, the skin of reptiles heal really well after accidents. He has only ever had to stitch up an esophageal tear in a 6 foot carpet python. I have never liked the idea of placing hatchling reptiles under anaesthesia as in my experience the animal usually ends up dead. We decided to wait it out for the 6 weeks that it would take for the wound to heal. There was some swelling around the neck area originally but that started to subside after about 2 weeks.

Here are some photos after three weeks.

Well 6 weeks passed last friday. I managed to get a hold of some mouse pinkies of different sizes and tried to offer him a few last night. He took them by himself and unassisted. I guess the near death experience might have had something to do with his change of heart attitude to feeding.

I guess the moral of the story is to try and avoid force feeding for as long as possible. Keep the little snake hydrated as i am sure dehydration and being malnourished had something to do with the skin being so fragile.

There was not one moment that went by that i did not want to kick myself in the head about this accident.

I hope some of you might learn something out of my mistake.

 

[byron_moses]

wow mate close call is the snakes name lucky

 

[reptiledude1]

lucky is a very lucky snake

 

[mrsshep77]

What an awesome story!! We always only ever use assist feeding as a VERY last resort as well and I still freak out every single time we have to do it!
I'm so happy that Lucky is doing well and sometimes there is that one who will test every inch of our patience and knowledge but usually that one turns out to be with the family for a very long time
All the best and keep us posted on Lucky's progress

 

[da_donkey]

Thats awesome, so what do you think happened to the esophical tear? and what happened to the pinkie, did it just keep going down? and also with the skin being so fragile , how was it to stitch?

donks

 

[Perko]

Well done for sharing this experiance, most people wouldnt dare admit to this on a forum, as it may harm there awesomeness!!!!

 

[shaye]

That's crazy but least lucky is Eating on his own now nd looks heaps better

 

[zuesowns]

wow, what a story, i'm glad so far it's a happy ending.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Well done for sharing this experiance, most people wouldnt dare admit to this on a forum, as it may harm there awesomeness!!!!

LOL, LOL, LOL! I dont ever do text spelling but that comment deserved it.

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

Thats awesome, so what do you think happened to the esophical tear? and what happened to the pinkie, did it just keep going down? and also with the skin being so fragile , how was it to stitch?

donks

The skin was incredibly tough. I was also worried that i might damage it even further.

I believe that the oesophageal tear must have healed during the 6 weeks. Its important to leave the wounds for as long as possible as reptiles take very long to heal when it comes to wounds.

There was absolutely no blood loss during the whole episode and i could see the snakes spine when i looked into its body cavity. There are very few veins running in that part of the snakes skin as to allow for stretching while feeding.

 

[D3pro]

What happens next to lucky Lucky? (if you don't mind me asking)

 

[cement]

Thats a remarkable come back, well done.

Was there any problem with the egg? Did it take longer to hatch? was it mouldy?

 

[dechnicz-face]

My uncle bought me a baby jungle python that we have to force feed and he uses a crop needle syringe thing (not sure what its actual name is but looks similar to this) and we fill it with high protein cat food for hills presricption diet. It takes less then 2 minutes to feed them which is less stressful for the animal and they are less likey to regurgitate to food. He has been doing it for years mainly with spotted and childrens pythons with no issues

 

[python_dan89]

Thats crazy good luck with lucky

 

[Jay84]

WOW.... what an amazing little read. The fact you stitched it yourself and it appears to have been successful is impressive. I have never had to forcefeed a snake before but this will stay in the forefront
of my mind for if or when i do.

Thanks for sharing the story.

I hope its a steady improvement for little lucky.

 

[percey39]

Glad everything turned out ok. Thanks for sharing this stroy as others have already said. I have had to do it and its not that fun and is always quite frustating.

 

[pythrulz]

well done to you had a troublesome hatchy and yove done everything to hekp the little fella hows it looking now

 

[CarpetPythons.com.au]

It's keeping the food down and going into a shed cycle. It's really been a stressful 6 weeks. Reptiles are truly amazing creatures, built for survival! Try to find info on something like this, there is nothing available. Not even Doug Madder covers it in the most comprehensive medical book to date.

 

[bracey91]

Amazing story mate, good to hear he's doing well

 

[Colin]

thanks for sharing.. lucky is one lucky snake :lol: