MY BOA ATE A DISHRAG!

[kerri4776]

Originally Posted by reptilemama

For some reason the lack of replies has me thinking troll, but I could be wrong.

what does trolling mean,,,lol....never heard of it

[reptilemama]

Originally Posted by east_stingray

Why would anyone troll a snake bulletin board? I've heard of constitutional amendment boards being trolled ferociously by libs and such, but I can't understand what would compell someone to do that here.

I'm on a website dedicated to answering pet questions, and we get trolls all the time. Don't ask me why, but kids seem to think it's fun to post fake questions just to make people mad.

[savannah_babe]

well captain, i think michelle is right, i believe it was shanes burm? that swollowed a dish rag..if im not mistaken..if you have a towel in the feed tote, lay the rat in there, snake eats rat, towel has rat scent..i suppose its not completly impossible..

[RevMojo]

Before everyone jumps the gun on calling this person a troll, stupid, etc., did anyone take into consideration that he/she may have immediately taken our advice and gone to the vet? And for all we know, could still be there? And Cap...don't you think your reply was just a bit harsh? Weren't you new at this once too?

svaez...I hope you made the right decision, and that it all works out.

[trinitywolf]

I agree Scott. EVERYONE of US has done something stupid in life. Maybe it wasn't with our animals, but no one is perfect. To me, this doesn't even sound dumb. These kind of things happen. Jeff Ronne posted a picture of a snake that had eaten it's own tail. I know there have been at least two times that I have had to extract newspaper from my boas mouth because they missed the rat and hit the paper.
I personally took the lack of replies as someone who heard advice they didn't like and went their own way...but thanks for setting me straight. They deserved the benifit of the doubt.

[NicoleRussell]

My first reaction was troll. Simply because this person went from saying they made a mistake to also saying a "friend" was to operate.....just sounds bogus.
I do however, know a guy in the gym who claims to do his own reptile surguries....so it's not out of the question for someone to feel they are qualified when they not

[sveaz]

Dear everybody: This is a message from the person who's snake ate a dishrag. First, she's (the snake) fine and alert. Second, she's a friend's snake and the friend and I are both computer-dopey and I've been elected to do this chat room stuff and am a bit dopey, hence the slow response. Third, I guess the story goes that the dishrag has been in the boa's home for over a year because she's a burrower and a few days ago she was fed her rat and in the morning my friend's son discovered the dishrag was missing. I'm not sure about the "stupidity award" in this case but harsh judgements are after the fact and don't help. What does help is responses from Kerri and Wrasse and Herp_chick and east_stingray and all the others who have knowledge to share. I am against the home surgery but my words don't penetrate the situation here and I'm printing out all the helpful responses and showing them to it's owner. Thus far my intuition here is that if the snake can digest bones and fur, it may be able to digest cotton and pass out the fibers it's body can't handle. So far it seems to be going through the small intestine along with the rat, and the snake is lively and alert and seems quite happy. I'm absolutely set against the surgery and am keeping close watch. Thank you again, everybody. I appreciate the responses and am passing them on.
Svea

[captainmorgan]

Why would you feed on a towel, dish rag, papertowel or anything else for that matter? Sure it did happen to shane, but he was there to catch it. Where was this guy during the time his snake ate a rat, AND a dish rag. I mean, why wouldn't you want to take a peak every couple minutes or something to make sure nothing's going wrong?????? And yes, I was harsh, I'm sorry but it hit the button the wrong way to me. And yes there are stupid things we all do, then there's STUPID things some of us do. Sorry I responded the way I did, I hope your snake is going to make it with a VET.

[eddie]

Ryan..
Think a bit on it..
Even if fed in a seperate tote.. the snake still has food scent on its own body which can easily rub off on the substrate, hand towel in this case, and if in a warm area can be mistaken for food (warmth and scent together).
Snakes aren't always the brightest creatures around and they do have awfully sensetive jacobsons organs and can detect food smells very easily.
Wala.. you now have a very unusual (although it does happen) feeding error.

sveas, welcome aboard
Sorry your first topic had to take a bit of an ugly turn for ya...

How big is the snake and how big is/was the rag it ate?

[savannah_babe]

Third, I guess the story goes that the dishrag has been in the boa's home for over a year because she's a burrower

i dont, but i have heard of many people doing this. some people make mistakes, if it was a perfect world, nothing would go wrong. that is why people with less experiece ask questions. if they knew, we wouldnt have a need to be here. If he had done this several times before, im sure he didnt think that this would happen now. for furture reference sceaz, there are alterior hides, you can use shoe boxes, driftwood, buy them at local petstores, etc. i would remove anyother towels, or whatnot there are in the cage, if there are anymore, and contact a vet asap. even if he seems to be doing fine, its better to be safe than sorry. good luck with him! and welcome to rtb.net!