Best Place to Draw Blood?

[PythonChick]

I now work at a vet lab and I get all my blood work done for free, so I figured I'd take advantage of a good thing and get some work done up on my snakes.
Where can we draw blood from a Ball Python? A few of the people on staff are Licensed Vet Techs, and have drawn blood before, but not on snakes. We did some reading and the book says the heart! They really don't want to have to do that. Where is the next best place to draw blood? Does anyone have a diagram on how to do it?

Thanks!

June
[addsig]

[morti]

I have also read that the heart is the best place to draw from in snakes, but like you, I have never done it and I don't want to do it.

-Your Sick Uncle Morti.
[addsig]

[filly]

I know this thread was really old but the best place to draw blood is from the tail below the cloacal vent opening. Turn the snake upside down, and use a TB syringe with an apprpriate size needle. The bigger the snake, the longer the needle. Place the needle and syringe 90 degrees and push needle all the way in, until you feel the needle hit the vertebral column. Then pull the plunger and ever so slowly, withdraw the syringe, keeping pressure on the plunger. As soon as blood begins to fill the hub, stop withdrawing the needle but keep the pressure on the plunger. Depending on what tests you want to run will determine the amount and type of containers to use. You can't use the typical small animal purple top tubes or serum tubes. If you contact your local lab, they can supply you with appropriate microtubes to put them in.

It's also really cool to set up a slide and do differentials on them. I got pretty good at that.

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Hartsock]

uh huh....hmmmmm....

I wonder if Morti still gets the email notices for activity on a thread when it was this old. I wonder...

thanks for the info Filly