Hello,
I have a long story and I hope it's okay if I post it here. I'm continually researching and looking for tips and information to help make this girl's life better, and it seems like the best way to do that is to explain the story, including her past living conditions, current living conditions, and current treatments. Please bear with me, and thanks in advance for reading this.
On Friday I rescued a female boa (originally told she was a red-tail, but I now believe she is a Columbian), about 3.5-4' long, from a neglectful home. I took her from a coworker of mine. The snake (her name is Nzambi now) was dumped on her during a visit from an exboyfriend... he left, and she discovered that he had left the snake. The guy ended up skipping town, so my coworker was stuck with the snake. This was 8-10 weeks ago.
During those 8-10 weeks, this coworker tried to get rid of her by selling her. My husband and I considered taking her, but she was asking $200, which we believed was far too much for a snake that had been dumped on her. During this time, she was living on the floor in a bedroom with no heat. At some point, she stopped eating and was attacked by a rat during a feeding session.
My coworker knew that I was willing to take her, so she came down on the price... desperate to get rid of her. We told her that if she would let her go for $75, we would take her and see what we could do with her. At the time, I believed the biggest challenge was that she hadn't been eating, which I felt was due to her living situation... on the carpet with no heat. She agreed, and we arranged for her to bring the snake to work on Friday afternoon.
My husband and I spent the week researching boas and shopping for her. We ended up getting a 55
gal. aquarium with a locking top (we know that this won't last her for long... it's only temporary until she gets to feeling better and we can build her something bigger). We bought several thermometers, an undertank heater, and a kitty litter box to use for a watering/soaking dish and found and reshaped a box to use as a hide and double as a shelf. We also have an iguana, and happened to have an extra basking light, so we didn't need to buy one of those.
So, you see, we were ready for her on Friday when I picked her up. What we weren't prepared for was her condition.
She is extremely thin and painfully weak... I work with large constrictors at the zoo where I volunteer, so I do know what a healthy snake looks/feels like, and she was obviously sick. Her scales were dry and sloughed off too easily, and her tail had multiple bite wounds where the rat chewed her up. Aside from her poor body condition, her head was a mess... dried puss had built up in her mouth so that she could neither close it all the way nor open it. Her gums were so swollen that her head was mishapen and grotesque.
I took this picture before her vet appointment:
I felt horrible for her and immediately called my vet (again, I have an iguana, so I already have a great reptile vet). She was already full for the day, so we had to pay for an emergency visit for her to see us after hours.
Our snake was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection, which likely caused the stomatitis (mouth rot) she was also experiencing. Because she was also severely dehydrated, she stayed at the vet's overnight to get fluids. We picked her up Saturday afternoon with instructions to clean out her mouth with antiseptic 1-2x a day, give injections of Baytril and Penicillian every 72 hours for 3 weeks, and keep her between 80-90F. If she doesn't drink on her own, we're supposed to bring her back for more fluids.
She already seemed to be doing better yesterday (Sunday). Here are some pictures I took of her when we had her out to clean out her mouth:
Her head is supposed to return to normal once the swelling goes down. She's expected to make a full recovery with some TLC.
The original habitat setup was this: newspaper as substrate and a thermometer on each end. Her hide was positioned above the undertank heater to keep it warm inside, and I had a basking area of about 93F set up on the opposite side, with her water dish in the middle. If she wanted to get out of the heat, she could climb on top of her hide where the temperature ranged from 75-80F (the temperature inside the hide being 85F).
I posted this on another board, and was advised to move things around so that the undertank heater was in the basking spot and the hide was the cool part of the cage. However, the temperature in her hide is now only 75F, which worries me because the vet told us to keep her between 80-90F. We've considered investing in a smaller undertank heater for that side to keep the hide a bit warmer, but not too warm.
Although I will say that she didn't like her hide when it was warm, but has been using it more now that it's cooler.
What do you guys/girls think?
Also, our vet didn't advise us about the rat bites. I gave her a bit of a bath this morning and considered putting some Betadine in with her, but I was afraid that she would drink it (she's been drinking a LOT this weekend). The bites are halfway healed, and I know that reptiles heal slowly and they'll take longer to heal... they're at least scabbed over. My vet believes that the bites were infected and caused the RI, which in turn caused the stomatitis. Should we be using an antibacterial cream on them or giving betadine soaks, or will the Baytril injections do enough?
Believe me, I am very opposed to feeding live prey, and she will not be attacked again. Unfortunately, she is afraid of rats, so we're starting her on mice. I'm a bit torn on this... in her weakened condition, it would probably help to get the bigger end of nutrition from a large rat than just a little serving from a small mouse, but perhaps the smaller prey will be easier for her to eat. At any rate, she ate a mouse last Thursday (don't ask me how, with the condition her mouth was in) and we will be giving her another one this Thursday after she gets her injections. And yes, we will be feeding pre-killed (frozen and thawed) prey. We plan on gradually introducing her back to rats, feeding her once a week at least until she regains her health. Next week we're going to try feeding a small rat, and gradually increasing the size until she's up to large rats again.
I didn't pay my coworker for the snake on Friday when I left with her, pleading that I would need the money for vet bills. She told me that she had already taken her to a vet, but I know that the vet who saw her is an *cough cough* idiot who claims to specialize in birds and exotics but doesn't know a hemipenes from a parietal eye. He told her that our snake simply had a bit of nasal congestion from allergens and irritants she was getting into on the floor and told her to offer her a dish of aspen shavings just to get her off the carpet. That was it... no antibiotic, no nothing. (my vet was shocked to hear this). Anyway, I was convinced she either had mouth rot or a respiratory infection (surprise surprise, both) and insisted on taking her to a vet. We ended up paying $175 in vet bills, and I called my coworker back and explained to her that we wouldn't be giving her any money for the snake at all because we didn't feel it was right that we should have to pay for her AND her vet bills.
So... questions...
First off, if you have any suggestions or thoughts on any of what I just said, please let me know. We're really struggling to do right by her. I'm especially interested in what everyone thinks about her current setup.
Would it be okay to take her outside? I know that the sun can do wonders to speed recovery, but I also know that we should keep her as quiet and still as possible, especially while she's still adjusting to her new home.
Also, do snakes need a 'basking spot' or just a temperature gradient? I've kind of gotten the impression that you don't even need to use a basking lamp as long as they are warm and humid, is that correct?
And do you think we should try treating the rat bites, or just leave them alone and let them heal on their own with everything else? Again, the vet didn't say anything about how we should deal with them... we were all so worried about the RI and mouthrot and dehydration. They aren't fresh bites... they're 6-8 weeks old, and most have already started to heal.
I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading this monster post!
It sure sounds like she's in a good home... I wish you the best of luck!
