badly injured snake

[thisgal]

The other morning, I was about to dispose of what I thought was a black snake my darling fat cat had killed the previous day. Then, it breathed.

It's about a foot long, and as big around as my pinkie finger. There was an obvious crooked spot it its "neck". The only movement the little guy made was repetitive slow rotation of its entire length.

So I realised it was rather cool outside (55 degrees Fahrenheit or so), so I went and sat in the sun to warm him up. As he warmed up, I noticed blood in his left eye. No puncture wounds anywhere on his body, though. Through the blood I could barely make out the twisted and obviously non-working iris and pupil.

I then put the snake in a shoebox with a soft towel, all on top of a heating pad. This was about 3 days ago. He now has a dish of water in there and he has, uh, crapped twice. Movement has increased as well. The crook in his neck is no longer apparent, although it's obvious that area is still somewhat funny looking. The blood in the eye is browning (no fresh blood), but the eye is still unusable. He can "slither"...but only BACKWARDS! Movement has greatly improved, and I saw his little tongue flick out for the first time this morning! He takes the occasional REALLY deep breath.

Okay, my questions are: How long can a young snake survive without food? Should I/How/What should I try to feed it? I do have plenty of crickets... At what point should I let it go (meaning either he's not going to make it and I'd rather not see him die in my room OR he's improved enough to have at least a chance of survival in the wild)?

Yeah, I realise it's just a black snake, and there are hundreds more out there...but still...

And advice or opinion is greatly appreciated!!

 

[Steffen]

What species is it? I think we can be quite sure it will not accept a cricket. I have never heard of a black insect eating snake.

At some point, more or less, he is now weaker than before and I believe nature will do its thing and the snake will become a meal for some other creature. So there is really no point in releasing it at this point, unless you feel sorry for all the other hungry animals out there.

The only movement the little guy made was repetitive slow rotation of its entire length.

Typical sign of near death. But if he at this point, managed to get better, then I think he actually might have a chance... because I have never heard of a snake this close to death, getting better. Sounds really weird.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

The crook in his neck is no longer apparent, although it's obvious that area is still somewhat funny looking. The blood in the eye is browning (no fresh blood), but the eye is still unusable. He can "slither"...but only BACKWARDS!...He takes the occasional REALLY deep breath.

What the other person said. These all sound pretty bad, I'd guess that the "crook" in the neck was a fracture, if only a minor one, and the rest is possibly internal bleeding and neurological/nerve damage. It's probably not going to make it.

At this point, you can let it go and it'll at least feed something, or you can find an animal hospital or wildlife rescue nearby that'll end it painlessly. It's not *likely* they'd be able to save it, but I guess anything's possible.

 

[thisgal]

Now that I have some time, I was looking around to find the species. I only said "black snake" because that was the first think my dad said. Now I just think he's stooooopid, considering black snakes ARE, indeed, BLACK. This snake is most definitely the typical garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). Yeah, it's not black.

 

[Steffen]

Any kind of fresh water fish, earthworms, snails, frogs and perhaps mice. Thamnophis are very greedy and are fairly easy to feed. Give it a try.

 

[Endugu]

well if theres any thing iv learned about reptiles is they dont die easy

u can smash bash and crash these guys and thell come back
dont judge me for saying this i shot a 4inch comon lizard with a 400fps pellet gun straight in the back i left him fir dead and found him a year later with the pellet lodged in his spine i pulled it out for him and he went on his happy little way

so if you rlly wana keep it i would throw in a crik if hes hungery he shouldnt be picky

 

[Steffen]

so if you rlly wana keep it i would throw in a crik if hes hungery he shouldnt be picky

Huh? It's a joke right?

And do you honestly believe that all reptiles are similar/equal?

 

[thisgal]

Well, I guess I'm going worm hunting. I hope this works; it's not going to be out of the low 60's until 2 days from now (estimated high is 80 F), and I'd like to let him go with a full belly.

 

[Snipes]

Endugu, why would you shoot a lizard in the back? Anyways, i hope it pulls throught. I worked at a vet with at exotic expert and at my school the adult water dragon was sick and the vet basically told me it was hopeless. The lizard was emaciated, it would not open its eyes, it breathed slowly, it did not move, and it just looked dead except for the breathing. I took the lizard home and in two months it was healthy and active. Hope that give some inspiration.

 

[Endugu]

Endugu, why would you shoot a lizard in the back?

Im the kinda jerk that shoots poor little helpless animals.

jk im just of very low intelligence i didnt think about what would b after i shot the lizard

 

[thisgal]

Well, I just let the snake go. It's beautiful outside, upper 70's and sunny for the next few days. He got pretty excited. He can slither forwards now, and his little tongue was flicking in and out constantly! He knew he was home.

 

[Midnightrdr456]

well you did all you can do, hats off to you for that. I think at that point I might have just put it out of its misery thinking it was certainly dead. Hopefully it can make it on its own.:clap: