I was leaving work today and dropped a friend off at his house. As he was walking in, he said, "HEY, there's a black racer". I look over and there's a black racer sitting in his yard. I approached it slowly and the snake didn't even move other than to **** his head slightly to watch me. I reached down and picked him up and he just moved his head over to rest it in my hand. (yes.. a wild black racer). I watched him for a minute and noticed he was opening his mouth a lot... and while he didn't do it constantly, every now and then he'd let out a long hissing breath. I suspect a URI.

I brought him home and plan on taking him for a vet visit tomorrow. At the house, I put him in a tank with a water dish and he dropped his head in and guzzled water. Then he pulled his head out.. and every 20-30 seconds he still opened his mouth slightly.. but now when he did it he was regurgitating some of the water he guzzled. He did that about 7 or 8 times. Then, he quit regurgitating water, but is still doing the open mouth thing. I am setting him up with some 90's temps for now and keeping him quarantined well away from my other reptiles. Any other advice/ideas? Also, how much can I expect to spend on a round of antibiotics to treat a URI? I've never had to deal with it before, I just couldn't leave this poor snake sitting there suffering. Thanks in advance for any advice or help.

This poor guy didn't seem to be doing well at all. I couldn't stand to watch him suffer through the night. I made some phone calls and there was an emergency vet nearby who will treat wild animals for free and then release them back into the wild. I couldn't have hoped for a better solution for this guy. I left my name and number with the vet, hopefully they'll call me with an update on his condition.

That's cool that he would do this. Keep us posted.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Wow, dont find many vets like that. Thats great. As Ken said, please keep us posted.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

It usually is about 50 bucks to walk in the door and anywhere from 16 to 20.00 for the antibiotics, even though you dont have him any more, I thought I would let you know incase it happens again. Great job though and please keep us posted!

Good job James. However as you know for a racer to just let you walk up and pick it up it must be a VERY sick snake. It doesn't sound good.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yeah.. he was in bad shape. I also found some small wounds on him. It looked like he had gotten into it with something. He could and would still move some. I got him home and he was cold to the touch and very fragrant. We use our spare bathroom for animal cleaning, so I ran a shallow tub of water and put him in it. He slowly swam over to me and laid his head in my hand. After a minute I leaned down and splashed some water over his back. Then leaned back and I'll be ****** if the snake didn't swim back to my hand and lay his head in it again. It's like the poor guy knew I was trying to help him. He had to be hurting to be past all fear of humans. He was terribly thin. My wife took a few pics while I was getting ready to take him to the vet. I'll try to post some later. Still no update from the vet, but as it's Easter, I'm not expecting much.

i hope the poor guy pulls threw, definitely post pictures when you can

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Yes my name is D... Yes as in the letter... No i wont tell you what it stands for!!!

When I took CeCe (our adult common boa) into the vet we got away really with a bill of $65.00 for the office call and 21 shot. I wish the little guy the best of luck.

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Colleen

aww hopefully he'll pull through and you'll hear good news from the vet. can't wait for some pics.

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yes i am a she ^_^

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