Disclaimer: DO NOT look at these pics if you have a weak stomach!!!

OMG!!! I went to take Talyn out for a bit of cuddling and I couldn't believe what I saw! She is torn to shreds in two places and has smaller cuts in a third and fourth. If I didn't know better I would have thought that some animal had ripped her up.
The major gash is about 1.5 inches by 4 inches and goes all the way to the muscle. The other one is about as wide but did not tear open. I'm still not sure what could have caused this... obviously something in her terrarium, but ???!!!!!
My first priority was, of course, my girl. I called Baxter in San Diego: she said to get her into a bath and try to clean the substrate out of the wound, put some Neosporin on it and put her in a quarantine box with just paper towel and a water dish. This all sounds so obvious, but I was in such a state of shock, I couldn't think.
My husband (a people doctor) cut the extra hanging skin off (gag!) and we cleaned out the wound as best as we could. She bled a bit so we didn't do too much more. Besides the cutting, it didn't seem to cause her too much pain; but who can really tell?!
Do I need to take her to a vet? I'm not sure what more a vet could do at this point unless it gets infected. This had to have happened some time last night cuz I had her out yesterday evening and she was fine.
ANY ADVICE WELCOME!!! I'm freaked!!!! (not to mention sick to my stomach!)
PS -- Of course I'm going to go over her terrarium completely to find the cause... I'll let you know.

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Andrea

Do take her to the vet because they will probably want to give her antibiotics as prophalaxis, this being one of the few situations in which that is appropriate.Turning up her heat a bit will also stimulate her immune system in the mean time. Poor Talyn Do you have any idea what piece of cage furniture caused it?

__________________
Official hostage of the GFWD
"The truely dangerous people are the ignorant ones."
Founding Member of Logical People Against Arcane Boa Subspecies Classification (LPAABSC):
B c.c 1758, B. c. i. 1803 B. c. o. 1873!
"A BOA CONSTRICTOR IS A Boa constrictor!"

I'll call the vet tomorrow morning, thanks. At the moment, I'm really not sure what could have caused wounds like this. Her hide boxes are made of construction foam. I don't think any part of her climbing branch is sharp, but I'll check it again of course! It could be the bridle hooks that I attached the fake plants on with, but they are also made of plastic. I WILL find the cause, but at the moment it's hard to believe that anything in there could have done this much damage!
I'm just sick with guilt that I neglected something dangerous.

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Andrea

I have a chicken wire cage around the heat lamp to PROTECT her from getting burnt. It is up on the ceiling of her terrarium far away from her branch and I never thought she'd go anywhere near it. The lamp is hardly ever on because the heating mat on the floor of the terrarium does such a good job. The edges of the cage are smooth and I had bent the top edge inwards so that there was nothing projecting out or up.
As I've searched the terrarium for sharp edges I noticed that the cage seemed "bent out of shape" and just took it down. Sure enough ! blood spots along that top inner edge! Somehow she got herself up there and wrapped around that top part, squeezed and bent it and got hooked on a barbed piece of the wire!
God what a horror!! I feel so miserable!! My poor girl! I never thought she climbed much at all let alone explored the ceiling!! The top of the terrarium is 4 ft up!!

If you think your animals won't get somewhere in their cage, think again!! If you use any kind of wire or wire mesh in your terrariums, check all the edges, even those NOWHERE NEAR your animal -- file them down or cover them with tape or both...

It's OK if you want to tell me I'm an irresponsible owner... I won't stop beating myself up over this for a while!

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Andrea

Andrea! You are not an irresponsible owner. You found a problem and are fixing it. You can never foresee everything that will go wrong. I agree that a trip to the vet is in order. All you can do is learn from this and share the problem with other keepers who may have used the same technique.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Nonsense, you had Talyn's best interests in mind and now may she have a speedy recovery!

__________________
Official hostage of the GFWD
"The truely dangerous people are the ignorant ones."
Founding Member of Logical People Against Arcane Boa Subspecies Classification (LPAABSC):
B c.c 1758, B. c. i. 1803 B. c. o. 1873!
"A BOA CONSTRICTOR IS A Boa constrictor!"

Thank you Merlin and Microscope Jockey!
I just feel so sick and so sorry for my poor girl.

Here is a picture of the lamp cage I'm refering to. It will keep your snake from getting burnt, but watch out for any tiny barbs! File them down or tape them up or both!

Attached Images

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Andrea

I am so sorry blackjack. I hope she is doing better and u are not irresponsible. U have corrected to problem and I am sure she is thankful for that. Please keep us posted.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

aww poor girl! but its wonderful that you went thru everything and found the cause of the injury. its not at all yur fault. man I wouldn't have even thought about something like that happening! hope she's doing better and keep us posted.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

I'm so sorry BJ, hope Talyn is feeling better soon, there was nothing you could of done to prevent this, you wasnt to know she would go exploring like that, and now you are working on correcting the problem,

Just before Xmas the local petshop near me was told they had to put lamp guards over their bulbs in the snake cages, and one of the BPs managed somehow to climb inside it and couldnt get back out, and literally burned to death, it was horrible, staff didnt no this until they opened up the next morning to find the burned BP, my guess is the guy didn't fit it too well, but it was an unfortunate freak accident, I was so upset, as I visit that petshop everyday, I am good friends with the owner, so now they have a viv out of use and a dead BP all because of them bulb guards, anyway just glad Talyn is ok and suffered only minor injuries, and pray for her speedy recovery.