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helped out a poorly grass snake: |
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Vipera Member Joined: 02 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 11  View other posts by Vipera |
Posted: 01 Jul 2010 I did a good thing for a grass snake yesterday, someone had found a grass snake which was injured and my sister said she would take him and call me as i have soem experience with snakes being a ARC volunteer (although i have never had to deal with an injured snake before) i told her to put it in a box with some grass for it to hide in and put in the shade. That was after i described a grass snake and she said yes to my questions about colour and the yellow and black collar so that confirmed it was a grass snake we were dealing with, i wanted to make sure it was because the person who found it said it was a grass snake but i dont know how much that person really knew about snakes. So then i cycled to meet my sister and my 11 year old neice and got to see him (or her) is there any way other than checking the sex organs to id a male or female grass snake? well it wasnt a baby like my sister said! and at first glance it didnt seem to badly injured, but i couldnt have a close look becuase it was at the school and the school has some stupid rule about no animals being allowed in the class room (my sister runs a after school club) so we had to be quite secretive, so i took it across the road to my mums for a closer look and then i saw it was bleeding quite a bit from a injury on its head and had other injuries down its body, i think a cat got him or something, i as hoping that it was one of those injuries that we get sometimes where there is lots of blood but once the wound has been cleaned it turns out to be nothing major, either way i could not release him in that state so i decided to take him to a vet, i rember a few years ago me and my friend was searching for reptiles with Paul ford in his stomping ground somewhere in somerset, we found a grass snake with some kind of injury and thats when i learnt that you can take wild animals to vets and i think they are obligued to help, we didnt exersise that right back then but this time i decied to do it, and the vets were actually very helpfull, the checked he could open its mouth so it can still feed, cleaned up the wounds and applied some antibiotic cream and said thast it should be fine now, so we took it to the woods, to a place where i have put some sneaky bits of refugia, which worked becuase i find slo worms there and occasioanly grass snakes (although none this year) but i thought it was the best place to release him, it was very nice to see him slither of into the undergrowth, and i felt quite good with myself knowing i did all i could possibly do to give him the best chance, hopefully i will see it again one day, although i might not recognise him, unless i can see scars from the wounds. I let my neice hold him and she was really happy becuase its the forst wild snake she had seen and the first time she held a snake, may have a future ARC volunteer there! here is a link to my youtube vid of the release http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UmBqYhcCc And some pics (click the thumbnails to see the bigger photo, click it again and it should be full size)    |
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tim hamlett Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 572  View other posts by tim hamlett |
Posted: 01 Jul 2010 hi he? does look like he's taken quite a mauling doesn't he...poor thing. great work though. i particularly enjoyed your niece's contributions. well done and thanks for sharing. tim |
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ben rigsby Senior Member Joined: 27 Apr 2010 No. of posts: 337 View other posts by ben rigsby |
Posted: 03 Jul 2010 hi vipera. thanks for your engaging, informative and encouraging story. tims right; smart first aid thinking. you went to a lot of trouble to write a detailed account with pix too! well done mate and thanks. incidentally the blue spray used by the vet was probably terramycin -a type of antibiotic most commonly used on farm animal hooves by shepherds and herdsmen. i didnt know it was also good for injuries to our reptilian friends! it seems logical now. both hoof and scale being similar hard,impermeable surfaces. acting on a shepherds tip, i sprayed terramycin on an injury to my cats belly once. the vet thought it was hilarious. not a panacea then! lets have more from you in future vipera! cheers, ben Diversity. |
- helped out a poorly grass snake |