Emergency?

[Waterrat]

The joys of living in the tropics and keeping snakes outside has its limits.
Two weeks ago one of the two snakes housed in an outside enclosure sloughed and in the morning, Green ants Oecophylla smaragdina swarmed onto the slough. They are scavengers and sometimes nasty predators. In their frenzy, they ran up and down the snake's bodies and that annoyed the crap out of them .... obviously! The ants didn't bite but as the snakes were trying to brush them off against anything they came across, the female rubbed her nose pretty badly.

View attachment 195519

First, it didn't look too bad but as she was getting close to a slough, the skin around her nose turned into an ugly scab. Her nostrils were blocked, so I decided to peal it off. It wasn't any drama, except the nose was pretty raw and I was tossing up whether to put on some antibiotic ointment or not but then I decided against it as I sought it would clog up her nostrils again.

View attachment 195520

The slough wasn't perfect, I had to peal the skin around the head, etc., but in the end it was a success. To my surprise, she took a mouse the next day and a rat two days later. When a sick or injured snake is eating, it's always a good sign. She still has a long way to go (probably two more sloughs) before her original beauty will be restored but I am confident she is going to be alright.

View attachment 195521

The morale of the story is, sheit happens, the more animals you have the more chance that something will go wrong from time to time. As long as we are observant, use common sense and learn something from such experiences, it's not all that bad.
Needless to say I killed the green ants bastards that very day - all of them, with great pleasure.

 

[Snakewoman]

Oh dear, poor snake. I bloody hate ants! Hope she recovers quickly.

 

[Waterrat]

Oh dear, poor snake. I bloody hate ants! Hope she recovers quickly.

Tahlia, that's one point I meant to mention and didn't - because snakes have a slow metabolism, nothing ever happens quickly. We have to be patient with treatment and not to expect fast improvements.
I am sure if I took her to a vet (other than my trusty friend) I would come out few hundred dollars lighter and the recovery would be just as slow.

 

[Minka]

They are formidable opponents those Green Ants!

 

[Darlyn]

Thanks for that info Waterrat, very interesting.
Is the nose area particularily sensitive or was that extreme rubbing?

 

[m000x]

wow, red raw! hope she heals quickly.. she has nice colours too, how old is she?

 

[Waterrat]

They are formidable opponents those Green Ants!

I hate them with passion. "Frontline" mixed into a small amount of mince meat wipes out the entire colony in two days.

wow, red raw! hope she heals quickly.. she has nice colours too, how old is she?

4 years.

Thanks for that info Waterrat, very interesting.
Is the nose area particularily sensitive or was that extreme rubbing?

Extreme rubbing.

 

[Jay84]

Frontline in mince meat! GENIUS !

That looks really horrible, poor snake. Good to hear she is on the mend.

 

[vampstorso]

I'm glad they didn't bite her!
When I was a kid living in Brisbane I could never believe the size of the lump you'd get from a green ant bite!


Hope she is all better soon and without too many troubles!

 

[wokka]

I hate them with passion. "Frontline" mixed into a small amount of mince meat wipes out the entire colony in two days.


.

Conservation at its best!

 

[Snakewoman]

Tahlia, that's one point I meant to mention and didn't - because snakes have a slow metabolism, nothing ever happens quickly. We have to be patient with treatment and not to expect fast improvements.
I am sure if I took her to a vet (other than my trusty friend) I would come out few hundred dollars lighter and the recovery would be just as slow.

True, when I got my adult coastal last year he was very thin, and was scarred from burns.It took him a while to put weight back on. He's put on a bit over a kilo and the scars from his burns aren't that noticeable anymore. I have no doubts this snake will recover well in your care, just like the one that had the water blisters, that was a learning experience for me, I'd never seen anything like that before, and that snake looks wonderful now. Good luck with this one

 

[Waterrat]

Conservation at its best!

"Controlled ecology" Wokka, that's what it is. :shock: Now that the green shteits were eradicated, we have birdwings and other butterflies hatching and all the other insects that the green ants used to kill on regular basis. Being keep entomologist, I run insect light every night to see what's around - the green bastards used to clean up everything that was on the sheet at dawn. No more!

 

[sookie]

i hope you enjoyed killing every single ant in the whole colony,i hope they writhed in pain,agony at your torturous vengence.

 

[guzzo]

I hate those ants too.....Lightning destroyed a huge tree in my yard this year......as i was cleaning up the mess with the chainsaw i was constantly being attatcked by those bloody ants. Glad to hear she is eating.

 

[sweetangel]

wow that sucks so much!!! hope it gets better soon!

 

[Waterrat]

i hope you enjoyed killing every single ant in the whole colony,i hope they writhed in pain,agony at your torturous vengence.

Oddly enough, I did. No regrets.

 

[guzzo]

They drew first blood....killem all!!!!!!!

 

[cris]

Do you know what caused the damge was it rubbing on mesh or other stuff? I dont have a problem with people killing pests of any sort even if they are snakes. That said i often point out that if you let ants and other wildife live in your house they will do all the cleaning :lol:

 

[Waterrat]

Do you know what caused the damge was it rubbing on mesh or other stuff? I dont have a problem with people killing pests of any sort even if they are snakes. That said i often point out that if you let ants and other wildife live in your house they will do all the cleaning :lol:

I thought I explained clearly what caused the damage, read my first post cris.
Do you know what Green ants are? They do a lot of cleaning alright, they kill and drag away whatever they can.

 

[wokka]

"Controlled ecology" Wokka, that's what it is. :shock: Now that the green shteits were eradicated, we have birdwings and other butterflies hatching and all the other insects that the green ants used to kill on regular basis. Being keep entomologist, I run insect light every night to see what's around - the green bastards used to clean up everything that was on the sheet at dawn. No more!

I heard of someone who had a chook killed by a local snake, apparently living on their farm. Now, watchout! Any snake that comes near gets the "Controlled ecology" treatment. Perhaps if he they cleared and concreted their farm they wouldn't have any problem with that damm wildlife.