toxic poisoning (l believe)

[solar 17]

l had a young lady rang me up distressed, her two snakes had died and with no outside contact and good temps 34-23c could l look (mmmmm).
Around she came with two MD's that had been put in the frig. overnight and on appearance they appeared to die in pain so l said we could look in their stomachs for something obvious.
Ok it didn't take long, they had both been fed two weeks prior, in their stomachs it looked like a metal foundary with numerous pieces of what appeared to be alloy, now to jump around a bit l also keep birds and 12-15 years ago when bird wire started to be imported from you know where "a lot" of cage birds died from toxicity from biting/chewing the wire on their new enclosures as BHP wire is far superior and more expensive so imported wire is/was used.
ln this case (l believe) l have tracked down the problem with the supplier having new rat racks (home made) but the rats chew their kibble/food through (imported)wire boots or food hoppers.
A further autopsy revealed metal filings in her other frozen rats now this might be a one off problem and if anyone is concerned the wire can be scrubbed with vinegar to get rid of the concern.
l do believe and its "only my opinion" this is only a "possible" problem with new imported wire.
.......solar 17 (Baden)

 

[Radar]

I have had similar problems with the gal dip on birdwire, vinegar and a scrubbing brush like you have said are the best treatment.

 

[pyrodarknessanny]

wow!,
i know "new wire diease" can be a common bird issue, but never heard of it in snakes before
you learn something new every day.

hopefully this is just a one off, freak occourance.

 

[PythonLegs]

Easy to avoid- buy all your rats from Baden!

 

[solar 17]

Easy to avoid- buy all your rats from Baden!

seriously thats not why l posted....but thanks

 

[sara_sabian]

Easy to avoid- buy all your rats from Baden!

lol, I already do.

Seriously though, this is very interesting. I wonder how many deaths this has caused.

 

[Erebos]

Jebas that's amazing something so little could have a detrimental effect on you snake. Thanks for sharing Baden.


Cheers Brenton

 

[Trouble]

Wow! Thanks for the heads up, Baden. Very sad the lady lost her snakes, and in a painful way too

 

[-Katana-]

When we had cattle die from swallowing bits of wire or nails, esp when grazing around newly built yards or fence lines we called it "Hardware disease".

Looks like it's the same thing, Baden.

 

[benjamind2010]

Well, I'm going to cut open one of my frozen rats tonight, and get a look at what's inside.

 

[Darlyn]

Hell what a rotten thing to happen. Lucky you're on the ball mate and
can let others know. Poor owner.

 

[longqi]

way off topic sorry
but I just lost 2/3 adult dragon snakes and number 3 is critical and will probably lose it
4 young ones are fine
they only eat live prey like a small frog geckos and some fish
traced it back to some geckos from a different area
choker block full of parasites which killed the dragons in a short period
only the adults ate these

Baden
what gear do you use to check things out
Im pretty limited here
but heading to singapore soon
So might grab some some lab equipment
anything you can recommend??

 

[GeckoJosh]

They have a warning on "bird/mouse mesh" you buy from Bunnings that they should be scrubbed with diluted vinegar to get rid of excess gal dip

 

[nagini-baby]

well i no ill be scrubbing everything tomorrow... just incase

 

[Just_Plain_Nuts]

excellent work Baden, onto it.

 

[PythonLegs]

Best to pm him, longqi.. Baden has no tolerance for BS and tends to abandon threads once the crowds move in..

 

[Tsubakai]

A very powerful illustration of the importance of looking for answers to unexplained deaths.

 

[saximus]

I'm going to buy some mesh for new feed hoppers this afternoon. Just wondering if you guys could tell me about cleaning the mesh with vinegar. How much do you have to scrub it? Will there be an obvious difference when it's "clean"?

 

[GeckoJosh]

I'm going to buy some mesh for new feed hoppers this afternoon. Just wondering if you guys could tell me about cleaning the mesh with vinegar. How much do you have to scrub it? Will there be an obvious difference when it's "clean"?

You only have to scrub of any gal spikes left over from the dipping process, so just give it a good scrub down for a few mins and have a look over it to make sure no spikes are present (generally there wont be any to begin with, but they can be easy to miss).

Oh and make sure you wash all the vinegar off, otherwise it will start corroding it

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

The galvanizing from mesh wire is very toxic to animals. It has been a long known fact in bird keeping that the galvanized wire should be washed with viniger to remove the toxins. The whole lot of the wire has to be washed with viniger.
A lot of people maybe do not realise this with other animals.

Good thread Baden, & lets hope it makes more people aware.

Cheers
Ian