thermal burns

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Justdragons

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Ive made a huge mistake and my 5 yo albino darwin has paid the price for it..

this year in Adelaide winter has been cold as anything and i (for the first time) used a heat cord on a thermo under a slate tile under the hide. at some point over brumation she has kicked the probe and the heat cord has burnt her..

whats the best course of action? ive been told sudocream or silversine? should i take her to the vet? i feel like it will be 200 bucks for him to tell me what you guys will already be able to tell me..

I assume a burns cream and keep her hydrated with some poweraide in the water and chuck the lights back on??

cheers for any help haven't come across many burns till now
 
Vet is always the best option not always the cheapest.I've had a couple of animals with minor burns from putting noses in places they shouldn't.I've used a few different products on burns.And I use paw paw cream on me and my animals.
 
I would never use cream on any type of burn.
Firstly how deep is the burn? If it is down to the flesh treat with betadine. Change your substrate to something that is easy to keep really clean like newspaper and let natural healing take place.
Depending upon where the burn is it might be worth withholding food until this heals or feeding may cause the scab to open up again.

Contact a repuatable vet such as Shane Simpson and see what he advises but pics will always help for better guidance as they explain much easier the severity of the damage.
 
How deep the burns are and how extensive will determine the treatment required. The last third of the following article by renowned reptile vet Douglas Mader explains the classification of burns according to their severity, what each looks like and the recommended treatments... http://veterinarycalendar.dvm360.co...ns-reptile-patients-proceedings?rel=canonical.

The following method was recommended to me for treating minor burns. However I have never used it or actually seen it used...
Keep the snake in a glass or plastic enclosure with no substrate. These surfaces can be readily cleaned and disinfected to reduce the risk of infection - a major issue with burns the protective barrier of skin is damaged. Wash and clean the infected area twice daily for a week or two, then reduce frequency as required, using diluted Betadine (or equivalent povidone-iodine) at 1 part Betadine liquid to 15 parts water (colour of tea). Use paper towelling to bathe and to gently dry the affected area. Apply a mixture of equal parts aloe vera gel (or cream), Savlon antiseptic cream and active manuka honey (refer to next paragraph). Cover with a non-stick sterile dressing, held in place with something like Micropore or similar medical adhesive tape. It will require two sets of hands to do this properly.

Manuka honey contains both antibacterial and skin healing promoting agents. Not all honey labelled as manuka honey contains significant levels of antibacterial factors. To be considered potent enough to be therapeutic, manuka honey needs a minimum rating of 10 UMF, which stands for Unique Manuka Factor. Honey at or above that level is marketed as "UMF Manuka Honey" or "Active Manuka Honey."

What wattage was your heat cord? The reason I ask is that a 15W heat cord under a 30cm by 30cm slate tile should stabilise at around 35[SUP]o[/SUP]C surface temperature, with room temperatures in the twenties. This is adequate for the warm-end but not excessive. It is prudent to use the minimum wattage required to obtain the desired temperature with any heating device. That way if a probe or thermostat fails for any reason, you have minimised the potential damage.
 
To reinforce what Blue wrote: it is best to use the lowest wattage possible so that faulty thermostats are not an issue . Many experienced keepers don't use thermostats for that reason but whilst you are learning they are a good idea. It should be possible to design a cage which doesn't need thermostats once you have a bit of experience. I use a 400 x400mm tile with a 13 watt matt under one half of the tile. On top of the tile, is about 35C and the gradient reduces to about 25C across the tile, to the side without any mat under it. The snake can still "escape" the heat to the non tiled portion of the cage ( in my case boring newspaper) where the temperature will be ambient.....ideally less than 25C.
 
Sorry to hear that Toby. I know how you feel, I burnt a beautiful bells lacie a few years ago (poor husbandry), she wasn't the same with me again (& I hated looking at the burns) so I moved her on. Hope it sorts out favourably for you.
 
My suggestion would definitely be NOT to wash the area regularly if there are no signs of infection - by all means do it once if the wound is contaminated with foreign matter or faeces from the cage floor, and then apply whatever antiseptic/antibiotic is recommended. Adding water to a drying wound is likely to increase the chances of washing bacteria into the area and increasing the chances of infection. Keep it as dry as possible during the healing process, and as has been suggested, replace any substrate with clean newspaper, changed on a daily basis. Allow the animal access to water for half an hour only every second day, and supervise it to prevent it from crawling through water and wetting the wound.

I definitely would not use any sort of adhesive dressing - snake skin is very elastic and you risk doing more damage to the skin in general, and the wound area in particular, if you are trying to remove it once it has adhered firmly. We all know what happens to snakes when they come into contact with any sort of adhesive tape - you can easily pull off the first layers of even healthy epidermis, and this will be especially dangerous when the snake goes into pre-shed mode and the outer layers start to separate. It is also quite likely that the animal WILL go through a series of shedding cycles in quick succession - they do this to reduce the amount of time they have a scabby wound, which of course is a point of vulnerability when they are crawling around.

Clean the wound, apply the medication, and keep it dry.

Jamie
 
I've used silverzine in the past with success, dependant on the size of the burn this would be my go to.
 
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