Sticky tape + snake = bad

[thepythonguy]

Well yesterday my spotted python zues decide to wonder out of his enclosure. After much panic and me tearing the house apart i found him stuck to some double sided tape badly.
I quickly ran some warm water in a bucket i had and placed the snake in. I did quick search on here and found that vegetable oil is good for getting it off. So i raced around grabbed some vegetable oil from the kitchen and some cotton buds immediately applying it to the snake. I found doing it with just the cotton bud was taking for to long for my mate zues. I placed a just under a cap full of the oil in the water and quickly mixed it through. After a short time with me continually applying it still with cotton bud. we managed to work the sticky tape free with only minor scale loss.

Thanks to this great site with a quick search my mate is doing great.
Just covered in little oil still

 

[Chris1]

wouldnt that mean sticky tape + escaped snake = good?
like, without that, u might have lost ur buddy!

good to see people using the search function,...and that there was minimal damage to ur scaley (now slimy, lol,..) friend.

 

[NotoriouS]

My Diamond managed to get some electrical tape stuck on himself (very tiny square of it though) when he was out on the grass in my backyard. No idea where the tape came from though.. but yea I used a towel soaked in warm water to rub the part with the tape stuck (very very slowly) and managed to get it off without any damage. It's scary how such a small thing can do damage to the scales.

Glad it worked out mate!

 

[RSPcrazy]

Good on you for getting it off safely, it could have been so much worse. I have a not so experienced mate, that bought a couple of hatchling diamonds (I think 3), the tub they were in had a water bowl stuck down with double sided tape, and the snakes managed to push the water bowl off the tape, then they all coiled up on top of the tape and got stuck.
Now this guy isn't to bright and really shouldn't be keeping snakes, he decided to just pull them all off, but when he did that, he ended up skinning the snakes (not fully, but a big part of there body), they all died.

What do we take from this story?

DONT use sticky tape anywhere near you're snakes.

 

[shortstuff61]

Yep, a mate of mine had an enclosure that had a tiny gap that he patched up with sticky tape. The young Jungle got stuck on the very small patch of tape and skinned himself getting off it. It was very close to the tail and he only lost a patch of about 10-12 scales, but not long after the (otherwise healthy) Jungle was dead.

 

[leamos]

bit off topic but what about things like blu-tac, is this just as bad as sticky tape?

 

[kawasakirider]

Will the scales come back in the OP's case? That's horrible about all the other snakes.

 

[Wookie]

Will the scales come back in the OP's case? That's horrible about all the other snakes.

If not I think I just discovered a new morph! I'll start my new line of scaleless morelia hahaha. It isn't a heritable trait in case you were wondering :lol:

 

[thepythonguy]

yeah i'm very lucky i got to him in time if I hadn't finished work early it could've been a disaster. The double sided tape was on the desk in front of the window but I now have confiscated all the tape in the house and stuck it in a jar.

If I had a decent actual camera I'd take some pictures to show the scale loss I think he will make a full recovery with only a little scar in couple of shed's time

 

[moosenoose]

Don't go around telling people you've been oiling your snake

 

[kawasakirider]

If not I think I just discovered a new morph! I'll start my new line of scaleless morelia hahaha. It isn't a heritable trait in case you were wondering :lol:

That's cool, I just thought that there may be a permanent "bald" spot where the scales were ripped off.

It isn't heritable? So you mean to tell me that if I chopped my finger off and then had a child, my kid would still have 10 fingers? What sort of black magic is that?

 

[Wookie]

It isn't heritable? So you mean to tell me that if I chopped my finger off and then had a child, my kid would still have 10 fingers? What sort of black magic is that?

Only an experienced breeder can pull it off

 

[Fantazmic]

wouldnt that mean sticky tape + escaped snake = good?
like, without that, u might have lost ur buddy!

good to see people using the search function,...and that there was minimal damage to ur scaley (now slimy, lol,..) friend.

My husband said...now theres an idea.....snake trap for escapees......lol we did laugh...but seriously we are only joking

also dont worry about the oil....it will make his skin beeutifoool.....I just sorbolene on my hands and then handle my snakes and it is really nice for them.......