This guy has always been fed live rodents. It was fine for eight years, until it wasn't. One day, the rat won. This snake's owners were obviously deficient in their husbandry in many ways....he had layer after layer of retained shed over his eyes...so much so that his corneas are now deformed, and his wounds are badly infected. The rat attack happened five months ago! His tail is literally rotting, and the smell is...wow. He's now afraid of his food and hasn't eaten in five months on top of everything else.

I don't know what made these people decide to bring their snake to the vet after five months of ignoring what is clearly a massive set of problems, but they did....then surrendered him because they didn't want to spend the time/money getting him well. My sister took him in, and he's now on a course of powerful antibiotics and in a nice bed of damp moss to help with those eyecaps. Theye may or may not be cataracts under the eyecaps, but that's a worry for another day. So now "Ratbait" is in good hands and can hopefully recover to find a good home. I'm already thinking maybe that home could be with me, but I'll have to see how my hubby feels about that.











He's a Yellow Ratsnake, so when he recovers he'll look a lot like this guy: (Photo is from dixiedining.wordpress.com). With any luck, the end of his tail won't fall off and he should be quite a good looking critter! Then he has to learn to eat frozen-thawed food, and get over his fear of rodents!



Good vibes for a fast recovery are appreciated!