Found an injured grass snake

Hi there,

I live in England. Yesterday while doing gardening, my parents found an injured grass snake tangled in their netting. It was quite distressed and did a smelly poo as we tried to cut it loose, which I later learnt was a self defence mechanism. However, the snake did not try to bite us, and let us handle it.

We managed to get all of the netting off it, however it's sustained a cut from the netting to it's abdomen. I've attached pics- it was a little bloody yesterday, now the injury appears to be black. I'm not too sure how deep it is.

I've given it a bath in salt water, and I've put it in a cardboard box with a towel and some water and a (not too hot) hot water bottle, which it seems to like as it curls up onto it.

Other than that, I'm not sure what to do. The snake behaves very lethargically, and allows me to handle it, and does not attack me. It seems to be very still and immobile.

I'm not sure whether to put this down to it being in peak hibernation period (they begin in october apparently) or whether it's actually lethargic due to it dying from it's injury.
It's not accepting any food either, live or dead.

I've contacted a vet who's agreed to look at it tomorrow, but until then, what can I do? I don't want them to just euthanise it over an injury that it could perhaps recover from. Should I keep trying to feed it? All advice is appreciated. Thank you

pics:
https://imgur.com/a/lvSgwz8

The injury doesn't look too bad. Thanks for trying to help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guidofatherof5

The injury doesn't look too bad. Thanks for trying to help.

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good news, we took the snake to the vet, and it has been passed on to a wildlife rehabilitation centre who will allow it to recover and then re-released. You were correct, the injuries were fortunately minor. :)

Hats off to you for lending a hand and giving the snake a chance at more life.