Lump on injured garter

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Hi everyone. I came downstairs this morning and found Smitty with another "kink" in his spine. I'm attaching some pictures. Maybe someone has seen this before. As you can see, the lump closest to his head is the original injury that caused a deformity in the spine; the second bend is the new one. It doesn't look raised or injured like the first one, so I started searching the web and I'm wondering if it could possibly be cryptosporidium. From what I've read it sounds like they won't drink on their own (He doesn't, I give him water from an eyedropper) and they vomit what they do drink (which he also does; not the whole thing, but some of the water). They also won't eat on their own (he doesn't do that either; I have done an "assisted feeding twice, two weeks apart. The last one was 10 days ago) It also said you would see a swelling in the stomach. (I can't tell if his stomach would be located where the kink is or not.) He was moving around a lot, but now he's slowed down quite a bit. I find him in different places in his enclosure, but he's definitely more lethargic. Does anyone have any idea what could be happening? He hasn't been injured in any way. I'm the only one who handles him.

It's not crypto. Crypto would not cause the snake to be kinking up like that, and he would be vomiting. Sometimes when they drink water comes back up, especially if they put their head down or if they are picked up. I could see that getting worse if the snake has kinks like those ones. When snakes vomit, they very violently convulse and pulsate their entire body, it is unmistakeable. They belly swelling would be very puffy and about directly in the middle of his body for 3-4 inches of length. It would feel like he's full of air. Also, he may be drinking little bits on his own when you aren't looking, they don't drink very often and it's only for a few seconds. Sadly, it looks like that little guy was badly injured and now the paralysis (possibly an infection?) is spreading. Kudos to you for trying!!!

[cwkeys]

Hi everyone, thanks again for all the good advice and support and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. I am sad to report that Smitty died this afternoon. He was moving around his cage a lot this morning and I was so encouraged, as that was more than I've seen him move in awhile. I went back to give him some water a couple of hours later and found he had passed away. He didn't seem to be in any kind of distress this morning; he drank from the eyedropper just like he always did, so hopefully he died quickly and was not in any pain. Thank you all again for all the great information. I'm sure he lived as long as he did because of the excellent advice I got from all you seasoned Garter snake owners. I am so grateful for your willingness to share your knowledge.

[guidofatherof5]

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. You gave him the best chance and extended his life. Thanks for all your effort. These kind of things are hard to take but they are also great learning experiences.
If you would ever like to take care of a couple radixes I would like to give them to you free of charge. I won't ship now because of the weather. Let me know.
Once again, sorry about your loss.
RIP Smitty.

[cwkeys]

Thank you for you kindness Steve. The fact that you would consider trusting to care for one of your babies means more than can I say. I'll keep that in mind.

I was okay Christmas day; I think because I had a house full of people, but the past two days I have been absolutely heartsick. I loved that little guy. He was a very special snake. I knew the odds going in, but everyday he lived, gave me more hope that he would survive. I'm sure he couldn't have been very happy not being able to move around like a normal snake, but I feel like he gave it his all in an effort to survive. He was very courageous. I will miss him.

[The Snake Whisperer]

The best way I've found to remove a snake or other small creature from duct tape or glue traps, is to use mineral oil. Apply mineral oil liberally and gently work the animal froee from the tape. You may have to reapply more oil in stubborn spots but using mineral oil makes it possible to remove even a snake thoroughly stuck, without losing anything more than a few scales. After the removal, I generally wrap the animal in paper towels and gently rub to help soak as much of the oil off the animal as possible, just because I don't want to put the snake back into its enclosure in excessively oily condition. The paper towels will soak up most of the oil.

Surprisingly, after excess oil removal, when I put the snake back, substrate (I use a mix of aspen bedding & carefresh) does NOT stick to the still somewhat oily snake. The snake does not remain oily for long but whether the oil is absorbed by the snake or its bedding, I don't know because when rechecking several hours later, the snakes haven't been oily and the bedding wasn't oily either. I've done this same thing to mice that escaped and got caught in a glue trap & by the next day their fur would be back to normal and not greasy.

[guidofatherof5]

No mineral oil?
Olive oil will work also.

[mustang]

what about grease?

[guidofatherof5]

what about grease?

Too thick and not as easy to get off when your done.
Just my opinion.

[ConcinusMan]

The best way I've found to remove a snake or other small creature from duct tape or glue traps, is to use mineral oil.

Sounds good but in the end, nothing worked. Short of pulling half the snakes scales (and tounge) off, there was no way I could free the snake from duct tape. Best bet is to not use any kind of tape anywhere near your garter snakes. If you can't keep them from escaping without tape, then ditch whatever you're keeping them in and get something more adequate. Unless you live on the moon, you should be able to get 10-20 gallon screen top reptile tanks for $10-$20 and even newborns cannot get out. For even less money than that, you can get quality escape-proof poly containers.

[The Snake Whisperer]

It takes some time and effort, you pour a generous amount of mineral oil on the spot where the snake is stuck, then you wait for it to soak in a bit, then gently try to pry away the duct tape along the edge of the stuck snake. Usually a little of the tape will loosen, at which point you apply a little more oil so it can penetrate further. I've successfully removed snakes from duct tape who were completely stuck and tangled in it from head to tail.
It takes time, patience, and repetition of applying oil as you go. The one thing you never want to do is use more than gentle force when trying to pry the tape away from the snake after applying the oil.
Yes olive oil will work too, but mineral oil is cheaper and useful enough to keep on hand all the time. It works well to unstick snakes or pet rodents or other small creatures from glue traps too, and has a number of other uses as well.

There is a possibility that your snake had a developmental defect that as he grew, affected him more and more. It's also even more possible, judging from the description of the problem, that you were dealing with an abscess-and unless an abscess is kept open so it heals from the inside out, only the top will heal over and trap the infection inside, allowing the abscess to regrow. You have to keep flushing an abscess daily-I use hydrogen peroxide because it cleans out abscesses and as an abscess heals and infection clears, the peroxide foams less. After flushing an abscess, I will pack the wound with triple antibiotic ointment, Panalog works well also on snakes & so does Neosporin. I haven't had an abscess in a snake but in the past, I've treated wild garters who had been bitten by a cat and if a cat bite isn't treated in the same way as an abscess so it heals from the inside out, it will end up causing an abscess.
Abscesses as they grow, also tend to travel downward due to the influence of gravity. When opening an abscess to drain it, it should be opened at the bottom of the abscess so gravity can encourage it to drain and continue draining.
An abscess begins usually as a puncture wound which may not be easy to see, punctures in animals are often due to the bite of another animal. Your description of the way the swelling became noticeable after you found the animal and saw it had been injured, fits the way abscesses develop.
Abscesses can burst and form again if they aren't treated. Left untreated,abscesses can grow and spread and the infection can end up going systemic and kill the animal.
Thing is, if your snake had an abscess, I'm surprised your vet didn't recognize it. Its common for pets to be bitten or otherwise sustain a wound, particularly puncture wounds, that may not even be noticeable until an abscess develops and grows large enough to attract human attention, thus prompting the owner to take the animal to the vet.