After three meals, I am puzzled

[Serpico]

Latest update.
I went to the vet with both snakes, and the results are that, while Mila is ok (I brought her there just for a check up), Shiro has a beginning of an abscess.
I have seen with the lens the seepage, tiny really, but pressing the "bulb", it is visible.
The vet disinfected it, and gave me a prescription to follow, telling me to do so for 10 days.
After that, check up again.
I am relieved..and I hope he will be good again soon.

Cheers!

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to hear things are well and you have a plan of attack toward the abscess.
Glad Mila is well also.
Could you please tell us about the treatment?
Thanks.

[Serpico]

Cross fingers, the vet used a cottonstick to apply the liquid, more a gel actually, to the abscess, gently pressing down and working both toward the tail and against it..very slowly, and gently (but Shiro did not like it), until the gel was visibly penetrating between scales.

Shiro calmed down immediately, probably because the gel was not burning...

Now he is under his hide, and I am going out to buy the stuff.
Name is Clorexiderm, but he said that betadyne also worked. Problem is, of course, that brand names change across borders, I guess...

I'll keep you posted....

[guidofatherof5]

How often do you treat the area?

[Serpico]

How often do you treat the area?

Ah, yes, forgot to say that, twice a day....

[Serpico]

UPDATE!

But no, my friends, it is not the news you are waiting...still, it is not a bad one, I think.

Shiro, the male garter with the abscess, is slightly better, the bump on his back is moderately smalller, ad touching it it feels less lumpy, as it is deflating".

And my son today came with a shed, telling me that the female has shed again; I replied "impossible", she did it just few days ago.

We went and looked at the snakes, and it was Shiro who shed, not Mila!

Few days ago I did notice the male with milky blue eyes, but I thought I was just dreaming..

Instead he did an almost perfect shed, save for one inch at the tail, the shed is intact.

I tried and feed him one small fish, tho, but he ignored it.

Mila, instead, did not ignore my fish scented hand, and promptly tasted my thumb.
To be honest she realized her mistake immediately, and provided to spit it, save eating another small fish I gave her (bare hand, of course).

Friday, salmon, and we hope also Shiro will eat it, he is so thin!

What do you guy think of force feeding?

Regards!

[RedSidedSPR]

I don't like force feeding but I'll let someone else touch on that.

Blue eyes happen right before a shed!

And make sure you get that tail tip off.

[Bart]

I'm suprised that no one said this before, but I think you've got a couple of ribbons there! They are NOT garters. Probably eastern ribbons, which means, they are wild caught. They will not eat worms nor pinks - fish only (and frogs).

Those snakes like to eat from the water, so place their food in the waterdish. Live, like guppies, mollyfish or swordtails. Never ever move them from the tank, because it stresses them out and you can forget about feeding. Ribbons are very timid and if anything disturbs them, they will refuse to eat, even for days.

If they will hunt down guppies, we'll go to another stage, read: how make ribbons to eat anything else than live guppies.

[kibakiba]

They are both thamnophis, though... So technically, they are garters

[Bart]

Yes Chantel, "technically", though biochemically they seem less closely related to other garter snakes than do some water snakes. But their diet and behaviour are quite different.

Check this article, please:
Questions About Ribbon Snakes in Captivity - gartersnake.info