unexpected rescue girl, a few questions - update

[temblabamomo]

Last night I was supposed to hang out and stay at my sister's house, then go out to the SPCA to look into adopting Tim the rat. Long story short - sister's BF has a ball python, and they both forgot the "don't invite Morgan over when there's a rat in Slimer's tank, she'll freak" rule. This rat was apparently in there several days, the old finnicky snake rejected it, and they were planning to return the rat to the store this morning. I couldn't sleep tonight if I let them do that. So the little rat came home with me.

I'm no expert, but I think this is a girl rat. I guesstimate her to be between idk 6 - 10 weeks old...? The lack of harbles is my main reason for thinking she's a she, but I could be wrong. Wasn't able to get a shot of her underside, after getting her set up and settled into the baby cage I've just been leaving her alone.

Her skin is pretty sad. My camera didn't quite capture just how icky it is. Basically there is a thin, flaky dry patch of skin across her face, a similar patch on her shoulder, one on her side/stomach and a big patch on her back. I am seeing little nit things, so I'm guessing this is just lice that she's had for a long time.

She weighs exactly 100g. I have cat Revolution. How much do I give? .01? I've certainly seen pics of skin that is much, much worse, so I'm hoping we can get this under control soon. Should I bathe her in anything? Or rub olive oil on these patches?

The best quarantine I can do for now is keep her in a separate room from my boys. Got her settled, immediately threw off my clothes and hit the shower before going in my boys' room. Would it be advisable to give them some Rev as well? I'll be doing my best to change clothes and wash up, but I'm still concerned about carrying lice in to my boys.

She's basically been living off of Goldfish crackers for the past couple of days. She sat in her food bowl and munched lab blocks for over and hour when we got home, and guzzled water like it was going out of style. She is currently asleep in a little ball in the corner. She freaked a bit when I went to weigh her and there were a few snuffly grunty noises, but otherwise she hasn't been showing anything in the way of resp issues. The occasional sneeze, but she's been through a lot today, I'm surprised she isn't sneezing her little head off really.

 

[ratamataz]

:sad3: You're a dear for snatching her up. I'll let someone more experienced answer the lice questions. I've given revolution before but only to adult rats, not a baby. I gave my adults one drop. Geeze. Poor little mite.

 

[Dazzle87]

Yup, .01.

 

[PitLuvs]

I give babies and my mouse 0.01 as well so that would be the best amount for her. My mouse is 100g. I would treat all the boys as well, because shes been in your home without being treated first. She's sweet, and you can see how bad her skin is. Thank you for taking her!

 

[Joanne]

That is awesome that you took her in! I'm so happy their snake wasn't hungry. She must be mentally exhausted from being in the same tank as a predator for several days. Poor baby. I'm sure she'll be feeling better with a little medication and a lot of food and water.
What are you going to do about Tim? If he's neutered, could they be together?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

I would revo everyone just to be safe. As for her fur I would try adding olive oil to baby cereal to help her coat and help her put on some weight.

 

[Kimber]

I feel horrible for this little girl....just makes me think of poor Baxter being in the snake tank for 5 days before I got him

She doesn't look that healthy (although I am sure you're going to fix her up in no time) and it makes me wonder about snake owners...wouldn't you be wanting their nutrition to be a little healtier than that?

Good luck and keep the pictures coming.

 

[Nettster]

Omg, i can't stand people who feed live to their snakes >_< i use to own a snake and any responsible person would buy frozen rodents to feed, not only for the fact of its cruel to the feeder animals BUT it also endangers the snake. think of how a rat bite looks on a human, turn that into a snake thats not much bigger around then your wrist! I'm so glad you got her out of there the POOR thing she looks horrid, hopefully with some TLC she will be fixed up in no time.

And to the one comment about the nutrition of the animal. as a past snake owner i 100% agree with this comment, why feed something that is sickly that would have pretty much NO nutritional value, this is another reason why snake owners should feed frozen food, the nutritional content is normally better because the poor thing hasn't been practically starved for its whole life.

Personally i think people who feed live and ENJOY it have mental problems. why would you ENJOY inflicting pain and suffering upon something so helpless. I have seen and heard of rare occasions with BABY snakes where they have had to feed live because they baby is showing no feeding response but that is normally after the rub the frozen mouse with an anole or gecko to get the lizard scent on it. but i still disagree with the live feeding of ANY animal. i use to own predatory fish and NEVER once did i EVER get feed them LIVE feeder fish. i always opted for a healthy pellet for carnivores that i would mix with fish shrimp ect and some unflavored, sugar free knox jelly and feed. if they didn't seem interested i would add a garlic extract for fish because this increases their appetite and eventually they all ate the jelly cubes. feeding live is HORRIBLE no matter the animal.

i'm sure people wouldn't like it if we fed live people to lions at zoo's but its no different then feeding a mouse or rat to a snake. it feels pain, it shows pain, its inhumane.

 

[temblabamomo]

Little girl has packed on a bit of weight since I brought her home. Revo'd her and all the boys. Found a small lump on her side, doesn't feel as though it's attached to anything, can't really say much more than that tho' as she's a wriggly little thing. On the one hand I want to feed her things that'll help her warm up to me, but I also don't want to help a tumor grow. Suggestions on what kind of things to feed?

It's right under one of the scabbiest patches of her skin. Do you suppose it could also be an abscess from an infected scab?

Other than the lump, she's sort of doing okay. Sleeps a lot tho - is she still traumatized from so much happening over so many days? We had a couple of hours out on the couch yesterday where she was pretty lively. I think she's waiting until bed time to be active, because in the morning I find the contents of the cage have been rearranged. She won't use an igloo or any hidey boxes, just rolls into a little ball in the corner and sleeps. Poor dear.

 

[ratamataz]

I'm no expert on tumors, but a lump due to scabbing sounds very likely. The skin underneath wounds is often hard, especially under a particularly deep scab. Even after the wound looks healed the area can still feel hard, and it can take a while for it to go back to normal.
Maybe you could give her a warm bath and check out the lump, it will be much easier to see when her fur is wet. Then take a photo of it, and maybe one of the experts can diagnose it for you.

 

[Kimber]

When I brought Baxter home, he slept for the first three days..he'd come out for cuddles, but sleep pretty quickly. They just need a little time from being on constant alert (although I don't know how alert Baxter was, apparently he cuddled the snake *rolleyes*

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

My guess is the lump is an abscess. Try warm compresses to see if you can draw it out and if it is an abscess then baytril might be needed.

 

[Joanne]

I'm not surprised that she is sleeping a lot. It was a very traumatic event. Once she rests for a while and keeps eating healthy food, she will probably become much more active. Right now she is recharging her batteries.
I would feed her fresh fruit and vegetables, and other unprocessed food like sunflower seeds. Baby cereal mixed with soy milk is a favourite here. I would worry about getting her healthy now, and then if she ends up having a tumour, she will be able to tolerate the surgery better later.
When in doubt about a lump, I would take her to the vets for an exam. You can probably wait a week or so - many tumours are relatively slow growing, and if it's an abscess, it should present by then. If it's just poor skin, she should be healing up and it should look and feel better.

 

[temblabamomo]

I figure even if it is a tumor, I shouldn't rush her in to the vet right away. The last few days have probably been stressful enough for her as it is. I'll try warm compresses tonight, if she'll let me.

I always wonder if they really know that they're in a tank with a predator. My sister says several of this snake's potential meals have eventually just cuddled up to the snake. A few that were left in there too long began to actually nibble away at the snake when crackers weren't satisfying their nutritional needs. *sigh*

When I brought her home early Saturday morning she was barely 100g. As of this morning she's close to 120, and has dicovered that blueberry muffins are one of her new favorite foods.

 

[Kimber]

I'm pretty sure they understand they are in the tank with a predator...probably by the end they're weak and tired from lack of food and water that they don't care as much.

 

[Nettster]

As of this morning she's close to 120, and has dicovered that blueberry muffins are one of her new favorite foods.

me and your rat both blueberry muffins are the bomb :dance:

 

[temblabamomo]

On Wednesday I decided that baby girl's new home sneezes were possibly a little more serious, and she looked like she was beginning to breathe kind of hard. So off to the vet we went; fortunately when I called, they actually had an appointment open within the hour, so no emergency fee ftw.

Dr. P said she could hear a bit of congestion. The good news was she was up to 135g. She's really packed it on since coming home. Dr. P Rx'd doxy & baytril.

Naturally, when it came time to give meds, baby girl refused them. She was okay with the baytril, but the doxy was a no-go. First I tried mixing with chocolate Ensure. Then added some peanut butter. Moved on to strawberry Neskwik. Maple syrup. Maple & brown sugar oatmeal. Pea flavored baby food. Chicken noodle baby food. Turkey & gravy baby food. Banana baby cereal. And a litany of other things. Added lab block dust in varying quantities, since she just loves those blocks so much. No luck. She got to the point where even if it didn't have meds in it, she's still turn her nose up at it. It was late by then, she's maybe managed to get half her meds in over 6 hours. Not good. But I left her alone then to sleep, hoping she'd be hungry in the morning.

Here is where I'm hoping I did the right thing. Tried again all next morning to get her to take the meds. She's still so tiny and skittish, and I wasn't wild about the idea of scruffing her and trying to force them in. Sort of cornered her in the cage with a syringe loaded with Ensure and meds, she froze while I put it to her mouth and let me dispense the stuff into her mouth, she didn't swallow and most of it just oozed out of her mouth. Stubborn, stubborn girl.

So off to the vet we went again. Dr. P said continue the baytril if she'd take it, and they gave her injection of doxy that is supposed to last about a week. Poor critter really wasn't expecting that. Got home, let her take a good long nap, and proceeded the battle to try to get her to take the baytril orally. Sigh. Apparently she no longer trusts any mushy or liquid food I offer her.

In the end, I was able to soak up the baytril with a piece of blueberry muffin. She ate the entire piece last night, and gobbled up another this morning. Maybe it's just my imagination, but she seemed much perkier this morning, spent longer than usual out on my bed, tentatively exploring. Here's to hoping she'll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when I get home from work this evening.

 

[Roo]

First I tried mixing with chocolate Ensure. Then added some peanut butter. Moved on to strawberry Neskwik. Maple syrup. Maple & brown sugar oatmeal. Pea flavored baby food. Chicken noodle baby food. Turkey & gravy baby food. Banana baby cereal. And a litany of other things. Added lab block dust in varying quantities, since she just loves those blocks so much. No luck. She got to the point where even if it didn't have meds in it, she's still turn her nose up at it.

:thud:

Glad to hear she's been putting on weight. Any more recent photos? :joy:

 

[temblabamomo]

Will post some when I have access to a non-work computer that allows me to do pics...it sucks cuz during the week I can't upload them, or even view other people's piccys, grr. She still has a lot of bald patches, but I think the fuz on her face is beginning to grow back in :joy:

 

[SQ]

i'm sure people wouldn't like it if we fed live people to lions at zoo's but its no different then feeding a mouse or rat to a snake. it feels pain, it shows pain, its inhumane.

I love this analogy!!!
.... well, the natural food for lions is .... :laugh4:
May I use it?

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How is the little girl?
I hope she is doing a bit better every day.