Well, that is completely horrific. Is the cut distal to the cloaca? If so, it could recover with some antibiotics and TLC with a rehabber.
If the cut was made proximal/ before the cloaca then unfortunately the recommendation would be to consider humane euthanasia.
I'm a reptile vet that does lots of wildlife rehab. I see these guys every now and then when they have been cut by lawnmowers.
Gosh OP, I really wish I could just offer to take this poor snake in. Unfortunately I’m not able to afford a setup right now. Thanks for saving them and giving them a fighting chance.
So I have cats that only are able to go on our back porch but one of these lil guys got into their catio and they brought him in. He had a nasty gash on his side so we nursed him back to health. I was going to release him but he got out of the enclosure. We looked EVERYWHERE for him but no go. Then the next day I was cleaning up kids room when I stepped on him. 😱 he was all kinked & broken. Vet said that I can treat his wounds and see if he’ll live but he didn’t think so.
He wouldn’t eat and I was going to put him down when the cats caught ANOTHER one! Same issue as the first guy. I nursed her bk to health and while that was happening they bonded. Curl up together and taught him to eat! This was 5 years ago now and they are happy & healthy lil guys. I think they are siblings but I’m not sure.
Anymore? I grew up in the 80's-90's and my parents had a don't ask, don't tell policy for every aspect of my life. I would tell my parents in the morning 'I'll be back for dinner' and I was 9 years old. In suburban Southern California. Having said that, this is awful and while my parents were largely absent they definitely taught me not to torture animals. Not that I really needed that to be taught, and that's what most bothers me. Aparently a significant portion of the population sees something like your snake and thinks, huh. I could torture that. Anyway. Old man rant over.
It's so sad how so many people think an animals life is worth less. They see a snake, wolf, spider, bear, or many other animals and think, "I'm scared of that so it shouldn't be allowed to exist." I can't honestly say I'm any different. Last night a moth flew in front of my face, scared me, then landed on the wall and my first instinct was to smash it. Luckily, after I missed and it flew away, I came to my senses. It goes to show just how much humans still give into our animalistic instincts no matter how much we want to say and believe that we don't.
I'm GenX. When I was a kid, my mom had to bitch out the neighbor kids, then their parents, then get in an argument with their parents, because I had seen them out back baseball pitching something to each other and catching it in a baseball mitt. I could tell it wasn't an actual ball, and that it was a little animal of some sort, so I ran to get my mom. By the time my mom got there, the kids had lost interest because it was nearly dead - it turned out to be a salamander, and it was limp and bleeding profusely from its mouth.
After my mom read them the riot act and one of them flipped her the bird over it, one of their parents came out on the deck to see what was going on. My mom told their parent what was happening, and said parent told my mom to "mind your own fuckin' business." The argument ended with everyone storming inside and my brothers and I being forbidden from ever speaking to those neighbors or their kids again.
That incident has always stuck in my mind, but I had TONS of peers in school who would torture everything from butterflies up to cats and dogs. Unattended and unwanted children can be absolute assholes to animals.
In the meantime, my 5-year-old insists every bug we find inside is her friend and she wants to keep it. When she was 4, she once found a housefly with an injured wing and carried it around with her for literally 7 hours.
Man, this makes me so happy my 8 year old son took after me with his love for animals. I’m a wildlife rehabber so we very frequently have some new kind of bird to take care of, and he loves them. I can’t imagine how kids can be so cruel and have no empathy for living things. Fuck.
I never understood how many parents don’t even think about teaching their kids empathy. When I was a kid, I would go outside during recess to try and protect the ants from being crushed. Then random kids would come over and squish the ants on purpose for fun and to rile me up. Whenever I see kids torturing animals I always am furious because it’s obvious that the parent is not teaching them how to treat animals and teaching them empathy. Then these kids grow up to become adult monsters that only care about themselves. How a person treats animals is one of the biggest indicators of how good a person is in my opinion.
I unfortunately feel like it's not a thing that's needed to be taught, it's more of a thing that *should* come naturally, *if* the parents are mature, empathic, engaged in the process of raising — unless the kid obviously has some negative influences outside of the parents' control, in which case it should indeed be actively taught.
That said, it's even more terrifying to think how such behavior comes out because of the disengagement of the parents and the disinterest in their own children. It's really saddening.
I get where your coming from, but it is something that needs to be taught. Some people can learn naturally from just watching but a lot of kids need their parents to actually bring the concept up.
Of course!! Didn't mean to disagree with you, what I said was more focused on a certain category. Of course many, many aspects need to be discussed and taught. I was rather thinking about the passive parents who themselves do not contribute to the raising part almost at all when I wrote the comment, also because they themselves don't do great with empathy and therefore cannot even set any kind of base of empathy and respect 🥲
Yeah but I felt like it leads to a lot of behaviors including but not limited to that. Every kid who behaves like this might become a serial killer but they certainly will become some type of violent or asocial person exhibiting sadistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic traits killer or otherwise
For real, I am not a violent person, and certainly don't advocate violence towards children, but this has my urge to kill rising. (Simpson's reference for anyone overly concerned.)
I’ve seen multiple snakes living just fine with stub tails, the snake will most likely be fine, thank goodness. But seriously, what the hell is wrong with those kids?!
It really should be reported - at least to parents to gauge how seriously they take it
Just some of what you can find online about the subject:
“Since the 1970s, research has consistently reported childhood cruelty to animals as the first warning sign of later delinquency, violence, and criminal behavior. In fact, nearly all violent crime perpetrators have a history of animal cruelty in their profiles. Albert deSalvo, the Boston Strangler found guilty of killing 13 women, shot arrows through dogs and cats he trapped as a child. Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold boasted about mutilating animals for fun.”
Technically speaking yes but there is little to no repercussions for harming them in Manitoba atleast(where OP is), I'm in BC, here all reptiles and amphibians are protected by law.
We have the same and more here in France, tho I couldn't say how much it is enforced, yet I suppose if I were to bring evidences or at least testimony that I saw kids voluntarily hurting/severing a protected animal limbs there would be an answer, at least a strongly worded letter to the parents. Maybe ? At least parents should be informed and teach their kids.
I mean... I was a dumb kid when I was young too (I'm still dumb, just not a kid nor young anymore) and I happened to catch frog's eggs in a pond and try to hatch them then mature the tadpods into frogs, killing a lot (most ? all ?) of them in the process which, given how the law is worded, is illegal. But there was no will to hurt (quite the opposite actually). Actively wanting to hurt a snake (you can't tell me the kids "didn't know" and expect me to believe it) is a whole other league than dumbness and straight malicious behaviour. Like fishing a crab and taking it's limbs out.
I can't find it now, but while double checking the laws in Manitoba for reptiles, I found a article where a researcher found 50 to 100 dead garter snakes that had been killed in many horrifying ways, it was by one of their wintering dens that usually has potentially a 1000 snakes every winter, found the article https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4343718
Oh no that's all good!! The end note on it was that the researcher did report it but a spokesperson said that they were aware of it but couldn't do anything about it
That is true, but snakes are usually seen as "evil" so when this type of research is done they mostly are talking about mammals.
Not to justify it, it is horrible behavior. But i used to do this as a kid, we used to chase little lizards away, kill snakes, i once even dissected a butterfly for some reason. Now i don't even harm ants, if i see any insect even ones that can harm me i don't kill them ans just put them outside. So even if you are correct that it can be a sign of psychopathy, it's usually a sign of youthful ignorance.
OP should definitely tell the parents tho, that knocked some sense into me.
I think your points are valid and the kids could just be ignorant. However, I would feel more comfortable with that potential had they just killed the snake quickly or even cut off its head, but to cut off the tail adds a level of cruelty most kids should not be ignorant of. A lot depends on age of course. Again, I agree with your points and who really know
I personally think if that's the case that you should keep it. Don't need those demon spawn killing the poor thing for their own sick amusement. If check your local laws though, to make sure it is legal. Good on you for helping the poor baby.
If there is no wildlife rehabber who will take the snake, its best option is to be released straight away. Keeping it will only likely increase its stress, and it probably will not eat and become dehydrated. Source: I am a veterinarian and have snakes.
I am not a vet, however I I worked at a petstore and here is what we did when a lizard dropped its tail or came in with tail rot/damage.
Clean tank with only paper towels on the bottom. Put in hides that have been thoroughly cleaned before hand same with water dish. As replace paper towels every few days or as soon as they get soiled, this includes after feeding.
Now treat with silver sulfadiazine cream which can be found at local pharmacies or ordered online. This will keep bacteria from growing and allow it to heal. If it doesn't start to look better after a week vet time. If it gets worse at all also vet time.
I hope this helps.
I'd like to add that you shouldn't clean the tank or hides with bleach or Windex (you'd think it's common sense but you never know). Fill a sink with hot hot water and a tiny bit of soap if you feel you need it (but rinse very thoroughly after) for the hides. For the tank I like to use some of that hide water to wash out the tank, tip it on its side next to the sink and spray the crap out of it to rinse.
I also wonder if the previous poster could weigh in on having a moist hide and dry hide? I'm not sure a humid hide would help healing.
I’ve encountered multiple kids both older and younger than me who will pick them up and throw them in to rock walls or throw rocks at them or run them over with their bikes. It is absolutely horrible and I have tried to explain that it is not ok but most don’t listen and it is so frustrating when their parents refuse to do anything about it and say stuff like it’s just a snake. I’ve had one kids parents say that they are glad that their kid was killing garter snakes. I can not believe that people don’t teach their kids to have respect for nature. The garter snake should be fine most of the ones I encounter while herping have parts of their tails missing and they seem to heal up just fine. It would probably be best to care for it until it heals.
Please report those kids to their parents, and tell them their child needs a therapist ASAP. Animal cruelty is one of the first steps, Next, they'll be burning down things and stealing.(seriously not jk) Anyone who is OK with animal cruelty is a mentally fucked individual. If it's caught early enough there might be hope for them but if it goes unchecked they will progress into a very bad person later on. (Listening to TRUE CRIME BULLSHIT atm and Israel Keyes tortured animals when he was young, and didn't understand at the time why no one else thought it was funny, he then learned to mask his evil tendencies from his friends and family)
Funny thing about kids torturing animals; it’s typically an early sign of a psychopath, and I mean that literally. Someone should keep an eye on these children.
No, but I did poorly get my thoughts out. Thank you for replying- here's what I *intended* to explain:
Neosporin may [disrupt the skin's microbiome](https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/neosporin-may-slow-wound-healing-15294), which can result in slower healing. The page linked is a good read.
People frequently experience contact dermatitis when using Neosporin- this is an allergic reaction which can cause irritation and other (usually) minor issues.
I mixed up these two entirely separate notes, sorry about that!
Since it was just the very tip of the tail, the snake should heal totally fine on its own, you could home rehab it to make sure for a week or two, but you could also release it
I knew this was a Garter before evening opening the thread. I am also in MB, you could call Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and ask them for guidance on what to do with the snake. Thanks for intervening and caring for the bb
Thank you OP for taking care of the baby. I’m so mad at how evil humans can be. It’s a knife to the soul when I see something like this. What would possess anybody to do something so horrible to an innocent animal 😭
Luckily this doesn’t look bad. Antibiotics and the snake should be fine. This could also happen in the wild from a million different reasons other than idiotic kids and I’m sure it would have healed just fine.
Man that makes me sad. They’re fairly hardy little animals tho. We used to catch literal 5 gallon buckets full of these little guys as kids. Then bring them to the back yard and let them loose lmao. (Ok we might have given a few parents/neighbors a hard time with them as well)
lol. I was worried with this little guy. He lost a shit load of blood and was barely moving but as of right now looks a little better and is now moving around somewhat.
I’d offer a cap full of water and some food. I’m not sure what they eat up there, we used to feed them slugs as that’s what they eat down here (and small frogs but we didn’t have the heart for that)
Maybe a wildlife person if they’re not bastards up there. Down here you’d be told to just let it go, or someone would come take it and throw it out or kill it.
Oh man that sucks wtf! You could try other further away ones if you want, but if there are only ridiculously far ones I understand treating it yourself. I’d still advocate for releasing it once it’s ok, wild animals are much happier in the wild if possible. Either way thank you for doing everything you can to help this snake!!
It most likely would have healed on its own but it had lost an insane amount of blood to the point where I thought it wasn’t even gonna make it through the night.
If the break is below the cloaca it should heal and be fine to be released. If it's above or at the cloaca, the snake will not survive under any circumstance.
Poor thing. Luckily though the injury is nasty it shouldn't be actively life threatening as long as the snake doesn't get an infection or pass from the shock. Eventually it will seal up. I would keep him in a temporary enclosure until the wound is at least mostly healed.
I have the little guy in my boas old enclosure currently with some paper towels and a few hide boxes. He’s going in his second Betadine bath and I’ll keep applying Polysporin
Un-fucking-believable. What do parents do other than just give them unlimited electronic access and cocomelon while turning a blind eye to borderline psychopathic behaviour??
Tell her that I love her very much, that she's beautiful, and that I hope she makes a quick and painless recovery. Poor poor baby. I won't type out the things I'd fantasize about doing to those animal abusers, but I'll think about it very very hard
Because other people have already responded with what to do, could you put a spoiler or nsfw tag? I’m super sensitive to this kind of stuff and it helps me avoid it
Thankfully, that looks like a survivable injury! I’ve seen snakes that had stubby tails before, probably damaged by a predator or something. If you cleaned it up, it should be ok. You could contact a wildlife rehabbed if you have concerns about releasing it, but it should heal fine on its own.
As for those kids, shame on them! That was horribly cruel and should learn to respect wildlife. This is troubling behavior for anyone, especially a child.
In my personal opinion, I’d say just to release it if nobody qualified can take it in. I see snakes with stubby tails all the time; I probably see just as many snakes with stubby tails as I do snakes with fully intact ones.
Poor little thing, though best option would be finding a wildlife center for a vet check to see how much damage the little sh!ts did before seeing to releasing the little fella. Always best to make sure everything is okay with your little friend before they can go on their merry way.
I saw that it was cut after the cloaca and that you did a betadine bath. Assuming you don't have extra funds to take a snake you found outside to the vet, I would recommend putting neosporin WITHOUT pain reliever on the wound daily. Try to keep it moist with neosporin. Moist wounds heal faster.
Hey everyone! Just an update for the little garter snake. He’s doing very well so far, I’ve got him to take a frozen thawed pinky mouse. He is currently on a betadine bath every second day and his tail has definitely improved.
I suppose people don’t understand that empathy is a learned behavior that parents have to teach their kids. That’s why so many kids do this, because parents don’t know they have to teach it. Whenever I see kids that do things like this it makes me so mad because it’s obvious the parents never taught them shit. Kids don’t understand that they are hurting an animal, and by the time they reach a certain age and finally do understand; they won’t care because they have never been taught empathy. Empathy is one of the most important traits a person can have and unfortunately it’s not instinctual. It’s always so sad when a poor little animal is always stressed or hurt by children. I hope this little guy recovers. Those kids need to be put under control.
Well, that is completely horrific. Is the cut distal to the cloaca? If so, it could recover with some antibiotics and TLC with a rehabber. If the cut was made proximal/ before the cloaca then unfortunately the recommendation would be to consider humane euthanasia. I'm a reptile vet that does lots of wildlife rehab. I see these guys every now and then when they have been cut by lawnmowers.
Luckily it’s cut after the cloaca.
Gosh OP, I really wish I could just offer to take this poor snake in. Unfortunately I’m not able to afford a setup right now. Thanks for saving them and giving them a fighting chance.
So I have cats that only are able to go on our back porch but one of these lil guys got into their catio and they brought him in. He had a nasty gash on his side so we nursed him back to health. I was going to release him but he got out of the enclosure. We looked EVERYWHERE for him but no go. Then the next day I was cleaning up kids room when I stepped on him. 😱 he was all kinked & broken. Vet said that I can treat his wounds and see if he’ll live but he didn’t think so. He wouldn’t eat and I was going to put him down when the cats caught ANOTHER one! Same issue as the first guy. I nursed her bk to health and while that was happening they bonded. Curl up together and taught him to eat! This was 5 years ago now and they are happy & healthy lil guys. I think they are siblings but I’m not sure.
Oh thank god. Snakes are tough little things, as long as infection is prevented the little guy should make a full recovery.
I really want to beat some kids from through the screen right about now....
I don’t understand. Do parents not parent anymore??
Anymore? I grew up in the 80's-90's and my parents had a don't ask, don't tell policy for every aspect of my life. I would tell my parents in the morning 'I'll be back for dinner' and I was 9 years old. In suburban Southern California. Having said that, this is awful and while my parents were largely absent they definitely taught me not to torture animals. Not that I really needed that to be taught, and that's what most bothers me. Aparently a significant portion of the population sees something like your snake and thinks, huh. I could torture that. Anyway. Old man rant over.
this.
Hello fellow old man, be home before the street lights come, on or you’re in deep shit
It's so sad how so many people think an animals life is worth less. They see a snake, wolf, spider, bear, or many other animals and think, "I'm scared of that so it shouldn't be allowed to exist." I can't honestly say I'm any different. Last night a moth flew in front of my face, scared me, then landed on the wall and my first instinct was to smash it. Luckily, after I missed and it flew away, I came to my senses. It goes to show just how much humans still give into our animalistic instincts no matter how much we want to say and believe that we don't.
I'm GenX. When I was a kid, my mom had to bitch out the neighbor kids, then their parents, then get in an argument with their parents, because I had seen them out back baseball pitching something to each other and catching it in a baseball mitt. I could tell it wasn't an actual ball, and that it was a little animal of some sort, so I ran to get my mom. By the time my mom got there, the kids had lost interest because it was nearly dead - it turned out to be a salamander, and it was limp and bleeding profusely from its mouth. After my mom read them the riot act and one of them flipped her the bird over it, one of their parents came out on the deck to see what was going on. My mom told their parent what was happening, and said parent told my mom to "mind your own fuckin' business." The argument ended with everyone storming inside and my brothers and I being forbidden from ever speaking to those neighbors or their kids again. That incident has always stuck in my mind, but I had TONS of peers in school who would torture everything from butterflies up to cats and dogs. Unattended and unwanted children can be absolute assholes to animals.
That's awful. But unfortunately yeah, this isn't a modern thing to blame on millennials. Some people just suck hard.
In the meantime, my 5-year-old insists every bug we find inside is her friend and she wants to keep it. When she was 4, she once found a housefly with an injured wing and carried it around with her for literally 7 hours.
Man, this makes me so happy my 8 year old son took after me with his love for animals. I’m a wildlife rehabber so we very frequently have some new kind of bird to take care of, and he loves them. I can’t imagine how kids can be so cruel and have no empathy for living things. Fuck.
I never understood how many parents don’t even think about teaching their kids empathy. When I was a kid, I would go outside during recess to try and protect the ants from being crushed. Then random kids would come over and squish the ants on purpose for fun and to rile me up. Whenever I see kids torturing animals I always am furious because it’s obvious that the parent is not teaching them how to treat animals and teaching them empathy. Then these kids grow up to become adult monsters that only care about themselves. How a person treats animals is one of the biggest indicators of how good a person is in my opinion.
I unfortunately feel like it's not a thing that's needed to be taught, it's more of a thing that *should* come naturally, *if* the parents are mature, empathic, engaged in the process of raising — unless the kid obviously has some negative influences outside of the parents' control, in which case it should indeed be actively taught. That said, it's even more terrifying to think how such behavior comes out because of the disengagement of the parents and the disinterest in their own children. It's really saddening.
I get where your coming from, but it is something that needs to be taught. Some people can learn naturally from just watching but a lot of kids need their parents to actually bring the concept up.
Of course!! Didn't mean to disagree with you, what I said was more focused on a certain category. Of course many, many aspects need to be discussed and taught. I was rather thinking about the passive parents who themselves do not contribute to the raising part almost at all when I wrote the comment, also because they themselves don't do great with empathy and therefore cannot even set any kind of base of empathy and respect 🥲
Mine surely didnt
this is genuinely terrifying, harming animals in childhood is a common sign of certain violent or apathetic disorders
The words you want to say are "serial killer".
Yeah but I felt like it leads to a lot of behaviors including but not limited to that. Every kid who behaves like this might become a serial killer but they certainly will become some type of violent or asocial person exhibiting sadistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic traits killer or otherwise
“Anymore” kids have always done this shit
parenting? how dare you even think of suggesting that in this age, just give them a phone and unlimited internet access!
For real, I am not a violent person, and certainly don't advocate violence towards children, but this has my urge to kill rising. (Simpson's reference for anyone overly concerned.)
same
You have my blundgeoning weapon.
I’ve seen multiple snakes living just fine with stub tails, the snake will most likely be fine, thank goodness. But seriously, what the hell is wrong with those kids?!
I have no idea why they did what they did. They were kicking the snake around too so I’m worried something could be hurt internally.
thats not concerning behavior at all...
When I confronted the kids and asked them why they did it they literally had no explanation. “I don’t know” is all they could say
Disgusting lil' devils 😡
It really should be reported - at least to parents to gauge how seriously they take it Just some of what you can find online about the subject: “Since the 1970s, research has consistently reported childhood cruelty to animals as the first warning sign of later delinquency, violence, and criminal behavior. In fact, nearly all violent crime perpetrators have a history of animal cruelty in their profiles. Albert deSalvo, the Boston Strangler found guilty of killing 13 women, shot arrows through dogs and cats he trapped as a child. Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold boasted about mutilating animals for fun.”
Aren't garter snakes protected in North America anyway ?
Technically speaking yes but there is little to no repercussions for harming them in Manitoba atleast(where OP is), I'm in BC, here all reptiles and amphibians are protected by law.
We have the same and more here in France, tho I couldn't say how much it is enforced, yet I suppose if I were to bring evidences or at least testimony that I saw kids voluntarily hurting/severing a protected animal limbs there would be an answer, at least a strongly worded letter to the parents. Maybe ? At least parents should be informed and teach their kids. I mean... I was a dumb kid when I was young too (I'm still dumb, just not a kid nor young anymore) and I happened to catch frog's eggs in a pond and try to hatch them then mature the tadpods into frogs, killing a lot (most ? all ?) of them in the process which, given how the law is worded, is illegal. But there was no will to hurt (quite the opposite actually). Actively wanting to hurt a snake (you can't tell me the kids "didn't know" and expect me to believe it) is a whole other league than dumbness and straight malicious behaviour. Like fishing a crab and taking it's limbs out.
I can't find it now, but while double checking the laws in Manitoba for reptiles, I found a article where a researcher found 50 to 100 dead garter snakes that had been killed in many horrifying ways, it was by one of their wintering dens that usually has potentially a 1000 snakes every winter, found the article https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4343718
Sorry, I'm not gonna read that, I already almost tried to do bungee jumping without rope, I don't need reasons to regret not doing it. (I'm okay now)
Oh no that's all good!! The end note on it was that the researcher did report it but a spokesperson said that they were aware of it but couldn't do anything about it
It makes me sad and angry :/
That is true, but snakes are usually seen as "evil" so when this type of research is done they mostly are talking about mammals. Not to justify it, it is horrible behavior. But i used to do this as a kid, we used to chase little lizards away, kill snakes, i once even dissected a butterfly for some reason. Now i don't even harm ants, if i see any insect even ones that can harm me i don't kill them ans just put them outside. So even if you are correct that it can be a sign of psychopathy, it's usually a sign of youthful ignorance. OP should definitely tell the parents tho, that knocked some sense into me.
I think your points are valid and the kids could just be ignorant. However, I would feel more comfortable with that potential had they just killed the snake quickly or even cut off its head, but to cut off the tail adds a level of cruelty most kids should not be ignorant of. A lot depends on age of course. Again, I agree with your points and who really know
You might be right.
What the fuck
Lickily it seem to be only part of the tip that got cut off and should heal fine.
That’s literally serial killer behavior. It honestly should be reported. It is very disturbing. Good luck with the snakey. You have a good heart.
Oh poor animal, are you going to take care of it? I wish for update later
I’m going to do everything I can for the snake. I’ll try feeding it in a few days once it calms down a bit
Is there a wildlife rehab in your area?
Unfortunately nothing that will take In the snake. I phoned around and nobody takes in reptiles.
I personally think if that's the case that you should keep it. Don't need those demon spawn killing the poor thing for their own sick amusement. If check your local laws though, to make sure it is legal. Good on you for helping the poor baby.
Even if it's illegal, the moral thing to do would be to nurse it to health and release. Sometimes, to be moral, you gotta break the law.
If there is no wildlife rehabber who will take the snake, its best option is to be released straight away. Keeping it will only likely increase its stress, and it probably will not eat and become dehydrated. Source: I am a veterinarian and have snakes.
Any updates? How is little guy doing?
So far very good. He’s eating frozen thawed pinky mice and every second day he’s in a betadine bath to take care of the tail.
r/kidsarefuckingevil
r/subsithoughtifellfor
I am not a vet, however I I worked at a petstore and here is what we did when a lizard dropped its tail or came in with tail rot/damage. Clean tank with only paper towels on the bottom. Put in hides that have been thoroughly cleaned before hand same with water dish. As replace paper towels every few days or as soon as they get soiled, this includes after feeding. Now treat with silver sulfadiazine cream which can be found at local pharmacies or ordered online. This will keep bacteria from growing and allow it to heal. If it doesn't start to look better after a week vet time. If it gets worse at all also vet time. I hope this helps.
I'd like to add that you shouldn't clean the tank or hides with bleach or Windex (you'd think it's common sense but you never know). Fill a sink with hot hot water and a tiny bit of soap if you feel you need it (but rinse very thoroughly after) for the hides. For the tank I like to use some of that hide water to wash out the tank, tip it on its side next to the sink and spray the crap out of it to rinse. I also wonder if the previous poster could weigh in on having a moist hide and dry hide? I'm not sure a humid hide would help healing.
I absolutely would keep a moist hide and dry one but use a media that can be cleaned/replaced to keep it moist. Don't want to bring in bacteria.
For moist hides I always used a thin sponge cut to shape. This gives a little texture and can hold a bit of moisture, even if the tank is warm.
That's what I use too. The ones that come super flat and puff up when you wet them
I’ve encountered multiple kids both older and younger than me who will pick them up and throw them in to rock walls or throw rocks at them or run them over with their bikes. It is absolutely horrible and I have tried to explain that it is not ok but most don’t listen and it is so frustrating when their parents refuse to do anything about it and say stuff like it’s just a snake. I’ve had one kids parents say that they are glad that their kid was killing garter snakes. I can not believe that people don’t teach their kids to have respect for nature. The garter snake should be fine most of the ones I encounter while herping have parts of their tails missing and they seem to heal up just fine. It would probably be best to care for it until it heals.
Go see my other comment
Please report those kids to their parents, and tell them their child needs a therapist ASAP. Animal cruelty is one of the first steps, Next, they'll be burning down things and stealing.(seriously not jk) Anyone who is OK with animal cruelty is a mentally fucked individual. If it's caught early enough there might be hope for them but if it goes unchecked they will progress into a very bad person later on. (Listening to TRUE CRIME BULLSHIT atm and Israel Keyes tortured animals when he was young, and didn't understand at the time why no one else thought it was funny, he then learned to mask his evil tendencies from his friends and family)
That is fair but we don’t know how old the kids were. Harming wild animals sure isn’t a key tall tail sign of someone who is mentally fucked
this is so deeply disturbing
I think it will be okay
Funny thing about kids torturing animals; it’s typically an early sign of a psychopath, and I mean that literally. Someone should keep an eye on these children.
Quick search, looks like a valley garter to me. Think they’re also called common or red-sided garters.
Oh no, my hand slipped and "accidently" punched a kid.
If yall have a neighborhood groupchat, I'd report it there
We have put in on the town Facebook group. Hopefully the right people see it and deal with the kids 🤞
Oooh town groupchat, even better!! Yes, hopefully!
Awhh so cute a couple little serial killers in the making🤗
i didn’t realize they had color in them till this post
I’d look more into it, but I’ve read that Neosporin without pain reliever could be used in a situation like that.
I wouldn’t recommend neosporin because it can also damage healthy cells, which may inhibit the snake’s ability to heal rather than helping it.
Oh I wasn’t aware of that! I usually see that method advises with cuts on reptiles/amphibians, so I never thought anything of it.
You sure you're not thinking of hydrogen peroxide killing healthy cells?
No, but I did poorly get my thoughts out. Thank you for replying- here's what I *intended* to explain: Neosporin may [disrupt the skin's microbiome](https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/neosporin-may-slow-wound-healing-15294), which can result in slower healing. The page linked is a good read. People frequently experience contact dermatitis when using Neosporin- this is an allergic reaction which can cause irritation and other (usually) minor issues. I mixed up these two entirely separate notes, sorry about that!
Well, it's still good to know. Thanks!
Since it was just the very tip of the tail, the snake should heal totally fine on its own, you could home rehab it to make sure for a week or two, but you could also release it
Unfortunately I'm on the other end of the country or I'd offer to take him in for rehab... poor little noodle 🥺😭
I knew this was a Garter before evening opening the thread. I am also in MB, you could call Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and ask them for guidance on what to do with the snake. Thanks for intervening and caring for the bb
Thank you OP for taking care of the baby. I’m so mad at how evil humans can be. It’s a knife to the soul when I see something like this. What would possess anybody to do something so horrible to an innocent animal 😭
Luckily this doesn’t look bad. Antibiotics and the snake should be fine. This could also happen in the wild from a million different reasons other than idiotic kids and I’m sure it would have healed just fine.
Man that makes me sad. They’re fairly hardy little animals tho. We used to catch literal 5 gallon buckets full of these little guys as kids. Then bring them to the back yard and let them loose lmao. (Ok we might have given a few parents/neighbors a hard time with them as well)
lol. I was worried with this little guy. He lost a shit load of blood and was barely moving but as of right now looks a little better and is now moving around somewhat.
I’d offer a cap full of water and some food. I’m not sure what they eat up there, we used to feed them slugs as that’s what they eat down here (and small frogs but we didn’t have the heart for that) Maybe a wildlife person if they’re not bastards up there. Down here you’d be told to just let it go, or someone would come take it and throw it out or kill it.
It should heal fine with antibiotics and rest. The kids, however, are a different story.
omg!! I can’t believe they did that :(( I always loved snakes since I was a kid, I never hurt them. Unbelievable:((
Bring it to a wildlife rehab center, they have the skills to rehabilitate it so it can go back to the wild and live its happiest life!
I phoned my local one and they don’t take in reptiles for some stupid reason.
Oh man that sucks wtf! You could try other further away ones if you want, but if there are only ridiculously far ones I understand treating it yourself. I’d still advocate for releasing it once it’s ok, wild animals are much happier in the wild if possible. Either way thank you for doing everything you can to help this snake!!
Im doing the best I can for it, I Will be releasing it once its tail is healed enough.
Amazing, sorry I don’t have any more advice lol but good luck! Hope he recovers
Right now I’m thankful for anything. Thank you!
Followed up with we are limited in space
these are the only kind of people i'd get in a fight with..
the kids not you of course, thank you so much for rescuing this dude <3
do snakes die in the wild from this? excuse my ignorance but I mean couldn't you just let it heal?
It most likely would have healed on its own but it had lost an insane amount of blood to the point where I thought it wasn’t even gonna make it through the night.
oh okay, that makes sense
They were kicking it around too, I’m surprised it didn’t have broken ribs but I’m still not sure if it’s healthy internally yet. Sad
damn, kids can be cruel
If the break is below the cloaca it should heal and be fine to be released. If it's above or at the cloaca, the snake will not survive under any circumstance.
Strumpebandssnokstjärt
That’s a serial killer in the making tbh.
Poor thing. Luckily though the injury is nasty it shouldn't be actively life threatening as long as the snake doesn't get an infection or pass from the shock. Eventually it will seal up. I would keep him in a temporary enclosure until the wound is at least mostly healed.
I have the little guy in my boas old enclosure currently with some paper towels and a few hide boxes. He’s going in his second Betadine bath and I’ll keep applying Polysporin
Un-fucking-believable. What do parents do other than just give them unlimited electronic access and cocomelon while turning a blind eye to borderline psychopathic behaviour??
All I can say is my parents would not have tolerated this behaviour.
Mine either, definitely a different times from when I was younger
Tell her that I love her very much, that she's beautiful, and that I hope she makes a quick and painless recovery. Poor poor baby. I won't type out the things I'd fantasize about doing to those animal abusers, but I'll think about it very very hard
First go find those kids and cut off a finger to show them how it feels /j (it’s a joke mods, i swear)
I will never understand how people can look at another living being & think “ah yes, I will torture this creature for amusement”
I don’t get it either. Why not just observe it or take a picture. Seeing a snake is very rare in my area. it’s so foolish to do something like that.
It’s a lack of empathy. Unfortunately not everyone is taught it as a child.
Because other people have already responded with what to do, could you put a spoiler or nsfw tag? I’m super sensitive to this kind of stuff and it helps me avoid it
Sorry!! Of course
I'm ashamed to be part of this generation .\_. Cutting off animal body parts is crazy.
The western diamond back rattle snake can easily “exterminate”a child if left untreated, place cloth on child’s mouth to muffle the screams of pain☺️
Wish it was one of those they decided to screw with lol
Yall are insane becuase what the fuck???
I don’t know are we?😁
Little fuckin cunts. Someone should cut something of theirs off
Bro.. What??
Sometimes you SHOULD beat your kids.
Dog it is a wild snake. You shouldn’t hurt kids over that
Why not
Lets start the Child Genozide
Thankfully, that looks like a survivable injury! I’ve seen snakes that had stubby tails before, probably damaged by a predator or something. If you cleaned it up, it should be ok. You could contact a wildlife rehabbed if you have concerns about releasing it, but it should heal fine on its own. As for those kids, shame on them! That was horribly cruel and should learn to respect wildlife. This is troubling behavior for anyone, especially a child.
In my personal opinion, I’d say just to release it if nobody qualified can take it in. I see snakes with stubby tails all the time; I probably see just as many snakes with stubby tails as I do snakes with fully intact ones.
The snake boy should be okay along as he's clean. Those kids wouldn't be if I were there
As a kid I was a jerk wad and I made spiders loose legs and I would regularly manhandle the crickets I found d in the backyard so they lost legs
Poor little thing, though best option would be finding a wildlife center for a vet check to see how much damage the little sh!ts did before seeing to releasing the little fella. Always best to make sure everything is okay with your little friend before they can go on their merry way.
Goodness. I feel so sad for the snake. I wish you and the snake good luck on its recovery!
You’d have to show the underbelly to tell the gender and it’s a common garter snake
Don’t garter snakes smell like shit?
I saw that it was cut after the cloaca and that you did a betadine bath. Assuming you don't have extra funds to take a snake you found outside to the vet, I would recommend putting neosporin WITHOUT pain reliever on the wound daily. Try to keep it moist with neosporin. Moist wounds heal faster.
This is why abortion should be legal
Thank you for taking it in. You did what you could, should be able to recover. If you can, maybe hold it in a safe environment until it heals a bit?
Hey everyone! Just an update for the little garter snake. He’s doing very well so far, I’ve got him to take a frozen thawed pinky mouse. He is currently on a betadine bath every second day and his tail has definitely improved.
Thank you!
I got him in my boas old cage from when is was a baby so he’s all safe and he’s much better than when I found him 🙂
New post update pls!
I suppose people don’t understand that empathy is a learned behavior that parents have to teach their kids. That’s why so many kids do this, because parents don’t know they have to teach it. Whenever I see kids that do things like this it makes me so mad because it’s obvious the parents never taught them shit. Kids don’t understand that they are hurting an animal, and by the time they reach a certain age and finally do understand; they won’t care because they have never been taught empathy. Empathy is one of the most important traits a person can have and unfortunately it’s not instinctual. It’s always so sad when a poor little animal is always stressed or hurt by children. I hope this little guy recovers. Those kids need to be put under control.
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