BP Alochol Poisoning

Okay, some ***hole poured alcohol into two tubs of my snake rack when I wasn't there(a roommates friend) and I didn't find it until yesterday morning. Both snakes homes reaked of the whiskey that was poured in and the entire enclosure soaked. The one female hypo was visibly intoxicated and couldn't support her body, the other male hypo seemed to be okay. After a few quick emails to breeders I was advised to go to the vet asap that alcohol is extremely toxic to snakes. I found an emergency vet and took both in where they were placed in a heated oxygen chamber and had a saline solution being pumped through their cloaca. The vet was also 24/7 and so they were being soaked in warm water every 15 minutes. The bill before the specialist even looked at either snake was $300. I wanted to know more about alcohol and snakes. I cannot find a single website that talks about what goes on in the body of the snake when it is introduced to alcohol. This happened yesterday morning and I am, was devastated. I picked up both snakes this afternoon and they are hopefully on the way to recovery. Both can support themselves and are active. The vet is extremely hopeful as well. She had never seen a case such as this and couldn't find any literature on the topic as well. She is worried about long term liver and kidney damage. Any knowledge what so ever is greatly appreciated. My email is mgoblue347@gmail.com. Also what are the laws on this type of situation. Can legal action be taken for cruelty to animals?

Thanks Again!

I'm surprised they're alive to be honest. Snakes kidneys are very small and even a small amount of alcohol should have killed them via kidney failure. I would absolutely seek pressing charges against whoever did this to them! You may want to evaluate keeping animals if these kinds of things happen....

I appreciate your response and by no means am ill equipped to keep these animals. I've kept snaked for over 10 years and this is the first type of incident I have ever had. The vet believes that since I had just fed both snakes the day before that the rats inside them slowed the process of the alcohol down considerably. Allowing time for me to rush them to the emergency vet. I am most certainly trying to press charges, the thing is no one saw the person pouring the alcohol into the tubs. Even though I am certain of who did this, it is going to be difficult for me to prove. Thanks again

Was it a party, or just your roommate having a friend or friends over? Last year at school we used to have huge parties with 200+ people at my house and I would always find people going through the house and into my laundry room which was known as the (snake room). This year I am no longer having parties and sold off my collection and started collecting ball pythons, but moved them all into my room. So I can definitely see this happening.

Even so I changed out the knob on my door and put one with a lock on it, so whenever I am gone for the weekend or all night my room gets locked.

You called it, while it wasn't at a party I attend Penn State University and my roommate had people over while I was out for the night. Apparently no one saw who did what but I'm almost certain of who it was. Funny you mention it, I went to Walmart the day it happened and purchased a doorknob that locks.

WHO THE HELL DOES THAT?!?!? what a horrid human begin to think that's an amusing thing to do to a poor caged creature...

omg...Unless I trusted my room mate enough to actually believe them when they tried to tell me they didn't know their friend had done that....I would be room mateless VERY quickly...now if my room mate admits to knowing it was happening...I would be pressing charges on my room mate as well...if there was anything left of them after my blinding rage passed.

I have no advice for you...but your situation SUCKS!!! I would be LIVID!

Also to people reading...don't go getting jumpy on the OP for having a room mate with a STUPID friend...I highly doubt the OP would EVER knowingly put his animals in a situation like that...even if his room wasn't locked...his private area was basically broken into...he should not be blamed for his room mate's guest's stupidity....humans in general should have respect for private property and personal spaces...no one should have to expect otherwise every second of their lives, even if it is smarter to do so.

I dont know about u but the cops would be the last people I would call, I wouldnt want them to catch me burying a body. I dont play around with my animals and I have had incidents where I had to let people know, and yea mainly it was at parties. I recall one time this guy pulled my pet boa out and had it slithering in the yard in late November, next to a bonfire. My first snake and closest pet. Let just say after I expressed my opinion in the most quickest and easiest way for him to understand exactly how I felt, he never came back around. Best part about it is that he supplied the keg and had to leave it behind.

I'm surprised the snakes would injest the alcohol at all. Were they treated for inhaling the fumes?

And I understand the "evaluate keeping animals" if the poster was referring to if the OP didn't have any way to keep the animals safe from idiots that his roomie had over. I.E> if he couldn't keep them in a room he could lock up, it might be best to not have animals at all instead of risking harm coming to them. Since the OP does have the option of locking his room so the pets can remain safe, it's a moot point.

The guy might have just figured he would give the snake a drink. I've had less-than-bright people pour soda into a fish tank because they thought the fish would enjoy it. (hint, they were slightly non-sober at the time). Not that it's not stupid, but it's not automatic that the person was deliberately trying to harm the snakes by pouring alcohol into a cage. I've seen stupider human tricks, after all.

That is absolutely disgusting. I would be threatening my roomate with charges if he didn't cough up the names of every person who went into my room. The roomie is responsible for his/her guests' actions, especially in respect to other people's pets. I moved out of my old place bc my roomate couldn't control his friends. The second time I caught them picking my lock I had them both arrested.

The people were drunk for sure. While I doubt they meant to put my snakes in a life threatening situation, the last thing I think when I am drunk is "let me f** with someones defenseless animals." Karma will come around and he'll get his (if I'm not able to get mine first) The snakes had no choice but to injest the alcohol, their entire homes were completely soaked, every side of the tub, the ceiling, the substrate..their bodies were sitting in a small layer of alcohol. The first thing I did was to put them both in warm water (had to hold the females head because she couldn't support herself) then I had someone throw the homes away because no matter how many times they were cleaned the smell of whiskey would not go away, it had been absorbed into the plastic. I found an emergency vet and took them there within an hour of all this happening. They had both snakes in a heated oxygen chamber and were soaked every 15 minutes for 24 hours, they also had several rounds of saline sent through their cloaca to flush out their systems. The vet thinks what saved them is the fact that I just fed both the day before this happened..so the rats absorbed a large amount of the alcohol. I will keep everyone updated on charges, there are camera's in our hallways so I've already sent an email to my LL to get video of who went into my place at all and go from there.