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Posted by PHWyvern on November 03, 2002 at 16:12:11:

In Reply to: Black rat snake posted by guarinomatt on September 27, 2002 at 17:24:52:

With an injury that severe you cannot release until late next spring when the weather is warm again, and that is only assuming there is no brain damage at all and he retains the ability to hunt down live mice and kill them in a normal fashion.

Unless the vet took some good xrays, I would be careful of assuming that the snake doesn't have any broken bones. At the very least he could have a spinal or nerve injury in the neck area or broken bones/fluid build up in the inner ear area that could be hampering his ability to orient himself.

Keep the food items small (use hopper or halfsized mice) and use prekilled food rather than live to reduce injury possibilities from the prey while the snake is recuperating. A couple of weeks before release slowly work the snake back on to live mice and see how he fares. If all is well, then he could be a candidate for release back to the wild.

Black rat snakes have varying temperments and it's possible to find wild black rat snakes that are very tame and not inclined to bite and there is the possibility of finding captive bred and raised ones that are the meanest things in the world . If you wind up with a nice one, be happy and don't worry much about it. :)

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