This is Onyx, a beautiful Black headed python who came into KANE’s care at the start of July. She was very thin when she was found on a channel road at Packsaddle, with dreadful injuries she had suffered from being run over.
Onyx had extensive damage to the skin and tissue of the last third of her body which was also infected, indicating her injury had happened some days before she was found.
Nurse Desanka received her in the midst of the Ag Show, and immediately set about cleaning and tending her smelly wounds. Though she hissed and complained about having her awful wounds washed, she has been an incredibly tolerant patient for the entire time we treated her. So good for a black headed python who can sometimes be quite grumpy!
Amazingly, though she had suffered massive wounds to her flesh, she showed no signs of any fractured bones and could still move completely normally. She was given antibiotics and pain relief and her injuries were dressed regularly with our wonderful wound care cream Dermaclens.
Onyx began to heal very quickly, and reptiles still astound me with their truly phenomenal healing powers. Initially much of her skin was detached, and her ventral (underneath) scales were completely separated from her body. Finally, she began to eat, and put back much of the condition she had lost after she was injured.
With every shed of her skin her wounds improved, until at last we were happy she had healed enough to be returned to the wild, just in time for World Wildlife Week at the start of October.
There is no greater feeling than watching a once injured patient return happily to the wild. When she first turned to say thank you before she left warmed my heart beyond what I can express. I pray she will stay away from the roads from now on and head off to find her family.
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