# Site General > General Herp >  Best Way To Cure Mouth Rot?

## CoolioTiffany

I was wondering what was the best and fastest way to cure mouth rot in snakes.  Yesterday (2/15) at work I took out the cheesey substance with a Q-tip from a Blood's mouth after I took off the retained eye caps.  All I did was tip the Q-tip in water then removed the cheesey substance.  On Saturday I'll check up on the Blood again just to see if the cheesey substance formed again, but I was wondering what ways you've gotten rid of mouth rot that you felt was most helpful.  This is my first time actually dealing with mouth rot, so I'm just curious.  I read that it's easy to get rid of and you can either dip the Q-tip in some solution (forgot what it's called) or water and just wipe the cheesey substance away.

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## LadyOhh

The BEST way to cure mouth rot is to take it to a Reptile Veterinarian for medication and advice.

But what you are asking for is Betadine or Chlorhexidine and water. Disinfect the area, and keep it clean. If it keeps being cheesy, Vet time is needed.

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## 2kdime

Is it mouth rot, or an abscess Tiff?

Im dealing with it with one of mine, but it's just an abscess.

I've been treating it with Chlorhexidine/Betadine and q-tips.

Its working so far, just gotta do it every day.

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## CoolioTiffany

Well, I think it coulda been mouth rot.  I wasn't looking to see if the gums were irritated, but there was definitely a lot of cheesey substance on one side of his mouth (left upper jaw) and a litte on the right upper jaw, and just a teenie bit on the bottom right jaw.  All along the gums too.  So, I coulda taken a cell phone pic, but we had our hands full.  I'll see what happens Saturday.  Where can I get those products you mentioned?

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## 2kdime

You can get em at Walmart Tiffany, at least the Betadine.

Chlorhexidine can be had at Reptile BAsics or your vet.

If he's got that much Tiff, you need to get him on some antibiotics so it doesnt go systemic. That crap will work its way up into the skull and bone and it aint pretty.

The antibiotics wont get it rid of completely, but will stop it from progressing. You will also have to manually eliminate the build up with the qtips and Betadine.

You CAN culture for the right antibiotic by getting in deep under the cheesy stuff and taking a culture there if you like. I might ask if it'd be better to get right on some Amikacin or Fortaz though, whether it be for a treatment, or while you wait for the culture results.

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## CoolioTiffany

> You can get em at Walmart Tiffany, at least the Betadine.
> 
> Chlorhexidine can be had at Reptile BAsics or your vet.
> 
> If he's got that much Tiff, you need to get him on some antibiotics so it doesnt go systemic. That crap will work its way up into the skull and bone and it aint pretty.
> 
> The antibiotics wont get it rid of completely, but will stop it from progressing. You will also have to manually eliminate the build up with the qtips and Betadine.
> 
> You CAN culture for the right antibiotic by getting in deep under the cheesy stuff and taking a culture there if you like. I might ask if it'd be better to get right on some Amikacin or Fortaz though, whether it be for a treatment, or while you wait for the culture results.


I'll see what I can do, the Blood isn't too big either so it wasn't a hassle to get the cheesey substance out of his mouth.  I'll inform my boss about it and tell him the product names.  We might have some already because we have so many supplements and products to cure certain things so we may have either one of those products.

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## 2kdime

Just hit it full force, it isnt something to mess with.

Also, since the animals are so small, the Aminoglycoside may not be an option since they're so young.

Definitely ask about it though, and the Ceftazidime.

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## CoolioTiffany

> Just hit it full force, it isnt something to mess with.
> 
> Also, since the animals are so small, the Aminoglycoside may not be an option since they're so young.
> 
> Definitely ask about it though, and the Ceftazidime.


Yeah I definitely will.  This Blood also seemed to not use as much muscle as it should.  When I handle my Bloods, they use their muscles and are pretty strong.  But this Blood just felt as if it was more fat than muscle, but it wasn't a fat snake at all.  I think it has been refusing food, probably because of the stuff in the mouth and the retained eye caps.  It moves just fine in the enclosure, not really as quickly but does move around.  It's just weird that it feels more mushy than muscle.  Not sure what it could be, but my guess is the Blood is around 8-10 months old.  Someone brought it in when it was already in not so much of good shape, so I'm not sure how the enclosure was set up there or anything.

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## BallsUnlimited

keep cleaning it with the q tip like your doing and if u can get some baytril that will help out and clear it up. I know ralph davis uses baytril for mouth rot and has always had good results. he talks about it in his youtube video on injecting baytril

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