Problem with baby retic

[confucius]

Sorry for another thread... But I have a question about my retic.
Went to open his tub and he struck a few times, one of them taking a nice bite out of the branch in there. His mouth looks a little weird now, the left side looks normal but the right side is ridden up a little and just looks odd. Will he be okay? Is there something wrong?
Took as good of pictures as I could.

[cinnamonpython]

he will probable have it back in its normal position by the end of the day. i wouldn't be worried.

[confucius]

he will probable have it back in its normal position by the end of the day. i wouldn't be worried.

Ok, I sure hope so. I worry so much about him especially because it was extremely hard to find a retic in my area.

[reptileexperts]

lol happens all the time when they bite things that they don't eat. Their jaw is very much different than what ours is like and the bottom acts independently to each side only linked by skin and maybe a slight piece of cartlidge in some cases. When they miss bite it seems to knock one side of the jaw to the side sometimes. But after a couple yawns he'll be fine. If it really worries you, if its close enough to feeding time give him a meal and it'll straighten right up.

On a side note - you need to push through the striking while it's young. My mainland male from Bob Clark was quite tub aggressive when I first got him. I took my bites, and worked with him regadless as much as possbile. Now, as long as its not feeding day I can just open the tub and pull him out. Best to get him calmed and use to you now before the real damage can start.

[confucius]

lol happens all the time when they bite things that they don't eat. Their jaw is very much different than what ours is like and the bottom acts independently to each side only linked by skin and maybe a slight piece of cartlidge in some cases. When they miss bite it seems to knock one side of the jaw to the side sometimes. But after a couple yawns he'll be fine. If it really worries you, if its close enough to feeding time give him a meal and it'll straighten right up.

On a side note - you need to push through the striking while it's young. My mainland male from Bob Clark was quite tub aggressive when I first got him. I took my bites, and worked with him regadless as much as possbile. Now, as long as its not feeding day I can just open the tub and pull him out. Best to get him calmed and use to you now before the real damage can start.

Good to know he'll be okay. He just ate 2 days ago though.

I'm trying-he's actually a lot better than he was. He used to bite me once I got him out too. He doesn't bite out of the tub anymore, and isn't as bad as he was while still in the tub. I try and work with him as much as possible.

[reptileexperts]

Are you hook conditioning him?

[confucius]

Are you hook conditioning him?

Yes. I use a makeshift hook right now until I can buy a nice one.

[reptileexperts]

They are not too expensive. Make sure your make shift hook does not contain "tape" long most people attempt to use. Anything with sticky tape should be kept safe from a snake rather be a direct line between you and it! Reptile Basics has some small hooks that work great. I actually use my small hook on my biggest male. With him all I have to do is tap him on the head to wake him up, and let him know I'm coming in to get him, and hes calm. If i were to just open the cage and grab him though, that would be a bad circumstance. With my young ones, I make sure they are conditioned for a hook, but prefer to not need it. I'd rather break cage aggression all together. The hook is mainly letting them know its not time to feed, so they don't expect any kind of food, as long as they are fed properly though, this usually isn't as big of a problem.

[confucius]

I don't use any tape, but that's good to know. I was trying to figure out where to get a good one-I will probably look into that one then.