What could this be? Mouth rot?

[Instinct]

On Valentines Day I purchased a Butter/Lesser BP from PetSmart (the store I work at). We received her from Reptiles By Mack on September 19th, 2013 and seemed to be a in fairly decent shape. She was eating one pinky every four days (company policy) until she came to her first shed.

My manager and I noticed early on that she was taking a lot longer than most snakes to complete her shed. We took her to the vet who just recommended giving her a warm bath with some Shed-Ease once every day until the shed was gone. It took about another week until the shed was completely gone.

During this time, she stopped eating. Went a whole month before the vet force fed her some carnivore care. Afterwards, we were given a syringe and a packet of carnivore care along with directions to force feed her every other day until she eats a pinky.

This continued on for a few more weeks until she finally took a pinky.

However, each associate had a different way to get her mouth open and a couple of them were a bit rough.

Fast forward, I purchased this snake a few days days ago. Her bottom lip has a thin black lining and I feel she holds her mouth slightly open. I plan on taking her to my usual exotics vet but until then, I was wondering if anyone knew what this could be and if it is potentially life threatening.

Here are a few photos, I apologize for the quality as these were taken by cell phone. I can get some better ones tomorrow.



Is she holding her mouth slightly open or am I just seeing things?

[RobNJ]

Could be mouth rot...could be substrate, which could cause mouth rot. If you hold it gently by the base of the head where the jaws meet, while supporting the body so it's not just hanging there, and gently pry the mouth open with something that has a smooth rounded edge, you'll get a better look. Moth rot can look like sour milk chunks, and will form a lining on the outer edge of a snake's mouth as it progresses.

While I can't diagnos it for you, if it is mouth rot, you can treat it with a q-tip dipped in diluted peroxide or betadine twice a day until it clears up or you get to a vet.

[John1982]

During this time, she stopped eating. Went a whole month before the vet force fed her some carnivore care. Afterwards, we were given a syringe and a packet of carnivore care along with directions to force feed her every other day until she eats a pinky.

This continued on for a few more weeks until she finally took a pinky.

However, each associate had a different way to get her mouth open and a couple of them were a bit rough.

I'll hazard a guess you have some broken and/or imbedded teeth from jamming a syringe in her mouth every 2 days. I recommend going to a different vet, not the one who recommended force feeding your snake that slop in the first place. Then again, maybe this carnivore care is common practice on nonfeeding snakes these days and I'm just a fool behind the times.

[Archimedes]

Yeah, I feel weird about any vet force-feeding after only a month of not eating, unless she was actively losing weight. In any case, something isn't quite right with that jaw, and you should get it looked at, although again, I'm personally uncomfortable with that particular vet for starting a force-feeding routine.

[vangarret2000]

The vet shouldn't have force fed after only a month and shouldn't have even recommended that in such ma short time. Shed Ease was also unnecessary. Just water would have worked just as good without costing you anything. From the pic I can't tell what is wrong but I would recommend seeking a new vet. Like said above the damage could have even come from the vet force feeding. If you don't have other vet options keep in mind taking a sick pet to an inexperienced vet. Could be more harmful to the animal then no vet at all in some instances. Without proper knowledge/experience they could do or prescribe something that is worse then what ails the animal.

I took a chameleon to a vet that prescribed a pain killer, that causes kidney failure in reptiles, for an injured leg. I found that out when I took it to another vet (who ended up being more experienced) after he developed a respirtory infection instead of getting better. He eventually died of kidney failure.

[Instinct]

Thanks for the quick responses!

Van_Garret, I'm sorry to hear about your chameleon.

As for Mara, I have an appointment scheduled for her using my usual exotics vet but, it will be about a week before the doctor can see her. I just didn't know if it was something that required immediate vet care. She seems to be acting just fine and even ate a pinky a few days ago.

RobNJ, I checked for white chunks when she was working on eating her pinky and I can't say that I saw anything abnormal. Everything looked fairly clean in there.

[aldebono]

I hope it's nothing serious for her!

I don't know if you are keeping her on pinky rats because of her mouth. If so, she could eat multiple pinkies in one sitting. Otherwise, she should be on a larger prey item, just in case you didn't know. I know you said it was store policy.