Aspen Splinter in Mouth

[NightLad]

Hello everybody,

Salzedo just shed tonight and he looks great. I handled him afterwards just to make sure the tip of his tail was clear of shed (it wasn’t, so I helped). Just as I was about to put him back in his enclosure I noticed that he had something on the side of his mouth. At first I thought it was just a bit of stubborn shed, but upon closer inspection I realized that his lips were slightly parted and a small piece of aspen was sticking through. I use finely shredded aspen substrate.

I very gently gripped the splinter with my fingers and, thankfully, it lifted clear of his mouth without any resistance.

I was surprised to see that the splinter was actually quite big for his little mouth. It was also rather soggy with saliva. He ate on the 1st of May (in a separate feeding tub with only paper for substrate) so I’m thinking it must have happened sometime during his shed. However, I’ve not seen him in a couple of days, so the possibility exists that it could have happened between the 2nd and today (4th).

I didn’t notice any blood on the splinter, just saliva.

Are there any special concerns I should keep in mind? Has anybody else picked substrate out of their snake’s mouth with no ill effects?

I observed him flicking his tongue freely, even while the splinter was in place (it seemed to have been lodged just under his lips), but I will continue to monitor him for any signs of oral infection and distress.

Thanks for your time! Here is a picture of the splinter with a penny for size comparison.

[muddoc]

NightLad,
I would say that he will be fine. I pull aspen out of their mouth all the time, especially if feeding F/T, as the aspen seems to stick to the rats better. As long as he is flicking his tongue, and you can see no blood, it just probably got stuck. Without a hand, it makes it difficult for them to remove it. It probably would have just got swallowed with his next meal, and ejected via the normal route for waste.

[tigerlily]

I agree with Tim. It's most likely fine. I had it happen once to me, and I used an old rubber spatula to open the mouth to make sure there were no areas of concern.

[Lowen]

It happens frequently if you feed your snake in its enclosure. I usually take mine out, but some feed more readily in a familiar setting.

If he starts "yawning" excessively or you notice any discharge, swelling, etc, a checkup would do him good. If there wasn't any blood on the splinter or in his mouth, he probably just bit onto it accidentally when feeding.

I agree with everyone else, he'll be fine.

[frankykeno]

Just did this the other day myself with one of the snakes. I did have to wiggle it a bit as it was firmly caught on those lovely recurve teeth of his but no harm, no foul, everything is fine. Like Tim said it likely would have just gotten swallowed with the next meal and caused no problems but heck it was bugging me to see it there.

[Argentra]

Luckily aspen is totally digestible and doesn't often bother them...since my new big girl scared me last Tuesday (feeding night) when I checked on her eating progress (since I have to feed her two adult mice) and saw her with her mouth wide open toward the sky trying to swallow a good amount of aspen that had stuck to the mouse since she dragged it through her tub before eating it. Her movements freaked me out, but I guess she knew best how to deal with it because it was down in moments and she was flickering away, searching for the next mouse (which I gave her and she had no problem swallowing).

I would say to worry only if blood or foamy saliva is seen, or if they look in distress even after the piece is out of sight. Then, it's off to the vet.

[NightLad]

Hi everybody,

Thank you so much for your great responses. I really appreciate the time you took to relieve my worry. As some of you may recall, Salzedo sustained an eye injury while feeding on a live mouse 3/27/08 (small bite) and went through an ordeal with vet visits, oral medication (which didn’t work out) and 2X daily eye drops.

After the shed he looks really good, and his eye is perfectly fine! There is only a slightly cloudy discoloration on the new eye scale from where the bite happened. The vet said that after another shed it should totally vanish. The eye itself looks healthy, clear, focused and it moves freely.

So, when I saw the aspen splinter I said to myself, “Oh god, not again!”

Again, thanks to everybody! I will continue to keep a close watch on his mouth for a while, but even when the splinter was in place it didn’t seem to be bothering him. Regardless, I feel much better now.

Oh, and I am pre-killing mice prior to feeding. He still refuses f/t, but I am confident we will get there!

[dsirkle]

I had it happen once with a large aspen chip that was wedged in there keeping his mouth half open. I noticed it right away and the whole episode lasted only for a couple of hours. Heather Wong advised me to remove it with a Q tip which I did. There were no adverse after effects.