Lazy Tongue?

[Sath09]

I have this hatchling that is now three days out of the egg, and he seems to have a problem retracting his tongue. The first time I witnessed it he was straight out of the incubator. He flicks his tongue, but sometimes it doesn't go back in and just hangs there for a while. I've seen two of my other hatchlings do it once or twice, but not nearly as often or consistantly as this one little guy.

I just pulled him out a while ago and he got his tongue stuck out like usual and had it hanging out still when I put him back.

I've seen him yawn a few times, and I'm wondering if it's just a problem with his jaw alignment and if it will get better once he figures things out a bit.

Please, if you have any experience with this I'd love to benefit from it. Thanks

[sg1trogdor]

IS there a possibility that there is something in his mouth. My red tail did that but she isnt a baby. It turned out she got a piece of aspen in the mouth and I had to take it out with some tweezers.

[Sath09]

Well, there is surely the possibility of something being in its mouth (All young things love to stick ungodly things in their mouths... or perlite)

How exactly does one go about tweezering something out of a hatchlings mouth or even finding out if there is something to tweezer? I've never really had to do anything like that to any of my snakes. Is there a way to get their mouths opened first or do you jack them opened with the tweezers? That may sound completely ignorant... but foolish questions must be asked to prevent foolish mistakes.

[kellysballs]

I normally use a butter knife ( you know the knife in the drawer that looks funny and no one uses)to open their mouths. They are not sharp and they are pretty thin so you can slide them in between the teeth and turn them to "prop" the mouth open while you inspect and remove what ever may be stuck there.

[Sath09]

Huh, so that's what that knife is for... Oral snake surgery. good to know.

I'll have to take a looksy in little Roku's mouth. Should I look into the mouths of the other two that were doing it (or should I wait to see if they do it again?)

[clipclopclip]

You can also use a cotton-swab thingie...q-tip! that's the word! I have a case of the dumbs today.... You slide it in sideways and it isn't nearly as hard as a butter knife if they chew it.

[sg1trogdor]

You can also use a cotton-swab thingie...q-tip! that's the word! I have a case of the dumbs today.... You slide it in sideways and it isn't nearly as hard as a butter knife if they chew it.

THats exactly what I do. I just remove the cotton from the ends then kinda SOFTLY poke around the edge of the mouth (kinda slide it around their lip area) then when they open wedge the q tip in so that they bite down on it and... Well here I used Skyler as a model.

Smile for the camera.

yes i know my hands are dirty im a freaking mechanic I can wash for days and still look like that lol. (comment for pat)

[Sath09]

Oh great, that sounds a bit easier. I tried the butter knife, but I felt it was too big and awkward (especially for a hatchling). I'll try the Q-tip tomorrow, I think I've messed with him enough tonight. I hope I can get a good look tomorrow. Thanks for all the help!

Oh, and thanks for modeling Skyler!

[frankykeno]

We use a very small, flexible, soft rubber kitchen spatula. You can buy them in a package with all sorts of sizes, The smallest one is perfect for opening a hatchlings mouth nice and gently. We just introduce it in the side of the snake's mouth, slowly turn and bingo...they open their mouth, the spatula keeps it open and it's soft enough to do no harm if used gently. Then it can be disinfected aftewards.

[Sath09]

My mom had an idea to help my little snake out and I wanted to run it by you guys to get your opinion on whether or not you think it'll work.

She suggested, I prop his mouth open with a q-tip, like demonstrated by Skyler up there, and stick a syringe in from the backside of his mouth and point it toward the front of his mouth, thus trying to wash out anything that might be caught in there. You guys think that might work? Or should I stick with the tweezer approach? I really have my doubts that I'll be able to see a little chunk of perlite (I assume that is what he would have stuck in his mouth if anything) to be able to tweezer it out; that is why I'm asking.