Does anyone know what this is?

Our gravid pastel girl "Nina" has recently developed a lump under her chin. First I though her jaw just didnt snap back into place but thats not it... I checked on the inside of her mouth and its perfectly fine. I think it might be bothering her however im not too sure because shes head shy anyway so i cant tell if shes shying away because shes in pain, or because she just doesnt want me touching her face..
Has anyone else ever had this happen before? or at least know what it might be?
I will take her to vet if needed of course but id like to get an idea of what we're dealing with first and how much it might cost.
Any help will be appreciated!

here are some pics

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...redownload.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...linares/tn.jpg

id take it to the vet if youve done what you can...if nothings inside causing it then id let a vet check immediately but ive never seen that on any of my bps...good luck

You are going to have to check the inside of her mouth, use a tongue depresser ot q-tipp to get her mouth open, (this is usually a 2 man job). She may have a splinter of substrate that is causing the swelling.

I'm not a vet and am by no means any sort of an expert but I can offer you guesses. Like llovelace says, she may of had a jab from substrate that could have abscessed. She looks too young to have any tumors- The snakes that I've had develop those were 25+ with the exception of a 5 year old garter snake. They were slow to develop too. I would go to the vet. What is just an oddity now could develop into a real issue with time. Hope all goes well!

Looks like an infection of some kind. Possibly from a bad strike, or bite, etc. Reptile infections can be slow to develop. Their puss is not like ours and liquidy, it's very hard and old cheese like. Yuk. But if it is an infection that will have to be removed and possibly a round of abos.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

agree vet check specially if it feels anthing semi firm or none fluidy) then vet cause it likely to be infection, I had a bp that had to have a mass removed cause of inhectiong and other issues and he doing great now.

I also think it could be an absyss or irritation caused by a splinter from substrate, a regular poster posted about this a few days ago on a thread. Maybe if they see this they can see if its similar swelling to what they had.

Good luck, loos painfull

Hi,

Like everyone has already said it does look a lot like an infection in a small wound. :(

They do get throat swelling with RI's on occasion but they tend to be more "pouchy" than a distinct "lump" like that and cover the whole area.

One thing to very carefull of is to make sure you use a good reptile vet owing to the fact she is gravid - not all treatments are the same and it is always possible they could damage the clutch.

How far along is she? Is she due to lay soon or is it still some time off?


dr del

Looks like an abscess to me. I had a Borneo Shortail Python that got one of those once, it started with what appeared to be a tooth problem ? Vet thought he might have broke the tooth on impact with a hard part of the rats head (he hit those rats HARD). No knowing , but the abscess started in a tooth region. It looked very similar to your picture.

And yes, Vet needed 100%.

Hope she will be alright. Despite intensive vet treatments and lots of meds and shots, my boy didn't make it. He was the best snake ever, too, and so sweet throughout all of this painful ordeal.

If I was you, I wouldn't wait. If it is an infection with an abscess it will have to be surgically removed. As someone said, they don't have "liquid" puss, its a hard mass that can't be drained...

Good luck with your girl, she is so pretty !

Thank you eveyone, looks like we'll have to take her in.. Does anyone know a rough price range?
If reptile infections take a while to form than it very well could be a splinter or a rodent bite. I bought her back in march and the previous owner kept her on wood chips and might have fed her live. But since she's been with us she's had paper substrate and and has been fed f/t only.

And to Dr. del, she is due to lay July 4 at the earliest. Do you think the infection, treatment and stress will have an effect on her clutch? This is my first clutch and I'm really nervous about everything, especially now..