Sand boa mouth issues are getting worse...

Alright, I had my two babies in a mix of peat moss and aspen (always have with my sand boas, they seem to prefer the dirt-stuff), but now they're in temporary holdings with only aspen. So I guess about two weeks ago one of them got dirt stuck in his mouth. I managed to pick what I thought was most of it out and he ate after that and was tongue-flicking and whatnot, so I thought it was over. Yesterday I take him out to feed him and he's got dirt again, but this time his lower jaw is kind of pulled in and he's in the middle of moulting and hasn't got the skin off of his nose yet, and can't breathe without opening his mouth! So I get a toothpick and carefully get the skin off and start picking the dirt out again, and jeez he's got a lot packed in there.

After lots of uncomfortable mouth-opening and picking I get most of it out, that you can see on the outside anyway, and I wait for him to start flicking but he won't, and he hasn't still. As of this morning, he's not really moving at all, and he's on top of the bedding in the temporary box I have him in. I took him out, held him a bit, he won't do anything. He moved a little, and his eyes did too, but he's pretty much lifeless.

I searched and found that maybe I could get some mineral oil and put it on a q-tip and try to get the rest of the dirt out? I really just want to take him to a vet, as at this point I don't know what's wrong with him, but he's so tiny I don't know if it would help. He and his sibling are 9 months old now, less than 10 inches long and only a bit thicker than a pencil. I had another sand boa that died, and if this one manages to, I think that's the end of them for me - I really love these little guys but evidently I am not adept at keeping them. Collective sigh.

Sorry to hear about the issues with the little guy!:(

I would definitely take him to the vet asap. Try soaking him as well to help remove any remaining dirt.

Best of luck!

A picture would be very helpful....tough to understand what is going on there.

I took some photos - you can't really tell much from them, though, as there's no more clumped dirt. While I was taking them, he started to get more active and I noticed he was making the movement for tongue-flicking, but it wasn't coming out - but then it did start coming out, just the tip, every so often. So I soaked him for a bit and it seems to have loosened his mouth somehow - maybe there's some skin from his moult still on there or something - but his tongue's coming out now, and he's trying to dig again. Whew. However, the sides of his mouth still seem stuck together - he keeps trying to open up but can't. I'll soak him again and we'll see what happens...

http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg809...jpg&res=medium
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg191...jpg&res=medium

After lots more soaking and a bit of prodding, he managed to get his mouth open, and made a good show of stretching/re-aligning his jaws, so I now know for sure there's nothing left inside of his mouth, and he doesn't have mouth rot or anything like I previously feared. But he still doesn't seem to be breathing properly. While he was in the water, air bubbles would form around his nostrils, and I think he's partially using his breathing tube. I did get a bit of skin off of one nostril; it actually wasn't forming air bubbles until I took it off. Hurm.

Good to hear he is doing a little better. He may still have some stuck shed or possibly even dirt in his trachea blocking air flow. I'd still suggest a vet if he doesn't seem to be completely better soon.

And as always, make sure you have proper husbandry (temps, humidity) as their most important.

Thanks. If he doesn't start breathing normally soon I'll have to get an appointment set up for tomorrow.

i hear that theyre very sensitive to moisture and all.maybe he has a respiratory infection from soaking?i just got one of these(shes a female albino) and she had a small shed issue with her tail but try zoomeds shed ease....i mean water probably works just the same but I used the shedding aid and it worked great.Im paraoid about putting any water in her enclosure.Right now I have some bag of spherical calcium sand I got for ten bucks and zoomed snake aspen bedding mixed in.Hopefully yours comes around...but they really are unique animals with the whole ambush technique.im trying to feed mine frozen pinkys with no luck so far but shes also very new to her enclosure...(i avoid feeding live at all cost because im afraid of a mouse bite infection or any harm coming to the snake)....if she doesnt come around soon i might just have to feed her live prey and maybe attempt feeding f/t when she gets older