Swollen mouth area - Betadine application?

Hello everyone.

Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong section.
My young bumblebee was a bit grumpy yesterday night (just fed him 3 days ago), and he tried to strike at me twice from within the enclosure and he hit the enclosure top (I was just viewing him from outside the enclosure at that time). And he kinda 'yawn' and tried to 're-adjust' his jaw after the second strike, presumably feeling a bit of pain after hitting the plastic top :(
However, this morning, I noticed that there is some kind of small swelling at his lower mouth area (external, not inside his mouth), presumably an injury from striking the enclosure top.
I never noticed this swelling before and I check on him twice everyday.

Just wondering is it ok for me to apply betadine to the mouth area? What dilution/percentage of betadine should I apply using q-tip? Is it safe for the snake if it accidentally consume some of the betadine used?
First time owning a ball python, so pardon me if this has been asked before.

Thank you! :)

Betadine is for mouth rot from what I understand, not a swollen mouth. I would highly suggest speak to a vet perhaps on the phone or schedule an appointment (i.e. a check up) and see how they feel. Betadine should not be used without a prescription.

Thanks for the advice.

My concern is to disinfect the injury area to prevent any infection from settling in.
Will a diluted betadine do the job?

My gut feeling is to say that just a light swelling from bumping into the enclosure walls probably doesn't need to be medicated, just kept clean. A picture of the injured area is always helpful.
I've known some people who will use diluted betadine for mouth injuries (drawing on my experience w/garter snakes here) but I prefer to use diluted hibiclens, which you can buy at your local pharmacy. Just diluted about 1 part Hibiclens/4 parts water.

As I said, this is drawing on my experience with garters, so you may want to wait till someone with more BP-specific knowledge chimes in, though I can't think of a reason that this wouldn't also apply to BPs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sammiebob

Betadine is for mouth rot from what I understand, not a swollen mouth. I would highly suggest speak to a vet perhaps on the phone or schedule an appointment (i.e. a check up) and see how they feel. Betadine should not be used without a prescription.

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A phone consultation with a vet never hurts anything especially when the mouth is involved, but I've seen betadine very commonly recommended by a lot of different sources for many different herps as a general disinfectant w/o a prescription... I've never actually heard of anyone getting a prescription for it. Is this something specific to the BP community that I'm unaware of?

Here are some pics. If you notice, his lower right jaw is a bit 'dented' I'd say. But no visible bleeding/sore whatsoever. Maybe he lost a fang after striking the enclosure top? :please:
Could it possibly it could get worse? I just cleaned his enclosure entirely, changed substrate, cleaned his hide out and water bowl just to make everything as hygienic as possible. I even bathed him a short while with warm water just to ensure no poo or urine is on his body.
Other than that, he looks healthy, very curious and had a good stroll on my carpet while I'm cleaning his enclosure :)

I've read about the mouth rot thingy and is worried about it.
Anything I can do to make things better? I plan to wait for a few days to see how he's doing before taking him to the vet if necessary.

Thank you all for the advice and tips.

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[IMG]http://i1303.photobucket.com/albums/...s2bba00f1.jpeg[/IMG]

That doesn't really look like anything to worry about. When you start worrying about a mouth infection is if the swelling increases, the inside of the mouth starts turning red instead of pink, or you see discharge (this can be bloody/mucousy in the case of a run-of-the-mill mouth infection or like cottage cheese in the case of mouth rot).

First off, you don't need a prescription to apply diluted Betadine. It's a mild antiseptic.

Having said that, I would wait and see how it progresses over the weekend. Snakes can get contusions just like any other animal. If it's swelling from bruising, give it time to go down.

Don't mess with the animal, don't pry it's mouth open. Give it a couple days to see if it's something that will resolve on its own.