Chronic Mouth Swelling - need advice

I know swelling can be irritation from a feeding that scratched or bit the inside mouth. And or the teeth coming out of the gum lining causing abscess to form.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

I know swelling can be irritation from a feeding that scratched or bit the inside mouth. And or the teeth coming out of the gum lining causing abscess to form.

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Her last meal was November 6th - a F/T rat so don't think it was from that.

A broken/ripped out tooth however is my #1 guess as to her problem, it's just so hard to say though :(

That could be a tear duct problem. Either an infection or closed entirely. That I have seen before.

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Originally Posted by wilomn

That could be a tear duct problem. Either an infection or closed entirely. That I have seen before.

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Could you give more info on tear duct problems? I have to say I don't know anything about tear duct issues. What can cause them to become infected? How are they treated?

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Originally Posted by apple2

Not sure if this is even possible in snakes, but it seems as if your BP is allergic to antibiotics. Swelling after giving medication is often a sign of that in other animals.

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Could be, though a day or so after her injections the swelling would go down a lot. It's just odd that it keeps coming back, unless it's just not getting "cured" anyway.

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Originally Posted by SquamishSerpents

Does it look something like this? (URL)

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Very similar, though my snake's swelling was concentrated on one side (well the last time it re-swelled it started going onto the other side as well).

Here's photos from tonight, literally 10 minutes ago for her daily swab and compress.

Swelling and purpleness has gone down significantly from yesterday (her last Baytril shot was on Monday, 8:00 am), but now I'm seeing redness around her throat and trachea. She didn't have this aggravated redness with her last RI (or yesterday when we did her swab/compress) - I wonder if she's coming down with something new?

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...nsidemouth.jpg

^that's the stringy saliva that she had with her last RI^

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...sidemouth2.jpg

^New redness and RI looking bubbles^

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...21swollen2.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...21swollen3.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...d21swollen.jpg

Oh poor thing! :( I'm not sure about her internal bubbles and redness, but our snake (the one in the link to Facebook) was rubbing her nose. We switched her to a bin with no little plastic bits jutting out, and put a plastic lid and it went away completely. She did do a round of Baytril, though, but I'm pretty sure it was caused by the rubbing and not an infection.

Yea looks like what I've seen my snakes looking like after their rubbing their enclosures.

Swab the mouth few times daily with mouthwash. That swelling looks more abscess that needs to pop than anything. The mouthwash could kill the bacteria and help, if not no harm done doing so.


I still stick with the tooth getting out of line causing that.

^ Is Listerine swabs consistently better than diluted Betadine solution in your personal opinion? Would any Listerine do or a certain type/flavor?

Quick update: Her swelling is down enormously, the only swelling she has is outer swelling on the top of her snout (warm compresses being gently applied); the area around her pits are down to normal size as well. The redness in her throat is gone but we'll be keeping an eye out if she develops RI symptoms.

We'll see what the vet says tomorrow at the checkup, I believe she may be okay with daily swabs but if it gets worse or if she develops other problems I'm sure we'll have to go to other options. I'll see what the vet recommends to do with her.