Sores on underside of head?

I had my male lesser out yesterday and noticed these two sores on his 'chin' (I don't know if it's called a chin or not) and can't figure out how he could have gotten these or if I should be extremely concerned. I don't think he was bitten during his Wednesday feeding. I feed rat pups and I'm not so sure that their teeth are big enough to leave a wound that size. I have a racking system and his tub has a water dish and hide with chipped aspen bedding. Any ideas or advice? I'm worried about my little guy.

[IMG]http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...h/DSCN0473.jpg[/IMG]

Do you feed live? Is this a CB or WC ball? Can you post a lucid pic?

He is CB and I feed live however, I feed rat pups and don't think their teeth aren't big enough to make a wound this size. Maybe I'm over analyzing but it's a weird position for it to be a bite, it seems like the snakes head would have to have been in the rats mouth,These are the only other pictures I took.
[IMG]http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...h/DSCN0471.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...h/DSCN0472.jpg[/IMG]

Hard to see whats going on in pic, but looks like a rat bit your snake. I would clean his bin and switch to paper towels to minimize chance of infecton. be on the lookout for any redness/swelling around the wounds.

either a rat bite or maybe the rat got his legs up there and dug in. I would clean it with betadine...put on papertowels and just keep a close eye.

I feed live but I make sure I either prekill the feeder or I watch the whole time till I know that it is dead.

I guess I hadn't thought about a kick. I know a bite makes sense but it's such a weird position. I watch all of them while feeding but somehow totally missed this. I watched a rat pup bite my mojave a few weeks ago and when I checked him out, the marks were so tiny I could barely see them which is why I'm second guessing whether or not this is a bite. I guess it's really the only logical explanation. I really just wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious. I'll pick up some betadine and switch out the aspen for paper towels until he's all healed up. Thanks for the input guys.

so sorry this happened! Let us know how it goes!!

it is in the same spot on both sides, maybe he was laying on something, did ur UTH spike and burn him or something??

I too think it's a rodent bite. Neosporin for 2 weeks and everything should be fine.

Jim Smith

I have a hard time believing that a rat pup could do that, even with kicking..

Is there anything rough in his cage that he could have tried to squeeze through? OR any small openings in the cage that he may have cut himself on?

It looks too symmetrical to be anything caused by a rat, let alone a pup.

Depending on what you have for cage furniture it could just be that he rub himself wrong and got a little boo boo.. LOL it doesn't look like a rat bite it looks more like a skinned need would..Put some neosporine (with out pain killer) on it and keep an eye on it. Should be just fine in a shed or two.

How much spacing is there between the tub and top of the rack. Looks like he may have tried or is trying to squeeze out of the top of the tub. Just a thought.

It looks like its enclosure related. This doesn't really fit the bill for a bite or kick.

Our male Enchi scratched the tip of his nose up trying to get out of the air holes drilled in the tub. Switched it out for a tub with more (and smaller) holes and after a shed he was good as new.

Thanks for all of the responses! They've all been very helpful. To answer some of your questions, there is 1/4 inch of space between the tub and the top of the rack, there are no sharp edges and the holes were made with a soldering iron and are no bigger than the size of a standard hole punch. I also check the temps no less than twice a day and haven't noticed a spike. If it did happen, I don't know about it. There is a ceramic water bowl and a plastic bowl for a hide that I cut a door in and then smoothed the edges with the soldering iron. Here is a picture of the tub set up in case anyone wants to see. I know it's hard to say how this happened, I just wish I could know for sure so I can prevent it from happening in the future.

http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/s...enbach/008.jpg

I have the same tubs as you (sterilite locking with lids) and three of my snakes have the same sores on their chins. I went to the vet because one's head became very swollen and small sores started happening inside the mouth too - in this particular instance, there were two sores that lead my vet to believe a rat bit my snake twice in the mouth., in addition to chin spots. However, with the next occurence, all three of my snakes skipped eating a week before these sores showed up for the second time, first on the outside of the chin and then I checked their mouths and saw a few small sores inside that could resemble bites but no rats were present. No one seems to have any definitive answers, so I am treating it as mouth rot and administering tylan 200 which seems to be helping A LOT. As in no more swelling, shedding out and sores are gone, etc. I think at this point it may be tubs that allow snakes too much rubbing/ face squeezing areas in addition to the factors that cause stomatitis or mouth rot - lowered immune system and imperfect living conditions.

I'm gonna add another vote to the rubbing side. These types of sores are pretty common with rack systems and snakes that like to push for weak spots in the lids. Papertowels and betadine 1:10. Should clear up fairly quickly, and maybe looking for a new type of tub for him, if the other snakes seem to be fairly content with their setups. Some snakes are just problem rubbers.

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Originally Posted by hypersomniacjoo

I have the same tubs as you (sterilite locking with lids) and three of my snakes have the same sores on their chins. I went to the vet because one's head became very swollen and small sores started happening inside the mouth too - in this particular instance, there were two sores that lead my vet to believe a rat bit my snake twice in the mouth., in addition to chin spots. However, with the next occurence, all three of my snakes skipped eating a week before these sores showed up for the second time, first on the outside of the chin and then I checked their mouths and saw a few small sores inside that could resemble bites but no rats were present. No one seems to have any definitive answers, so I am treating it as mouth rot and administering tylan 200 which seems to be helping A LOT. As in no more swelling, shedding out and sores are gone, etc. I think at this point it may be tubs that allow snakes too much rubbing/ face squeezing areas in addition to the factors that cause stomatitis or mouth rot - lowered immune system and imperfect living conditions.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Archimedes

I'm gonna add another vote to the rubbing side. These types of sores are pretty common with rack systems and snakes that like to push for weak spots in the lids. Papertowels and betadine 1:10. Should clear up fairly quickly, and maybe looking for a new type of tub for him, if the other snakes seem to be fairly content with their setups. Some snakes are just problem rubbers.

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The thread is over 3 years old ;)

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/a.../OldThread.jpg

...Oh. :rolleyes: :bolt:

Zombie thread! BRAINS!

i felt the need to resurrect it because i have a few snakes with these sores and have researched A LOT over the course of a year and a half and haven't come across anything that pinpointed what the sores came from. Does the OP use the lid that comes with the sterilite locking box? it sucks to think im going to have to change out all of my sterilite 28qt tubs (these are the most problematic it seems, since 3/ 4 snakes with the sores are in 28qt tubs) in my rack

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hypersomniacjoo

i felt the need to resurrect it because i have a few snakes with these sores and have researched A LOT over the course of a year and a half and haven't come across anything that pinpointed what the sores came from. Does the OP use the lid that comes with the sterilite locking box? it sucks to think im going to have to change out all of my sterilite 28qt tubs (these are the most problematic it seems, since 3/ 4 snakes with the sores are in 28qt tubs) in my rack

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Don't. I use a rack, with actual drawers made for it (rhinoraxx) and my girl has them. In fact tonight while checking my 'nakes, I discovered that they're infected. Yet again. >.< raaaaaughhh...