BP has mouth rot, help me.

First off, my snake is about 6 months old and has mouth rot. I think it may have been due to stress, I had to move her from her 30 gallon to a 10 to treat her for mites(mites are gone now and yes I know sounds terrible, got her from a friend who had mites on almost all of his snakes) and I think it may have stressed her out to much. Anyways I am pretty sure she has mouth rot in early stages, her mouth remains slightly open, her mouth looks a tad bit inflamed and is drooling with no pus. Is there a medicine at the pet store I can get for her like an antibiotic? I would like to try a couple things before I go to the vet and get a hefty bill but I will if I need to.

Basically to sum it up, I think my snake has mouth rot what do I do?

Here is a good video from BHB describing ways to home remedy some sicknesses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCnPfuqaBM

If it's not a bad case of mouth rot it's treated with betadyne being put on the infected area with a qtip. It's a little easier said then done. Do you see actual sores in the mouth? I had a rescue a few years back that had the wood chips stuck in its mouth and that's what was causing the irritation. Mouth rot can be a serious issue depending on how long this has been going on and I really suggest taking him to the vet just to have a professional look at it. You also need to establish how severe the mouth rot is. Mouth rot can quickly start secondary issues so you may need to find out is antibiotics are necessary. The symptoms you are talking about does indeed suggest mouth rot. Although you wouldn't really see puss drain out bc reptile puss is actually cheesy like. Yucky stuff.
Anyways for now you can get a bottle of betadyne from any drug store and put it on the affected parts with a qtip. ( you should always have a bottle of betadyne handy anyways) You may need someone to help bc he isn't going to like that at all. Do this 2x daily, and if it's not a bad case it will get better. If it doesn't look like it's getting better a vet trip is in order!
Morgan

To me it sounds like the snake might have an RI if the mouth is slightly open and is drooling.

Try taking a look inside the snake's mouth to get a better look. You can open the mouth by holding the head gently and opening it up with a Q-tip. Here's a helpful video, this is how I learned how to open a snake's mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0Uv...el_video_title

I was thinking that too... But that came to my mind and maybe it's just me, I'd think if the snake had such a bad RI that it was drooling it would be wheezing, coughing and hacking up mucus as well. The drooling thing got me though. Drooling isn't too prevalent in RIs.
RIs is coughing , mucus in mouth, and glottis, wheezing, sneezing, open mouth breathing, anorexia.

Where as mouth rot: inflamed mouth, bloody sores around teeth, cheesy puss in mouth and sores, and excess saliva, excessive open mouth, necrosis of the mouth, cottage cheese looking stuff in the mouth often yellow or white, and absent tounge flickering.

So I guess to the op. Which describes your snake better? Stress doesn't create mouth rot though. Most mouth rot comes from a rat scratching or biting or some sort of injury occurring in the mouth.

Yikes, I thought it was because of me doing something wrong. I am gonna check in zuri's mouth for sores or any scaring etc. Like that video showed. I will get back to you guys with a complete answer. As for cheezy mucus I havent seen any of that.

Ok, just got done checking her mouth and what a well behaved snake as soon as I got her by the back of the jaw and put in the q-tip and touched it to her mouth she left it open for me without the q-tip and kept it open even after I let go of her head until I was done looking in her mouth and then she closed it. Anyways yea it is definatly mouth rot. There are yellowish pockets inside her mouth so I am going to get her some of that medicine and take her to the vet immediately if it isn't showing signs of helping. As for live mice, I am going to try and wean her off of them and get her to thawed mice I don't want her getting this again.

Actually, I am going to take her to the vet next Thursday no matter what.

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Originally Posted by Dumbderk

Ok, just got done checking her mouth and what a well behaved snake as soon as I got her by the back of the jaw and put in the q-tip and touched it to her mouth she left it open for me without the q-tip and kept it open even after I let go of her head until I was done looking in her mouth and then she closed it. Anyways yea it is definatly mouth rot. There are yellowish pockets inside her mouth so I am going to get her some of that medicine and take her to the vet immediately if it isn't showing signs of helping. As for live mice, I am going to try and wean her off of them and get her to thawed mice I don't want her getting this again.

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Betadine isn't a medicine - it's an antiseptic. While it is often used in the treatment of stomatitis, it is done so in conjunction with antibiotics.

Go to the vet and have the bacteria at the root of the infection cultured - there are several resistant-strains of stomatitis floating around. The vet may also find that, depending on how bad it is, that debridement may be necessary.

The bacterium that cause mouth rot are usually already present in the mouth of the snake. Regardless of what has been claimed on this thread, stress can play a critical factor in your animal contracting it.

Stress lowers the ability of the immune system to keep naturally present bacteria levels in check - then all it takes is a cut from live prey, a shed tooth, a breach in the mucous membranes, etc. for the bacteria that is already present in the mouth to overcome the compromised immune system.

I have a question just got my new Ball, and I want to make sure I prevent all these things. How does a snake contract Mouth Rot, and or Mites. My ball is very healthy now and has netiher and I would love to keep it that way. Thanks for the replys.

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Originally Posted by AlbinoBall

I have a question just got my new Ball, and I want to make sure I prevent all these things. How does a snake contract Mouth Rot, and or Mites. My ball is very healthy now and has netiher and I would love to keep it that way. Thanks for the replys.

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To prevent mites just don't handle outside snakes (or even be near) and handle your own unless you change and shower. For moth rot, keep your husbandry up and keep your snake healthy:) maybe feed frozen to prevent damage

Just thought I would give an update :P I took her to the vet immedietly like I said I would do and they did a culture and it turned out to be salmonela which she contracted from me putting her in the 10g to treat for mites and it was to small of an enclosure so she moved through her waste without me knowing about it and got it that way, treated her and she is currently living mite free and sick free and is very happy :) This update was waaaay over due, so just saying I treated her a long time ago just got back to the update.

Hi,

You really need a new vet.

You can't get salmonella from your own faeces because if your faeces contained salmonella you already had it.

I'm glad she is doing fine for you now though.


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

You really need a new vet.

You can't get salmonella from your own faeces because if your faeces contained salmonella you already had it.

I'm glad she is doing fine for you now though.


dr del

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x2.

To the OP - salmonella is a very common component of the gut microflora of animals - most if not all carry it in their digestive tracts.

It's normally not an issue - it's only an issue if your animal has an underlying problem that compromises it's immune system.