King has mouth rot, and RI?? I hope not..

Today I decided to take my King snake out. He's a 4 foot sub-adult male, and I've had him for almost 2 years now. So I took him out, held him, let him run around my floor a little and that's when he started to sneeze. He sneezed a good 3-4 times. I thought it was kind of odd, since I never see him do that. Then, when it was silent in the room and I was listening closely for anything else, I heard tiny little popping noises when he exhales. Right then I thought, "Ohh dear god no.." So I went downstairs, got a Q-tip, and brought my brother to my room. I told him I need help (since my King HATES getting his mouth checked and he always jerks back). So we went back to my room and as I secured the head he secured the neck and body. It took me a good 30 seconds to get his mouth open.. like I said.. he HATES getting his mouth checked. When I opened the mouth I was trying to look for some bubbles (found a few in the throat) but what REALLY caught my eye was these brown spots and thick lines on his breathing tube (I forgot what it's called.. so that's the best I could say) and a little on his upper jaw towards the front of his mouth. I also saw on his "breathing tube" some red spots that look swelled a bit so I figured, "Mouth rot? HOW??" I also saw some red and swelling spots on the upper jaw near the brown stuff I saw. Here are his cage conditions:
-Aspen Bedding
-1 half log hide
-1 large water dish
-1 60watt basking bulb

The temperatures are usually between 85-90, but sometimes it hard to tell because the stick-on thermometers SUCK. At night, all of the cages drop as low at 77F. But now I got a red infrared heat bulb so I guess that will help. I think his enclosure gets colder at night, since it's parallel from the air vent.

What are some main causes on how a snake gets mouth rot?? I have no clue if this is mouth rot or not but I NEED to know the main causes on how snakes get mouth rot. I'll post up pictures later because I just bothered him with the whole opening his mouth thing and such so I'm going to let him go for a bit. My camera isn't that good, so sorry if my pictures are really bad but hopefully you guys can help me out:please:

Please someone I really need help.. im going to go gets pics...

Hi,

Pics would probably be a good idea but you will probably need another person to hold him or use the camera to get good clear pictures.


dr del

My camera was WAAAYY too blurry for you to see anything. I'll try to google some pics of what it looks similar to. And I think he does have RI.. I checked his mouth once more and I saw strands of mucus (like 2 or 3) right when I open the mouth.. So, I think that means he's positive for RI..
Also.. when I tried opening his mouth.. he kept jerking back so maybe it was hurting him (and I've done it this way with opening mouths for snakes for a while so I know how to do it and I haven't done it wrong once) for me to put the middle of the Q-tip in his mouth. I was putting it at the front of the mouth (where I saw dark brownish stuff and a little swelling) so maybe the mouth rot was hurting him as I was pressing against him with the middle of the Q-tip.

Hi,

Time to find a good local herp vet then if possible - if he has both an RI and mouth rot I don't think I would try any home treatment but plump for the anti-biotics.

But hopefully others will chime in with suggestions too.


dr del

I don't think photos that are similar would help at all. Someone would have to guess on a photo that is only similar and not exact.

If it were me, I'd take him/her into the veterinarian.

Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital

I would give Dr. Wright or Dr. Johnson a call, 480-275-7017. I know they aren't really in your area but they could probably answer some questions over the phone. Dr. Wright comes by our store all the time, he's a great guy and super knowledgable.

I had no choice but to DRAW THE PICTURE ON PAINT.. since my camera is wayy too blurry. Sorry if it isn't that "detailed" to tell you what it REALLY looks like.. but I hope you get the picture.

Btw.. the brown is a lot darker in the mouth, but not a completely dark dark brown. like a little brighter than the dark brown on Taz::taz: and the red is like a lighter redish pink and in that reish pink area it looks pretty swollen. My sister also said the snake's head looked kinda swollen but not really. Just on the sides by the jaw on the back of the head (cheeks?).

http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/t...z/mouthrot.jpg

Breathing Tube = Glottis.

I'd take the animal to the veterinarian. You'd be surprised how detrimental a Respiratory Infection or Stomatitis can be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Michelle.C

Breathing Tube = Glottis.

I'd take the animal to the veterinarian. You'd be surprised how detrimental a Respiratory Infection or Stomatitis can be.

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Ya I just got off the phone with the vet (well I left a msg for him) and I may be getting a call back here pretty soon so I'm going to talk to the vet over the phone and see what's really wrong and if I gotta take him in I just might do that.

The head swelling and noises seem like a possible RI. I'd definitely take him to a vet a.s.a.p.

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Originally Posted by MuzeBallPythons

The head swelling and noises seem like a possible RI. I'd definitely take him to a vet a.s.a.p.

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Well I'm working on it.. just gotta see if I have enough money to afford the vet bill.. how much money does it usually take to get antibiotics for a minor respiratory infection? I dunno if it's nothing minor.. but it's not REALLY bad.

Well, I'm almost positive he has it. These are the symptoms I've noticed so far in my King snake:
-back of the head by the jaw bones (cheeks?) seem a little swelled (that's what my sister told me).
-tiny popping noises when he exhales (you can't really hear them unless it's really silent in the room).
-sneezing (a good 3-4 times).
-checked the mouth, and saw some bubbles in the throat (I'll check again later to be sure).
-when I opened the mouth, I saw a few strings of mucus but they broke after I opened the mouth a little bit more.

I haven't seen any wheezing or open mouth breathing. Yet. But I'm keeping an eye on him. I raised his temps a bit (got a new bulb, 75 watt basking bulb) so help a little bit, but still unsure that he positively has RI. I'm expecting a call from the vet soon about this, and I may have to take him in so the vet could check him out. All I want to know is that if you think there's a high or low chance he has RI. I'm guessing high. This all happened when I was handling, so after he sneezed and popped a little I opened him up and saw bubbles and strings of mucus (on the second time I opened his mouth up).

Gotta have pics to be of any help.

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

Well I'm working on it.. just gotta see if I have enough money to afford the vet bill.. how much money does it usually take to get antibiotics for a minor respiratory infection? I dunno if it's nothing minor.. but it's not REALLY bad.

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I've merged your two threads, since they're both the same topic.

A minor RI, left untreated can lead to a more serious RI, and if that's untreated - death.

Will your mother help you with the vet visit? Since none of us can see your snake, and none of us are veterinarians, the most any of us can advise is that you NEED to get your snake seen and get put on an appropriate course of medication.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I've merged your two threads, since they're both the same topic.

A minor RI, left untreated can lead to a more serious RI, and if that's untreated - death.

Will your mother help you with the vet visit? Since none of us can see your snake, and none of us are veterinarians, the most any of us can advise is that you NEED to get your snake seen and get put on an appropriate course of medication.

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She said she would help me. What's the best I can do right now for my snake? I raised the temps.. so.. what else do I have to do to help fight off the infection until I see a vet?

Raise the humidity up really high too. I wont suggest any real treatment since I'm not a vet. The possible good news is that the popping noise and extra saliva is just a side effect of the mouth rot and sores rather than an RI, but could easily become an RI if the mouth rot or sores are not treated. All the saliva is a response to the sore mouth and the extra sometimes gets breathed into the lungs and creates the popping noise. The high humidity will sometimes help them get it out when they are doing the sneezing thing. Still go see the vet for sure though and get it all treated as soon as possible.

Mark