Blood in BP mouth?

[olivia8708]

So two days ago we decided to try out coconut husk substrate for our BP. We were worried it would be too wet, but decided to wait and see since we'd heard really great things about it. After changing her substrate we fed her a pretty big mouse and all was good. Last night we decided to switch back to Astroturf because the husk was just too wet. While I was holding her while the tank was being changed I noticed her lip looked a little swollen, but seeing as she'd been fine the day before we decided to wait and see how she was today before freaking out. So just now we checked on her and it was worse, so we got her mouth open and she has what looks like clotting blood in the corner of her mouth. At first I was worried it could be mouth rot because of the wet tank she was in for a day, but after thinking about it I'm more inclined to think maybe she stretched her mouth a little too wide or got a scratch from the mouse while trying to swallow it? She wasn't live fed but it was big, definitely a stretch for her lol. This only just showed up yesterday so I'm really unsure of what it could be or if it's serious, so any advice or thoughts would be appreciated! (:

[DVirginiana]

Mouthrot won't show up because of a day being too wet, that's an injury. Do you feed live? If so my guess is she got bitten and you just didn't notice. Stretching to swallow prey shouldn't cause that.

[olivia8708]

We don't feed live but the mouse was big and I think it's possible she got scratched by a claw while trying to get down the legs. If that is the case I'm assuming we should treat it with some kind of antibacterial solution?

[DVirginiana]

Hmm.... That's really weird. You normally don't see any sort of injury like that from f/t prey. Mouse claws are not very strong even when they've got a live mouse controlling them, and the way snakes eat, the feet are usually pinned back in a way that the claws couldn't do damage.

So, what I'd do is use a wet Q-tip to swab away and loose 'goopy' stuff in the area (be gentle so you don't break off any scab tissue and reopen anything). Then use another Q-tip to apply a solution of diluted chlorhexidine (brand name Hibiclens, you can find it at most pharmacies) 1 part chlorhexidine to 4 parts water. Do that for a couple days. If after a day or two you don't see improvement, if swelling increases, or if the color changes (so instead of pinkish tissue you start to see black/brown/purple tissue) I'd say it's time for a vet.
At the moment it doesn't look infected, but you don't want a mouth infection to start up and get out of control, so if it doesn't respond to that quickly I think you'll want vet intervention before it really becomes a problem.

[Kibbleswhites]

Just wanted to compliment that wonderful photo. Hope your girl gets better.