Swollen Head and Neck

[bryanandrew29]

I've been keeping ball pythons for a few years now, but only recently got heavily into and invested a few thousand dollars in 2-3 year old breeders and they're housed in a 5 level V70 I believe Reptile Basics rack which I maintain between 79-85 degrees with 50-70 percent humidity. So 9/10 of my snakes are eating weekly and slamming rats perfectly, and active and alert and non-aggressive. So my female Mojave has been the only one to refuse food since I got her at 1300 grams amd although she hasn't lost weight, I went to do my morning check and noticed her neck was swollen and almost as wide as her head besides this and a minor mite problem which I solved a few weeks ago there's never been this issue can anyone give some helpful hints or tips or what it is or what I can do? I had her paired to a mystic potion who as well has refused food for coming on 6 months now who I finally decided to force feed twice this month because he had lost almost 300 grams and was making me nervous, could he have infected her with some thing? Thank you in advance for any help.

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[JodanOrNoDan]

Did you look in her mouth?

[bryanandrew29]

Did you look in her mouth?

Yea it seemed clear and I didn't really have much of a tool to open her mouth properly and she accidentally snagged me with her teeth and I didn't want go stress her out more then necessary but she's not on any substrate except for paper towels since I got her.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

There are two things I have seen over the years with animals that swelled up RI and allergic reaction, in the case of the allergic reaction I recall those animals were on a wood type substrate, and once change onto something else the swelling went away, obviously if you use paper towel I would likely rule the second one out (well at least for allergic reaction to wood)

I would clean the cage out completely remove any possible residue of the product used for mite treatment and then I would make an appointment with an herp vet.

[bryanandrew29]

There are two things I have seen over the years with animals that swelled up RI and allergic reaction, in the case of the allergic reaction I recall those animals were on a wood type substrate, and once change onto something else the swelling went away, obviously if you use paper towel I would likely rule the second one out (well at least for allergic reaction to wood)

I would clean the cage out completely remove any possible residue of the product used for mite treatment and then I would make an appointment with an herp vet.

Much appreciated I'll do a heavy clean right now and search for a good herp doctor, unfortunately they'll probably cost more than I payed for her but I'd rather her be healthy and such.

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[DennisM]

I'd get the snake to a vet. I'm not qualified to diagnose on the Internet or in person, but I had a carpet python many years ago that looked like that. It was kidney failure resulting in water retention. Hope you have much better luck than that.

[ceh23]

Keep us posted. Would like to know what the vet says.


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[bryanandrew29]

Unfortunately I found her dead just a little while ago, I was about to bring her to the vet tomorrow too. I'll try to have one of my more educated friends check out the body and see if they can figure what it may have been, thanks for all the advice though.

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[L.West]

Sorry to hear that your snake died but it appears that you waited too long to seek medical help. 5 additional days after it was recommended that you seek out a vet is way too long.

Again, sorry for the loss of the snake - very sad indeed.