What causes mouth rot?

[jrosen123]

Hey everyone, I recently noticed something odd around my young bp's mouth, I am not sure whether it is just her coloring and I just didn't notice, or if it is mouth rot. I am trying to find my camera and will hopefully have pictures up tonight, but for the mean time

could someone explain the main causes of mouth rot?

how to treat mouth rot temporarily before going to the vet

and could someone post some pictures of mouth rot on some of their bps (inside and/or outside of mouth) please?

thank you for any help, I may just be overreacting, but I am pretty worried

thanks again

[Evan Jamison]

If you are talking about stomatitis, it is normally caused by improper conditions, with too cool and too wet being the main culprits. It looks like white cheesy material around the gums and lips, and can get bad fast if still in poor conditions. If your snake has obvious wounds around the mouth, or is exhibiting signs of respiratory distress, I'd get her to a vet sooner than later.

I hope it's nothing to worry about.

-Evan

[jrosen123]

its more like a darkening around the tip or her mouth, along her bottom jaw, right at the end of it.

[jrosen123]

does anyone have any pictures so that i can compare to?

[Crazy4Herps]

Mouth rot and scale rot are general names for any injury or abrasion of the mouth or scales that has become infected with bacteria or fungus. So it greatly varies in appearence.

There was a great article about mouth and scale rot in the April issue of Reptiles Magazine. I believe they are still carrying the April issue at pet stores (it has a pair of baby water dragons on the front). It's a great article that discusses causes, effects, and cures.

So, it really depends on what the cause of the mouth rot is. IMO, you should take her to a vet. If you want to be sure, you can monitor it for a while and see if it changes.

Mouth rot is a bit more difficult to treat than scale rot because you can't use any topical antibacterial cream. Again, it depends on what kind of mouth rot it is, but with most cases, antibiotic injections are the way to go.

Good luck! Hope all goes well. Keep us updated.