How do I gently open the mouth?

[Hydrolicious]

I use aspen bedding, So I feel I need to regularly check to see if pieces become lodged in my BP's mouth while eating.

How would I go about doing this without harming my snake? He's really docile and I don't think he's bothered by head-touching.

[Skittles1101]

I use aspen, and you can see if there is aspen stuck in their mouths. It's happened to my boa twice and one of my ball pythons once. It sticks out the side or front a little, and in my boas case, he couldn't realign his jaw correctly.

If you feel the need to pry the mouth open, which I don't think is necessary, get a Q-tip and use the "pole" part of the Q-tip and roll it inwards, their mouths will open...not usually willingly. Make sure you have a good grip on the head without blocking the airway on the throat.

To remove aspen I just use tweezers lol.

[Hydrolicious]

I appreciate the tips. As far as I could tell in the brief time I had his mouth open(before he managed to pull back) he doesn't have anything lodged in his throat. While I was at it, I checked for other symptoms of illnesses/disorders. He's healthy! No lodgings, mucous, or caseous pus!

[Alexandra V]

I second Leah's tip with the cotton swabs. My snakes are on paper towel so I don't have a problem with substrate ingestion, but I occasionally use that method to check for illnesses like RI.

I place my thumb behind the head, kind of where the jaw hinges if you know what I mean, and then my forefinger in the same place on the other side and gently push the bar part of the Qtip horizontally in between the jaws from the front of the mouth, they open right up! (Sorry I'm terrible at explaining things like that, hope you got it )

[KingPythons]

Keep in mind that you can harm them by opening the mouth. They can come down on there upper or lower jaw wrong and end up biting themselves(they have slots in the gums for their teeth). Causing them to bleed so be very careful. To check the gums u can simply grab a qtip and from the outside lift the lip with the qtip and check them.

[Lorgakor]

A small rubber kitchen spatula works well too, in fact that is what my vet uses.

[kitedemon]

I use a credit card. Same basic method as Lgrey says but with a card I don't leave bits of cotton in the teeth... be careful of the glottis the tube thing in the lower jaw. The card is not likely to cause problems with it as it sits on the jaw. You could also use a Speculum... if you want to buy a set. It is what they are designed for.

[Skittles1101]

You could also use a Speculum... if you want to buy a set. It is what they are designed for.

I'm sorry but I couldn't help but LOL

Try telling my Dr this!

[nock]

I've helped my room-mate do this before. He just pinched it behind the head and I used tweezers to get piece of paper towel out of his snakes mouth.

[Skiploder]

I use aspen bedding, So I feel I need to regularly check to see if pieces become lodged in my BP's mouth while eating.

How would I go about doing this without harming my snake? He's really docile and I don't think he's bothered by head-touching.

You are running a greater risk of harm to your snake by forcing open it's mouth. Those bits of aspen aren't going to hurt your snake.

Either put him on another bedding material or stop worrying.