Something wrong with his mouth?

[adamfritzsche]

I bought this desert a couple of weeks ago. I was checking on all my snakes this morning like I always do and noticed this guys mouth propped open like this, and the area seems dingy in color, not the nice pink. Is there something wrong here?

[DooLittle]

Looks swollen. Maybe there's some sort of infection? Maybe he lost a tooth? What's it look like inside?

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[adamfritzsche]

Yes, that is the first thing I thought to. It does seem to have a swollen look to it. I did not notice this yesterday, and I did feed him last night. So a broken tooth maybe probable? I was not able to open his mouth to look better before I had to get to work, plus I was not sure if I should break the general rule about handling after eating or still stick to it. Since I just fed him last night, should I still wait to be man handling him to look into his mouth, or would this be a case where you would break the rules and check his mouth immediately?

[WtGreg]

I had a ball with a similar look recently, but worse. In my case it was an infection caused by the snake biting a piece of bedding when eating a rat. It appeared at the tooth line to start,in a day moved to upper gums and lip and by the next morning the whole head on that side was swollen. Time frame was about 36-48 or so hours to get that bad, but once the swelling started, it took off.

Take your snake to a vet. They will tell you what it is for sure. Let them do the prying open of the mouth so it doesn't have it's mouth poked and pryed 10 times over between you and them combined. If it is nothing, great, but if it is an infection, then you want to start treatment before it gets bad. Mine ended up with swelling into the neck before the drugs started to show effect.
If it's an infection most likely they will give you baytril or something for antibiotic, and possibly something to swab on the spot to clean if they feel it's needed. You want to head it off before it gets bad.

Hopefully it will be nothing, but in any case best of luck to you and your ball!

[adamfritzsche]

Thanks. That is what I was already thinking. My vet appointment was already made as soon as I noticed this. Just waiting for someone to say that I should take it it, but would have anyway.

[Pickenprod]

Oh gosh, I hope it turns out okay. I have no idea what it is, but I'd probably panic if I saw my own snake looking like that... so I want to wish you the best of luck!! He looks like an awesome little guy, too!

[elduki]

Mouth rot

[rafacacho]

It looks swollen and the yellowish color doesnt seem right. I go with mouth rot also. Wash your hand after handling him, or you can spread bacteria to another snake.

[Alexandra V]

The yellow colour is a little odd to me, I'd support the infection theory. If you keep him on loose bedding it could be that he got a piece in his mouth and cut himself too, which could cause infection.

If you can open his mouth and take a look inside (fingers behind the jaws and slide the middle "stick" part of a Q-Tip between his lips and move it backwards you should be able to open it) and see what it looks like in there. If you see any foreign bodies (bedding, tooth piece) try to remove it with tweezers so it doesn't further aggravate the problem, but for sure see the vet to treat the existing infection.

[adamfritzsche]

All is good. I feel a little silly about it. About 30 minutes prior to the vet appt, I was able to check him out better, and noticed that his entire problem was he got a mouth full of sani chips. This entire side was so packed that it was wedged in there and could not realign that side of the jaw. I took him to the vet anyway, and they checked him out. Said he was absolutely fine, the doc pulled a bunch of stuff out of his mouth stuck to his teeth, including half his head shed.