Please help me!?

[Naomi]

I fed my ball python Amare today, who will only take live feed. I gave her food as usual (I hold the mouse with tongs until she strikes and gets it wrapped). Well she struck and it was okay except she wrapped kinda funny so I had to wiggle the tongs out a bit which may have caused part of the later issue. The mouse wasn't struggling anymore and she began to ingest it so I turned to feed my other python and when I turned back to check on Amare the mouses guts were visible and sort of hanging out from an injury I couldn't see. (Maybe from pulling the tongs too hard away?) Amare didn't seem troubled by this and by this time she had relaxed and straightened out to start walking the mouse into her mouth when all of the sudden the mouse started to struggle in her mouth and I could hear it's teeth gnashing and biting inside her mouth. She wrapped it again and eventually got it down, but then she started to shake a bit. Almost like a spider ball does with wobble. She reajusted her jaw and seemed okay, but she did try to strike me when moving her back to her terrarium. And she was a little bloody in the mouth. I'm just worried as to if the mouse could have injured her mouth at all? She is curled up in her hide right now. I have pics if needed. Please help.

[Alter-Echo]

Hard to say if anything serious happened, but it sounds like your snake is probably gonna be fine. I would just keep an eye out for any bleeding from the mouth and strange sounds when breathing and if so, take it to a vet.

[BluuWolf]

We are not vets and were not there so we can't say for sure but I would just watch carefully. It sounds to me like the blood probably was just from the wound on the mouse that you mentioned. I just find it unlikely that a mouse would be able to do any real damage like that and if it had the snake wouldn't have likely continued to eat it. Just keep an eye on him!

[Reinz]

If it were my snake, I would use a credit card or shaft of a q-tip to open the snakes mouth as inspect as close as possible. If you have any questions about how it looks, get him to vet ASAP.

Not trying to scare you, but a similar thing happened to Boa on another forum. The rat ended up chewing a hole from the inside out. That was what finally convinced me to switch to frozen.

[Maggie Louise]

I definitely understand and can relate to your concern. As a fellow forum poster told me, first take a deep breath, hold it for five seconds, and let it go. Had an emergency of my own tonight.

Don't freak out. If your BP is still alert and active then you have time to assess the issue at hand. My BP used to be strangely ridiculous when it came to eating. Could never get it down the right way and it scared the soul out of me. Though he's always been fed FT he was crazy with his food. I had to teach him how to eat. I've seen blood and struggle, but it always comes down to the food's demise. I have seen a seemingly dead mouse tragically destroy a BP from the inside out after a live feed performed by a breeder friend of mine by no fault of his own, which is why I always always always recommend frozen thawed (and it's illegal to feed live in many regions in Europe), but your BP was proactive in initiating a final kill. Don't worry about the wobble, mine does it all the time and it's probably just a feeding adjustment in this unique situation.

It's hard to transition stubborn eaters to FT but in the long run it's worth it. At least consider it. The benefits outweigh the risks in my opinion. I'm so sorry you had to experience this! But as the responders have said, don't worry. Just monitor closely and take a peek in the mouth tomorrow if any bleeding persists. I doubt it will. Just look out for vertical and/or open-mouthed breathing and lascerations. Infections are no good. But again, stay calm. BPs are more resilient than they make themselves out to be! Everything will surely be fine.

[SDA]

I second the credit card and examining the mouth area. If cut or damage I would got to a vet asap. I would also since you had a close call now, either prekill your rodent before feeding by bludgeoning it or hitting it against a hard object before offering or switching to frozen thawed.

You are going to have to exam your snake as we can't tell you just by your post. Without detailed images nobody is going to say what happened. Your snake could be just fine or it could have a laceration. The sooner you check and the sooner you take care of it the less chance of it getting complicated.

[Lord Sorril]

Leave the snake alone for now. I've seen live rats deliver a devastating bite to a ball python, but, never a single bite from a mouse.

Maintain your routine and check periodically to make sure that there is no swelling in the face.
If there is noticeable swelling-then pry the mouth open and take a look as there may be an infection and you will need to treat it.

[hilabeans]

I sure hope Amare is ok, that sounds scary for both of you!

I noticed you mentioned moving her "back" into her terrarium after the feeding. Do you usually move her to another location to feed? If so, this is an unnecessary step and can cause added stress to a snake for zero gain. There is no reason to move your ball python out of her enclosure for feeding time, and I'm sure she'd be much happier staying put for her dinners.

Let us know how it goes for her!

[Naomi]

I've deffinetly tried the switch to frozen for multiple weeks. Each time she refused to eat, and I've tried pre killed mice as well leaving them with her to see if she will eat them but she won't. She only shows interest with live prey. It's the same with the other one. I tried to check her mouth before but whenever I check she twists her body and neck to the point I either have to let go or risk breaking something.

Thank you for the help though.

[Naomi]

I feed in a sperate tub because the terrarium has Aspen shavings in it and they alsways stick to the mouses fur. I don't want her to become impacted. Plus the first go at feeding in her terrarium she got a piece stuck in her mouth and couldn't close it properly so I had take it out for her which is no fun for either of us.