Last weekend I took my 5 year old normal female in to the vet with a bump on her lower jaw. I had it x-rayed and it was determined that she had somehow broken it. She doesn't strike at her FT food and lives in a nice AP T8 enclosure with well monitored heat and humidity... the only thing I can guess is that she wedged her face in the crack of the sliding glass door too zealously or she had a hairline fracture from striking on food a long while back that finally broke completely. The vet can't figure it out either.

At any rate she is set to be splint-taped for the next 6 weeks, and I have no idea how well these things typically heal. In the meantime, my vet is telling me that she will need to come in for tube feeding every two weeks. She's 5ft and 1,900g... they're telling me that if she misses a meal it will put her at risk for liver disease. I allowed them to do one tube feeding and the tech told me she went limp during the procedure, so I cancelled the next feeding becaus I'd really rather they didn't kill my not-starving snake during a tube feeding. I don't mind parting with the $54 per visit if it's in her best interest to force feed, but I'm not into putting my girl through potentially deadly hell for no good reason. Her bloodwork came back normal, so she has a baseline of good overall health. Anyone know of any studies that support my vet's assertion?