Yesterday morning, I checked up on my ball python, to notice some strange, black, mold/moss stuff coming out of his mouth. There wasn’t a lot, but it was noticable against his pale, yellow scales (he’s an emperor pin). Unfortunately, I had to leave soon after, so I couldn’t properly examine him until later that night. While my dad helped clean out his cage, I put on my rubber gloves and took out some q-tips. With my mom holding his body, I carefully peeked in his mouth. This is what he looked like:
This is what I (very carefully) removed:
And this is what his mouth looked like afterwards (much better!):

His temps are turned up to 95 degrees F, with a humidity around 50%. We gave his cage a good clean, rinsed his water bowl with diluted Betadine, and took out his wood chips to be replaced with some reptile carpet. We also fed him a mouse (f/t) that night (it was feeding day) and he ate it. I looked at him this morning and his mouth looked very good, although I didn’t open it because I didn’t want to mess with him too much.
My question is: what is this stuff? Is there anything I can do to help him now? Is this mouth rot? I’m free this afternoon if I need to take him to a vet, so let me know what you guys think.

Thank you!


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