Puffy Chin and Neck?

[DeepSouthSerpents]

So I got this girl about 1.5 months ago, she has been fine but I just noticed this today. She has pronounced puffiness under the chin and upper neck right under the jaws. Granted, she is about to shed. But she ate 3 days ago and realigned her jaws as usual, now I see this. She doesn't have any external or internal bites and when I opened her mouth she had normal saliva. Just seems like she is bloated underneath the face and I've never seen this on any of my other ones. Any advice?

[Slim]

Any pictures?

[DeepSouthSerpents]

[demonicchild]

I'm a newbie when it comes to ball pythons, but I think that looks serious. My suggestion is to phone a vet.

I'm very curious as to what's up here, too, so I'll wait for the experts to take it.

[Slim]

I think it's time for a trip to the vet. Why does it look like carpet fibers are hanging off one side of her chin?

[dr del]

Hi,

I think its damage to the old skin?

I agree it is probably worth having that checked out by a vet - it could be anything from a respitory infection to mouthrot or trauma. The pictures don't really show enough to say.

When you looked in the mouth were there any red or yellow cheesy spots? If you gently feel the swelling what does it feel like and does pressing it cause any mucus to appear?

Where do you feed her and on what substrate - could she have a piece of substrate stuck in her mouth causing irritation?


dr del

[DeepSouthSerpents]

Yea she's got a tiny piece of shed skin hanging off the bottom of her mouth. It's like the skin is so stretched and elastic the vertical slit under the chin is 2-3 times normal size. The inside of her mouth looks normal, just white and pinkish with saliva. I haven't seen any mucus, the skin just feels puffy and soft to the touch. Hope she doesn't have like a buildup of pus inside her... I don't know why. She's on newspaper and I feed her in a large rubbermaid. As soon as I saw it I figured I should take her to the vet, but just wondering if anyone on here had seen anything like it or recognized it as something. Just wondering if I should wait until after she sheds to see what happens to it.

[demonicchild]

Yea she's got a tiny piece of shed skin hanging off the bottom of her mouth. It's like the skin is so stretched and elastic the vertical slit under the chin is 2-3 times normal size. The inside of her mouth looks normal, just white and pinkish with saliva. I haven't seen any mucus, the skin just feels puffy and soft to the touch. Hope she doesn't have like a buildup of pus inside her... I don't know why. She's on newspaper and I feed her in a large rubbermaid. As soon as I saw it I figured I should take her to the vet, but just wondering if anyone on here had seen anything like it or recognized it as something. Just wondering if I should wait until after she sheds to see what happens to it.

I wouldn't. You don't know what it is. Sure, she could shed out and be fine. But what if she isn't? Get her to vet.