Quote Originally Posted by MMReptiles View Post
Most vets are used to seeing things like ball pythons and boas, most are not used to things like retics or how to handle them properly. The fact you had to go back and forth to the vet for something as simple as a broken tooth is proof of that... Retics commonly have these problems. You're going to be spending a fortune on things that will do little good..

In the event of a tooth lodged in the gum, it NEEDS to be massaged out with tweezers, if you are uncomfortable getting used to working on your snake to help it get better- I HIGHLY recommend rehoming it and finding another snake, as these are fairly common problems you should be able to rectify with relative ease. In the case of infections- most vets will give you a typical antibiotic regiment, and to be honest- it won't do much for your snake's mouth issues. If it is an open wound in the mouth, create a chlorahexadine solution that you can spray into the mouth via a spray bottle. Apply polysporin (not the pain killing kind, the clear kind) to any open wounds, and it will heal right up with relative ease.

Again, a picture would help a great deal- if it's pushing, the vet won't be able to do anything other than charge you a bunch of money for some useless stuff that won't help your snake, and in fact may stress it out even more.

If you need any help with your retic or fixing it up, you're always welcome to PM me. I've spent hours inside mine's mouth cleaning out a pretty gnarly infection from when I got him, working his gum s free of broken teeth, and even fixing up some poorly managed scar tissue I found. He's looking 100% better and is back in breed mode with my ladies

- - - Updated - - -

Dark- I just realized you're location says Denver. I'm located in Colorado Springs. While I work all this week 9 hour shifts - I do have sunday/monday off as well as the entire week from the 12-18th off. I'd be more than happy to take a look in person for you and help you out with him if you'd like to make the drive down this way. It'd probably be a lot cheaper than a vet, and I can show you how to treat it yourself in the future.
My vet was use to retics. He's an exotics vet. He very much liked her quirkiness. He is not however, a vet that will send home syringes and medication... Now do you understand?

I had to take her back every couple days over the course of treatment for her regularly scheduled injections. Because the affected area in her mouth had caused her trachea to swell and her mouth tissue to discolour. It was looking like a bad RI even though the infection had been caused by the tooth/gum problem.

He was less concerned with the tooth issue, as was I, than the bigger infection in her mouth. The problem tooth could not be seen and we both agreed after the infection was gone to just wait it out without putting her through the stress of X-rays.

It did flare up every so often for awhile after that, but only the gum area by the tooth causing the problem would swell. It never did cause another bad infection. It eventually worked itself out.

Believe me, i would not be taking a snake for injections if I did not feel it was needed. I have full faith in the exotics vet that I've used exclusively for my herps, and even a couple rescued birds in the last 20 years.