Swollen face? Help!

[Dracoluna]

I've only seen two reasons for this type of swelling in a snake. Both were on other forums and pretty sure they were both pythons of some type. One was due to a rescued snake coming in with almost every bone broken as fluid will surround a break naturally. As this is your baby, I would count that one out.

The second was a less known symptom of an RI. The treatment was to up the temps to around 95, take away the water dish, and treat with antibiotics. The theory was that the RI causes water retention and by removing the water dish and upping the temps, the snake 'sweats' out the extra. I realize snakes don't sweat but it does get the amount of water down in the body to safer levels because of the heat/lack of drinking water. Bloating and swelling like that occur with some RI's so if you're vet seems completely baffled, let them know that. A culture should provide some insight as to what's going on so the antibiotics can be specifically chosen for the strain.

I'll see if I can find the forums I read them on as it's been a few years since I saw them.

Edit: Just like with human water retention, you can massage the areas to move the water through the system, however, with so much, I wouldn't recommend that as it can shock his system for so much fluid to enter the bloodstream as right now, it's in the tissue. That may be why handling his head caused the swelling to go down in that area.