Is Ruby's lip broken?

[KMG]

I'm sorry. My tablet was having an internet fit and I only saw the first tw post. I see the problem resolved itself for your snake and my tablet.

My heart sank when it happened. They are incredible animals that most people will never understand the attraction to.

[BFE Pets]

Thanks so much for weighing in, anyway!

Lord knows I need all the hand-holding I can get, sometimes.....

Lol anytime. I've just recently started crossing the street without holding someone's hand. (single lane only not the big ones yet)

[Salamander Rising]

I'm sorry. My tablet was having an internet fit and I only saw the first tw post. I see the problem resolved itself for your snake and my tablet.

My heart sank when it happened. They are incredible animals that most people will never understand the attraction to.

They're the only pets in the world that can properly hug you back....

She's now happily digesting her supper, wondering what all the fuss was about but enjoying the extra attention.



[but OMG it looked so dire!]

[Salamander Rising]

Lol anytime. I've just recently started crossing the street without holding someone's hand. (single lane only not the big ones yet)

I run across streets as fast as I can...LOL

Is your avatar firemen carrying snakes out?

If so, awesome!

[Evenstar]

Guys, does no one know how a snake's jaw is put together??? The lower jaw is disjointed at the "chin" and connected by a ligament which stretches. This allows the lower jaw to seperate and the snake to move each side independantly. This allows the animal to swallow large prey items.

Ruby just "dislocated" her jaw at the point of the chin and had to realine it. Boas and pythons have to realine their jaws every time they eat. It does look grusome sometimes though, lol....

Here is a picture illustrating this. This is the jaw of a Burmese Python, but all constricting snakes have the same seperation.

[Valley]

They are incredible animals that most people will never understand the attraction to.

Sadly their missing out on these beautiful animals. People don't believe me when I tell them they all have their own personality. It's their loss, we can try and tell them, but sadly there's too many stereotypes and most are closed minded when it comes to snakes. If only they knew.

[SquamishSerpents]

Cool illustration, Evenstar! It's fascinating to see them open up sooooo wide!

I've had a minor freakout about jaw misalignment too, my Dumeril's did exactly the same thing as Ruby. Similar situation with her, too. Her previous owners had been feeding LIVE hamsters and gerbils all her life, which were way too small for her. She also received some nasty bites from the hamsters before she came to me.

It took me 1.5 years and literally EVERY SINGLE TRICK IN THE BOOK to get her to switch to f/t, now, she eats the very biggest rats I can get (retired breeders) and will be moving to rabbits soon.

But anyways, she did end up having her lower jaw stuck in behind her 2nd row of teeth (or something...couldn't quite figure out what happened) and I had to get my boyfriend to hold her up while I released it. She probably would have got it eventually, but it had been a couple hours and I didn't want her to go burrowing and get a mouthful of aspen to add insult to injury.

Glad Ruby is okay, and let this be a reminder (pff as if we need one) that snakes are such fascinating creatures!

[Evenstar]

That's a cool story Squamish! It can be scary to see your snake's jaw like that - especially when they do it by smacking their face against glass. Snake's really do the dumbest things sometimes.........

[Daybreaker]

One of my Argentine boas, my hypo female, and my retic has messed up their mouths before just from hitting the side of their enclosure when they got too excited about feeding (they corrected themselves within five minutes or so, but it still looks scary!). I just put a towel over them until I'm ready to drop the feeder in so they don't get strike happy

[KMG]

Thanks Evenstar,

I know how they work and wish I took a pic of what my gtp looked like. In my case the tooth was holding the lip in its mouth on the left side. This caused it to appear that the jaw bone was broken directly in the middle of the lower jaw on the left. It looked as if the jaw bone had snapped in the middle and folded into his mouth.