Quote Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents View Post
I'm really surprised they didn't treat with clindamycin. It targets mouth issues and works faster/better than baytril. It seems to me that little guy needs a very good mouth inspection and different meds. It looks like its one of three things to me without a culture being done.. Mouth rot, a severe RI, or an I jury/irritation caused by either a broken/abscessed tooth, or bedding. If its a tooth issue it would require treatment by something that targets mouth infections. Possibly on and off until the damaged tooth comes out, or swelling is down enough to pinpoint it for removal.

You really need to see a better herp specialist and get a mouth culture done to find out what type of bacteria is in there, and one who will take the time to explore these other obvious possibilities.
We have already made an appointment with one about an hour away (as noted in the post).
The thing with the following possibilities is this
RI - no popping/wheezing/coughing/drooling
Mouth rot - no puss/cheese and normal tongue flicking/no "stuck tongue"
He is on unprinted newspaper, so no bedding. Rats are clean f/t with no stuck bedding on them.

I am leaning towards tooth/abscess.

This morning when giving him his baytril, his head wasn't swollen and the color actually looked closer to normal than anytime in the past week.

In the original vets defense, she put him on oral baytril yes, but wanted to do cultures after the course of baytril if he was still showing symptoms. I was unhappy with the meds given, so I'm taking him to another vet.