Swollen Head, Vets have no clue what's going on.

[dart]

This is Midori, she's a little over 2 years old. We've had her for almost 2 years now. Last Thursday I noticed some small amount of swelling on the left side of her head. We opened up her mouth and didn't see anything that looked damaged or out of place. By Friday afternoon, both sides of her head were swelling up, up to her nostrils. When you touched it, it felt like air. So we got her a vet appointment for Monday. Took her to the vet and she took some X-rays and said she had no clue what was going on with her. The X-rays showed what appeared to be just pockets of air from the side view, but from a top view, it looked like air and some liquid. So, she sent them off to a colleague of her who is a reptile specialist.

She had me bring her back this morning so she could drain the swelling and see what was going on. She said that she looked in her mouth also while she was anesthetized and said it looked normal. She drained the swelling and said it was mostly air, however a little bit of fluid came out. She was sending that off for a cultural. However, she thinks that until they find out what is causing the swelling, that it may continue. She seems to think that some sort of unseen trauma happened to her and they can't find it. Her specialist colleague apparently said he's never seen anything like this also.

Does anyone have any input on what might be going on with her?

Here's some info on her
-She's in a 28qt tub on paper towels and has a ceramic water bowl.
-She does like to push on the corner of her tub, a lot! Her nose is rubbed because of it.
-Her last few meals have been f/t rats, we do feed live when we have an abundance however.

She's been acting normal and alert through the situation. Just very touchy with her head, obviously.

I only have one pic that I took of her with her head swollen. I took it yesterday before the vet appointment.


Thanks in advance.

[CrystalRose]

Wow. I don't have any idea what it could be but I hope the test results can give you some answers. Will keep my fingers crossed that she ends up ok.

[DooLittle]

How strange. I have noticed before that sometimes my snakes head looks "poofy". But not like that, and its always right before a shed. What area are you located in? Maybe someone can recommend a vet for another opinion.

[rickm]

I would guess that it is probably just trauma from pushing on her tub walls. maybe moving her into a bigger tub, if that is an option. you can also crumple up news paper and put it in the tub. this will give her more places to hide and explore. I used to have retics do the same thing during breeding seasons and when they did not get out enough. I found by putting them in bigger cages and giving them more out time...they stopped. they just needed more stimuli maybe, I don't know. I do know that once they were moved into bigger cages, and got more excersize, they stopped pushing. I have had some pretty bad looking faces on my males at breeding time...but once they were put in with the ladies, they were fine. being a female...I would guess that she just needs a bigger tub and maybe some paper to help her 'hide' and feel more relaxed. I don't know for sure that this is the case with your girl, but it would be my guess.

[Badgemash]

Did the vet look at her heart at all?

[DooLittle]

Did the vet look at her heart at all?

I was thinking about this too. Reminded me a bit of Tiffany's Leo. Take a look at this thread. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2066754

[Archimedes]

Yeah made me think of Leo too. :/ Best of luck for your baby! Definitely read through Tiff's thread.

[got_ballz]

Sound exactly like it give it a read through and make sure your get it checked out. There are so many different possibilities keep positive never give up.

[Badgemash]

I was thinking about this too. Reminded me a bit of Tiffany's Leo. Take a look at this thread. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2066754

That's exactly what I was thinking, thanks for pulling up the thread.

[DooLittle]

That's exactly what I was thinking, thanks for pulling up the thread.

No problem. I thought about it when I first posted this morning, but didn't have time to dig it up then.