Hello everyone, I’m anxious for some insight on what may be going on with my ball python. I guess I can’t attach photos since I’m a new user, but I have been scouring the internet for a situation similar to mine with no success. My 10 month old female Super Fire started displaying an unusual puffiness and swelling to her chin/throat area. It comes and goes. When it is swollen it looks really awful. She has been a great feeder and I have had her since she was 150 grams; she is now 471 grams.

I have taken her to two vets. The first one barely examined her and was, I think, not properly trained to deal with reptiles. He said he didn’t know what it was, but did not think x-rays, a culture, or blood work would provide any answers, so prescribed injections of Baytril. She was displaying very minimal swelling at the time of the exam. I gave her 4 injections of this every other day as prescribed and after seeing no improvement I decided to take her to another vet for a second opinion. Prior to this I had a look inside her mouth and took some photos. It looks like her glottis is swollen.

She was again not swollen when I took her to the second vet, but I had photos of the swollen glottis as well as photos of her head and neck area when she looked her worst. The second vet performed a more thorough exam and seemed more knowledgeable. She saw nothing in the mouth such as injuries or broken teeth, mucus, bubbles, or anything like that. She acknowledged that it was unusual and also strange that it comes and goes. Her best guess is that there is some sort of internal injury or trauma from a meal or too large of a meal. She said there could have been a scratch while the rodent was going down or something like that. She took her off of the Baytril and prescribed Tazicef injections every three days for a month. She said it would not cause the potential tissue damage that Baytril might and that it was more geared towards reducing inflammation. She suggested daily warm soaks to maintain hydration (which I have been doing) and advised me to feed her very small meals. I fed her a week and a half old rat pink this evening which she took eagerly. I checked on her once she had gotten it down and the area at the base of her head and a couple inches down her neck definitely looks a bit red and inflamed. If she was any other color other than white, I wouldn’t be able to notice this.

I guess I have done/am doing everything I can, but I would love to know if anyone has any experience with anything like this. At this point I’m worried about her regurgitating, but the vet said to feed her and she is definitely hungry. I’m really worried about her and anxious for her to be healthy again.

Thanks for reading. Sorry about the novel.