So, Snakey went to the vet today. The vet is on the ARAV list and has won "vet of the year" type awards from the Texas Veterinarions Association (or some such). He has both a general "unconventional species" as well as a specialized avian one. As you might guess he is a bird specialist. So, some good and bad. His knowledge of snakes seemed good. He certainly seemed to know his way around one.

I've never seen Snakey so P.O.'ed before. He was a good boy though - no hissing or biting. The vet was impressed and said he didn't act like a ball but more like a burm.

The vet did identify mild signs of infection in Snakey's mouth: an excess of mucuous and a darker pink color at the back of the mouth by the throat. He said he may have RI and gave me some anti-biotics. I asked about culture and he said that he has done perhaps thousands of cultures on snakes and 99% of the time the bacteria can be killed with this stuff call "baytil". He offered to do one but said that it was $90 and that he preferred to try the antibiotic first and then do the more expensive testing if the problem did not go away. It sounded very reasonable to me.

There was only one thing that didn't sit well with me. As he was finalizing his diagnosis and explaining it to me he kept saying "open mouth breathing". Initially I said "well I wouldn't call it that" and then he kept on and said it again. I said "Look, I want to make sure we're clear here. I came here because he rubs his mouth and yawns alot. He does not breath with an open mouth." So, he got him back out and re-inspected his jaw area and gums very closely. They looked very good. Then he showed me his "wet mouth" and the throat and said it looked like RI. BUT, I was just looking some stuff up on snake health problem for a post and I see RI and this thing called "stomatis". The description of RI was kind of close. Then I read "stomatis" and right there it was "mouth rubbing"! Does Snakey have mouth rot?!?!