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View Full Version : The Adventures of Mouth Rot


Hyokenseisou
05-26-14, 12:11 AM
So a few months ago, I got my prized albino boy back from a friend who was using him for breeding. It was his first time breeding, so I think that got him excited. Since then, he had been banging his nose up against the locks in his enclosure, trying to sniff out my females (no, he cannot see them, blocking his view won't help, it's the actual locks inside the cage doing damage) and I guess that knocked some fangs which later got infected.
Seeing the little bump not go down and now a little bit of the classic 'cheese' start to appear, I started to worry a bit. Took him to another friend that treats minor mouth rot all the time on his boas, found all the loose fangs and extracted those.
After extracting the fangs, he looked a little better, but then started to look a little worse, probably because he now had an open wound in his mouth for bacteria to have a party. Called up my local specialist vet and am going that route instead of the 'home remedy' way.

Well, back from the vet today, and $250 and 6 different medication stuffs later, I now am starting my first case of (relatively minor) mouth rot and thought I'd document the journey for those who have yet to come across it, just so you get an idea of what you might have to deal with. I knew it was only a matter of time I'd have to deal with a case of this at some point. And frankly, I think 4/5 years without a vet visit/any issues is pretty decent (and for something minor-ish too, I just rather be safe than sorry). This is definately not a terrible case of mouth rot, and am quite confident that he'll heal up with ease.

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This is a pic of him just under a week ago, before the visit. I had just pulled out a big chunk of pus between his gum and lip (that's why there's a hole now). His face was decently swollen because of the pressure the pus was creating. The foaminess is because I had just cleaned the area with some peroxide.
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This is the larger chunk of pus I pulled. There was various other bits too as you can see.

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Not much in this, just him chilling at the vet today.

After the visit, I walked away with a supplement booster, pain meds (oral injection), antibiotics (needle injections), betadine and F10 solutions to flush and clean mouth and nose, and a cream to help with some bum scales (unrelated, just some scarring scales from old scrapes). All the injections I need to do every 3 days, and the flushing everyday. It certainly will be decent amount of work over a long time.


A lot of people buy reptiles without thinking - "What if they get sick?" They require vet visits just as much as a sick mammal would. They are not disposable. Just because a normal boa might cost you $40 bucks, doesn't make it any less inclined to the best care as a dog would. And I really try to stress this on people when they're buying reptiles - because their vet bills cost more, as well as they take a really long time to heal; so if something seems wrong, get them help asap! because they are so good at showing their illnesses until it's too late.
The cost I paid for my snakes range from $40 to $500, and some people spend even more than that. I'm not rich or made of money by any means, but I am prepared to spend what I need to for proper care as I would any of my other pets, be it dog, ferret, or my bird.
It drives me insane when people just flip a snake because it's sick or "I don't have the money to take it to the vet". Well if you don't have money to take it to the vet, then you probably shouldn't have gotten it in the first place, even if the animal itself only costs you $30 bucks.


Anyways, I'll keep you guys updated as he progresses.
He's my most docile snake and he really shocks people at his overly gentle nature. Even with all the poking, prodding, needles, meds, this, that, etc, he still has not shown ANY sign of aggression, not even hissing. He'll sometimes hold on to you a little tighter than normal if you're yanking some pus (cause I mean hey, it can hurt!), but that's about it. I think the most he's done was wiggle his head a little when I bopped him (at his worst a few days ago before getting that big chunk of pus out) - kind of like him saying 'nuuu'. He's such a sweetie and I hope for a speedy recovery from him.

Snakesitter
05-26-14, 04:47 PM
Great thread, Hyokenseisou! Thank you for posting, and I wish your guy the quickest of recoveries!

jpsteele80
05-26-14, 06:04 PM
Great topic to cover and the pics help people to see what there looking at, hope he gets better soon

Hyokenseisou
05-28-14, 05:50 PM
Thanks guys!

Well today was the first day of giving him his antibiotic needles, and since I didn't have an extra set of hands, I did it by myself. I'm so glad I have a well behaved docile snake. :P Any of my others I'm sure I'd need someone holding his head, but this guy is a puppy it's insane. He probably was too busy dealing with the oral meds I just gave him to think about wanting more stuff in his mouth (aka my leg/arm/face)

The swelling has definitely gone down in the past couple days - I believe the flushing has really helped keep it clean (as well as removed any pus I can get to)
It's harder to get a picture of him by myself than administer a needle by myself haha. I'll try and snap a not blurry pic in the next day or so to show what it looks like right now. A little shredded, but much better than it being overly swollen and pusey.

Hyokenseisou
05-28-14, 11:45 PM
He was so kind as to do a bunch of yawns while growling at me... and when I say yawning while growling I really mean he was gurgling while choking cause I got a little bit of the meds down his wind pipe. :P Oops. First time, I'll do better coach!

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Snakesitter
05-29-14, 02:27 PM
Keep a close eye on him for any RI symptoms....even a bit of fluid can cause problems. Well done with the treatment and thread!!!

RBDTerrell
05-30-14, 06:47 AM
Excellent work identifying the problem and getting your snake to the vet. They don't deserve any less care than you would give any other common pet. You made valid points about people finding reptiles to be disposable. They are to be cared for just like you would for any common household pet. I had an incident a couple months back where a 40 dollar snake ran up a $200+ vet bill, but it needed to be done and wasn't going to abandon my snake.

Keep up the good work!!

Hyokenseisou
06-06-14, 11:45 PM
Zeus on the 4th, enjoying some sun with me. Doc said some natural vitD would be good for him, so we sun bathed all day.
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Him today, the swelling has gone down a lot, mostly gone. You can still tell he's a little congested up in the upper respiratory area, but it still has certainly gone down. Got out most of the pus, got out one big chunk that for a whole I was thinking was his jaw bone exposed - but it was just a calcified chunk of pus that came out without any force (because before it was hard to yank at so I didn't touch it). The open wound looks like it's slowly (yet I'd say 'quick' for a reptile) closing up.
All in all, I'm thinking he's making a decently speedy recovery, I hope. I hope there's no further complications down the road.
Both this nostrils have opened up (one was badly clogged before) now so that's a really good sign. They seem to be clearing up more and more everyday. And his mouth is a little less droolish than 'normal' (during this ordeal).
His grumpiness has seem to have gone down a bit. He's back to his super teddy bear self.

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Mikoh4792
06-07-14, 01:50 AM
Definitely seems to be doing better.

Tsubaki
06-07-14, 04:36 AM
Lets hope he makes a full recovery, he looks better.

Snakesitter
06-07-14, 11:23 AM
Congrats on the good progress...hope for another good report soon!

Hyokenseisou
06-07-14, 02:40 PM
He's in blue right now, probably gonna shed in about 3-4 days; while I'm away unfortunately (have a trusted him to take care of him and his meds). Hoping the shed will clear up a lot of that scarring around his nose and make it a little easier for him. I'll get my friend to take and send pics and try and get around to posting them.

Hyokenseisou
06-18-14, 11:37 PM
So just before I left for my trip last week, he was pretty blue. I thought he would have shed by the time I got back, but he didn't. So I started to worry a little because he would have shed by then. But then I took into consideration that his body is probably working on healing his mouth so the shedding process would take a little longer. Didn't take quite as extra long as I thought, so that's good too. I got back on the 13th, it is now the 18th. I went to give him his shot today, and when I was holding his tail, his shed tore and started to come off. Ok great! He's ready to shed, I'll just give him a spray and leave him alone to do it himself.
Came back to him several hours later and he didn't bother to shed. He is totally rip to shed, but I think with everything going on, he's a little stressed and just didn't want to deal with it. So I gave him a gentle hand (and would stop if he wasn't actually ready). I gently rubbed the top of his head, shed started to come off very easily, so I wasn't concerned about hurting him. Rubbed off his head, gently took off his eye caps that came off super easily. Needed a tiny tug on the nose/nostrils and was a little concerned about that scarring, but it came off with ease. Ok mouth, rest of the head, now the body. EASY!

Obviously not the first time I've needed to help a shed, but this particular one with the mouth and everything, I was a little concerned (and normally it's just a little body or something I'd need the help with, not the whole thing). But no issues what so ever and he seems much happier and relieved.

And his mouth is really healing up great! He's on his way to a very speedy recovery! I think he's still a little upset with me still. :( lol poor boy.
So here's some terrible pics to show his progress!!

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Hyokenseisou
06-18-14, 11:40 PM
You can see from an above view that his upper respiratory inflammation has gone down significantly, if not almost gone.

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And some fun up close pics of shed!

The inside of an eye cap
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The outer of his bunged up nose. You can see how plugged up it was.
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The inside of his nose. You can see the nostrils
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Spuurrrrr. It's huge! That's my big!! (he rips up my arms ALL the time with those... lolol)
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EL Ziggy
06-19-14, 09:07 AM
He seems to be healing nicely. Good job!

Snakesitter
06-20-14, 02:07 PM
Well done, Hyokenseisou! I'm glad to see he is healing so well. I wish more keepers were as diligent as you have been.

Hyokenseisou
07-07-14, 11:51 AM
Zeus had his last antibiotic shot on thursday, and even that last shot you could tell he was done with the poking and feeling much better. Before I'd poke him and he wouldn't do anything. But that last one, he was 'booty bumping' me; I actually thought he might turn around and snip at me!
Anyways, couple weeks later, he's 110% back up to health. More active than normal, if I walk past him, he perks up thinking there's food. Speaking of which, he starting eating again couple weeks ago; eating like a pig like his regular self. He always takes a meal with such gusto and this time was no exception. He was very excited and happy with a meal without a hurting mouth.

This is him today:

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Look it almost looks like he's smiling!
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I'll try and get a shot of his mouth when I have a second pair of hands around. Before he'd just keep his mouth open (obviously seen in previous pics) I'm guessing because of the pain, but now he just closes it right away. Looks really really great inside!!

I'm so excited that my baby boy is back to his normal handsome self (not that the lop sided face wasn't cute lol). Zeus really means a lot to me because he was my first boa I got as a baby. I started with my brb but he was pretty much was inbetween a sub and adult, so he was already grown. Then all the corns I had were (sub) adults. Then I got Zeus, he was the youngest one I had (got him at about 6 months old) so I got to watch him grow, which that itself has been an amazing journey. I obviously show favoritism to him and Hades (brb). They're my two baby boys.

Snakesitter
07-07-14, 02:12 PM
Excellent, excellent job fixing his illness and documenting it for the rest of us. Well done, and congrats!!!

Hyokenseisou
07-07-14, 10:24 PM
Excellent, excellent job fixing his illness and documenting it for the rest of us. Well done, and congrats!!!

Thank you! I'm very proud of him for being such a champ about it all.