ANOTHER medical problem, the female this time :(

[marisa]

I was feeding some of the snakes tonight and noticed the female gray banded kingsnake has something going on with her mouth :(

She is REALLY in shed right now, but I got the best pic I could.

<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Snakes/femalegb/mouth.jpg">

I don't know about you guys but that looks like mouth rot to me.

I am really upset right now. I have had snakes for almost five years and have never had these problems with any of my animals.

So anyways, mouth rot?

Marisa

[Clownfishie]

I'm definitely no expert -- I've never seen it in person, but my first guess would be mouth rot too. I'm sure that people with more experience will have some better advice, but I know someone who had some good luck clearing up mouth rot with nice high temps and polysporin.

Best of luck Marisa, sorry the greybands are going through some tough times :(


Jen

[Shad0w]

Looks like Mouth rot Marisa :(
Get something smooth and take a look inside...

[Andy_G]

Fairly severe mouth rot. Take that one to the vet too. Sometimes problems occur no matter how perfect animals are kept...best of luck!

[Brandon Osborne]

Doesn't look good, but could also be fluid from the shed cycle. I had a male grayband that had this mucusy looking substance around his mouth almost every time he would shed. Mouth rot can be cleared up easily. In the few cases I've seen it, I would swab the infection with peroxide and clean out any of the "cheesy" matter with a q-tip. After cleaning it out, apply a generous amount of Neosporin. It usually clears up within a week or so. Wait until it sheds and see if it clears up. If not, proceed with treating it.

Good luck.
Brandon Osborne

[vanderkm]

The only thing that would make me doubt mouthrot is that it looks as if both sides are affected evenly and in the same area. The few cases of mouth rot I have seen were on one side - not that it couldn't be both sides, but seems a bit weird for it to be so symetrical. Is it really like that or is it just the way the picture is lighted.

I would agree with Brandon - unless you can tag her along on the vet visit you have for your male tomorrow without stressing her out too much, I might lean toward waiting until she sheds, evaluating it then and treating it if it appears to be mouthrot at that time. Wouldn't hurt to make sure she has a temp gradient on the warm side until the shed - I am assuming she isn't in brumation now??

good luck sorting this one out and keep us posted,

mary v.

[Simon]

That kind of looks like mouth rot to me.
But like mentioned before, it could be because of the shed.
Have you noticed that she has been shedding a bit more often?

Wait until she sheds and see if its still there. If so put some polysprin on it and try and keep that area clean.

No matter how good you try to keep your animals, there are times when things just happens.

About a month ago, one of my amber had an eye infection. Her eyes were swollen up like those bulge eye lucy rats. It also looked like that she had water in her eyes too. But with a bit of cleaning, keeping everything clean, the buldge was gone the next time she shed. She's now in perfect health condition.

Good luck, hope that its just a bad shed~

[marisa]

Well I have never had them shed in my care! It seems to be getting worse as she gets deeper in shed. So it COULD be the way she sheds like Brandon suggested, I simply do not know since this is the first one with me.

This snake is also an eager eater. She has not refused a meal since I bought her although I haven't offered since she went blue. She takes small adult mice, or rats of the same size.

It doesn't look so "gooey" as it is in real life. In fact if you look at her from certain angles it just looks like flesh colored scales.

I am going to go ahead and wait until she sheds since it should be any day, and then decide on a course of treatment.

What's better to use to clean the mouth? Betadine or Peroxide? I have read of people using both.

Marisa
P.S. Right now for cleaning issues I am going to be cleaning their cages every three days, and since I noticed the male getting sick I have replaced water dishes with brand new ones each day so no bacteria can build up there. I dunno if it will matter but I am really upset here. :(

[Vengeance]

Sorry to hear about all your problems Marisa, I hope everything goes well in both of your snakes recovery.

One thing I'm curious about as I've never had to do it myself, how to you restrain you snakes so that you are able to properly apply things like polysporin? Also isn't mouthrot usually an internal mouth infection how would you apply the needed medication to that effected area?

Thanks

[augerdvm]

Marissa:

You can get a "chlorhexadine"-based mouth rinse from the pharmacy and apply it to the areas with a q-tip 3 times daily. Will act as a topical antibiotic.

If theres no change after the shed , I RECOMMEND you take the snake to your vet right away.

Hope this helps

Daren auger DVM

[marisa]

Thank you very much.

I am already going to the vet for the male in the pair so I guess taking both is just as easy even if some mouth cleaning could clear this up.


I am just totally upset right now that I got into this. Well that's neither here nor there I guess. I am just really frustrated right now.

Marisa

[gonesnakee]

As suggested try to take a look inside the mouth area. Mouthrot will appear cheesy & has a strong unpleasent smell as well. If it is "gross" inside it must be swabbed out as suggested & a vet would also be recomended for some possible "follow up" antibiotics & probably a more accurate diagnois for sure. Good Luck Mark

[bighillreptiles]

That is to bad that you are having such bad luck with sutch beautiful snakes ,Hope they are back to 100% shap for you soon ,keep us posted ;Paul