As if Christmas isn't stressful enough...

[AnniesMom]

I've had my bci Jake into the vet not once, not twice, not three times... FIVE TIMES since the 12th of November! The mouth rot that he develped as a stress reaction, we(the vet and I) suspect, possibly from being a new snake in my house was treated with a course of Baytril. Then he got an abcess in his chin, which had to be open and cleaned out buy the vet. More Baytril. Back to the vet after 14 days to clean out the abcess, again, this time larger and in the mouth. "More Baytril" say I. "Yes,.... and we need to pack the abcess and change it every other day for a week" say the vet. " Okay" say I.

I'm being a good snake keeper, encouraging food... no dice! Changing the packing in his chin every other day, giving oral antibiotics every day. This I don't mind doing. Jake, on the other hand, does mind me doing this. No bites, just wrestling matches with me on the couch.

On the 14th of this month, I go to re-pack his chin and lo! there is some flesh missing in his mouth. Call the vet!!!! Back into the vet on Jan 17th. " More Baytril???" say I. " No," says the vet. " This tissue is going necrotic(sp?). It is dead. It will need to be removed and sutured." " What are we going to do?"say I.

WARNING: The following is NOT for the faint of heart, or anyone made easily ill.

The vet said we needed to clean out the abcess. As he is doing this, Jake's chin peels away, leaving a hole big enough to put your thumb in where it used to be. We did some unexpected surgery, putting Jake to sleep so he could suture his chin back together. I have assisted in surgery on people and worked at car accidents giving first aid, but this was gross! There was nothing in the front of his face, just open mouth.

Jake now has 7 stitches putting his mouth back together, which I need to remove in 3 weeks, and 3 more doses of antibiotics that I need to inject intramuscularly over the next 12 days. I also have to force feed him water every day because the drugs are tough on the kidneys. I am hoping that this is sucessful because we are running out of treatments for this snake. He is looking a little haggard, a little stressed, and getting ready to shed. However, he is still friendly, and not once has gotten mean during this whole time. What a trooper! No one can ever accuse me of not loving my pets.