Boas lip stuck on bottom teeth, should I...

BoidKeeper · 03-10-04, 08:55 PM

pull it off or wait to see if it comes off on it's own. This happen to a young female hog last year and I pulled it off with a small pair of hemostates. I'm wondering if I should do that again or wait to see if she can get it off her self.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Trevor

Lrptls · 03-10-04, 08:59 PM

i would pull it off, cause if the boa gets thirsty how will it drink? then maybe take it to a vet? i dont know, never heard of this happening before

BoidKeeper · 03-10-04, 09:06 PM

If the boas wants to drink it can, the bottom lip is just folded up and hooked on the front teeth, she can still hiss with her mouth open and strike no trouble there. As for a vet, the local vet has seen 6 snakes in 20 years of practice and last time she got a call she told me she was going to call me, so vet's not an option. Also like I said I've had this happen before and I did remove it. This girl is nasty as all heck and I just fed her so I don't want to muck around with her. I know I can un-hook the skin because I've done it before but I'm wondering if anyone has ever had it happend and left it alone to see if it would come off or not.
Trevor

Stockwell · 03-10-04, 09:07 PM

Hi Trev
This kind of the thing happens to serpents all the time and is not really a condition caused strictly by captivity.
There is nobody to pull it off when it happens in the wild.
You can fix it if you want , but the snake will correct this all by itself, given time

BoidKeeper · 03-10-04, 09:29 PM

All done and she did it her self. I took her out of the snake room to work with her in a nother room with better lighting and when I got her out and was ready to open her mouth I noticed she had fixed it.
Thanks,
Trevor