Odd swelling in BP's mouth?!?

[Adrya]

I took one of my female BPs, Monifa, to the vet last week on Thursday because she's swelled up in the right front part of her mouth, and it just happened over the past two weeks. I don't know what she's done to herself. I took her wood half-log hides out of her enclosure because she's been rubbing on those trying to get some itchy stuck shed on her head off, and I have no clue whether she maybe got a splinter stuck in her mouth or not. Part of her gums that protect some of her teeth is a little bloody-blistered looking and swelled and there's a small hole in the gum, too. Our old and wise herp vet retired and moved elswhere so we have this new younger guy who admits he's not as experienced as the other guy was. He wasn't sure what to make of it other than it wasn't a tumor or anything, it was more secondary bacterial infection than anything else. Then underneath her "chin" is some scabby areas... I honestly don't know what she's done to herself. She doesn't have mites as far as I know, but I could take a closer look. So they gave me ChlorhexiDerm flush/topical antimicrobial solution to flush that area of her mouth, and they told me to also use Neosporin. I really can't tell if I've seen much improvement or not using both of that stuff. If it's a solid mass of infection, there's no way I can get to it because it's mostly swollen behind her heat pits.... and today I noticed her holding her head up and breathing with her mouth open once and awhile. I'm afraid she may have breathed in some of the flush or neosporin into her lungs. Would she be able to spit that up..? Any of you know what could've happened with her? I love this girl to death, I hope this gets better....

There are two sets of pictures. The first set is from Thursday last week, and the second set is from today. And don't freak, I wasn't grasping her head very tight at all, just enough so she couldn't move her head.

****First Set****





****Second Set****

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[BWSmith]

Detailed photos. Thank you.


It looks like you need to take it to the vet. While I have not seen that in Ball Pythons, I have had to deal with something similar in Rattlers. It APPEARS to be stomatitis with the infection and/or swelling extending into the sinus behind the heat pit forcing the membrane of the pit to become exposed.

Here is a Canebrake that was diagnosed with the above. It seems to be very similar.


A vet wil probably recommend antibiotics. Usually Baytril is the "catch all" antibiotic used by vets. If so, he will probably recommend injections. However, Baytril has better pharmacokinetics when administered orally.

[BWSmith]

Oh, and don't use Neosporin inside the mouth.

[Adrya]

Like I had said earlier in my post, I have taken her to the vet, and he gave me that ChlorhexiDerm stuff to flush that area of her mouth. I won't use the Neosporin inside her mouth anymore, sorry I didn't know that.

If what she has is stomatitis, is it easily curable/treatable?

[Adrya]

By the way, what would cause this? And can it be contagious to other snakes and should I thorougly clean her enclosure and move it away from the other snakes' enclosures?

[hisba]

Looks similar to my BCI that had bad mouth rot. I had him in quarantine in a rubbermaid tub (opaque not see through). I didn't realize the problem at first, but he was rubbing against the air holes to try to get out and that along with excess humidity caused bad mouth rot, by the time I realized the problem it was bad. I took him to the vet, he had to undergo surgery to remove the puss (since it gets hard in reptiles and has to be removed, does not always drain out) as well as I had to give him antibiotic shots for a week (cost just over $400 total). SO, I agree with what BW said, you should probably be giving shots...

As far as cause, not sure... could be from rubbing against the hide too much, looks like scale damage on the nose. How closely did the vet examine? Is the scale loose on top of the nose? I was just wondering if a splinter got under there? The damage to the chin is what really has me confused. Are there any other vets in the area?
AFAIK it is not contaigous, but without knowing if there is some other underlaying cause or exaclty what it is, I would treat it as if it was. good luck... sorry I can't offer more...

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.