Hey Guys, Hopefully one of you will be able to help me out here...

I have a 2 1/2 year old Red Tail Boa here. I've had him for about 2 years and he has grown and eaten regularly up til a few weeks ago. (He normally takes two mice once a week)

Recently he began only eating one of his two mice. This didn't alarm us too much because we had recently switched him to a larger enclosure and guessed it may be stress related from the move.

Last week when we removed him from his cage to feed him his tounge was visible out the side of his mouth. Upon closer inspection, there is a pea-sized cyst (or something similar) right at the base of his tounge. It forces him to flip his tounge backward to keep it in his mouth because there is no room. He is currently unable to eat anything.

We immediately took him to a clinic but the vet had no idea what was wrong with him. They said it did not look like mouth rot or any other common problem they were aware of. They attempted to drain it, but it is made up on tissue and not liquid. We were given antibiotic injections which we have been using for the past week. There has been no change in his condition.

It has been about 3 weeks since he has been able to take any food (and the last two feedings he did take anything he only took half his usual meal) His general condition seems to be fine, other than probably being very hungry....His skin is still very vibrant and he is active and moves around....His new enclosure has been checked for any problems....

We are planning to take him into our normal vet soon and asking them if they can cut the thing out.

Anyone experienced anything similar to this or have any other suggestions?

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• Boa Mouth Problem - rumor150, Mon Jan 2 17:58:50 2006