Hi. My son got a baby rosy boa about 3 weeks ago. We fed him for the second time on Friday with a pinkie. Now the snake seems to have blood on its lips and keeps opening and closing its mouth, as behavior we have not seen before. It did not regurgitate the feeding. I suppose the blood could be from having fed recently but I don't know why the snake would keep opening/closing its mouth. Is the snake sick? I'm not even sure if our vet deals with snake issues. Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.
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Help needed. Baby boa sick?
DSI
Mar 19, 2006 10:01 AM
Replies (3)
jayf
Mar 19, 2006 04:51 PM
my guess is the blood is from feeding, as i can not really see a pinkie being the cause of an injury. just keep an eye out to see if the snake is accually bleeding. as for the mouth opening, if this has happened for a period just after feeding, this is normal. snakes jaws are constructed of multiple seperate bones held together by muscle. this allows them to open their mouths wide to eat prey items larger then their heads. after eating it is very common for them to open an close their mouths (sometimes they 'yawn') in order to stretch out these muscles so they go back to their normal state. unless the snake is doing this behavior longer then a day after eating there is nothing to worry about.
>>Hi. My son got a baby rosy boa about 3 weeks ago. We fed him for the second time on Friday with a pinkie. Now the snake seems to have blood on its lips and keeps opening and closing its mouth, as behavior we have not seen before. It did not regurgitate the feeding. I suppose the blood could be from having fed recently but I don't know why the snake would keep opening/closing its mouth. Is the snake sick? I'm not even sure if our vet deals with snake issues. Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.
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- Jason F.
DSI
Mar 19, 2006 06:23 PM
Jason,
Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad to hear that the mouth opening is normal behavior. It was a pretty big pinkie!
Deb
jayf
Mar 19, 2006 11:15 PM
no problem. as long as the snake itself is not bleeding i dont see anything to worry about. i am always watching my snaeks after they eat because most of them tend to 'yawn' and i get a good view of the inside of their mouths (which i find interesting)
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- Jason F.
