Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think something may be wrong with my boa. She is a female bolivian and I purchased her from a "breeder" about 3 months ago. I have not been happy with them since day one but that's not why I'm here. About a month ago I noticed a little bump on her bottom jaw, I took her to the vet and he said it looked like scar tissue. The "breeder" fed live so I can understand how that happened. But lately she's been very lathargic (spelling?) not been moving around too much, and she's been laying with just her head pointed upward and her mouth open about a 1/4 of an inch. I tried to get as close to her mouth as I felt comfortable with and I saw her tongue flicking, but it never moved past her.....lips I guess you'd say. Her last stool was very runny, yellow and white....almost look like a parrot dropping without the green. (sorry for the mental image) She's in a boaphile cage with the high end 85-89 and low is 75-80...her outside body temp is about 73. What does this open mouth stuff mean? I went to touch her and I don't know if she let out a small hiss to tell me to back off...or if it was a wheeze. What should I do? I tried to take some pics but they didn't come out very well at all...too blury...but you can kind of see how she's sitting and her mouth open. Please...please let me know what you think. Thank you, and sorry for the long post.

could be respatory infection to mouth rot if wheezing or sneasing id say r/i. id carry it to the vet ASAP.

1.0 Albino Burmese Python 14'
0.1 Albino Green Burmese Python 10'
0.1 100% het Albino Granite Burmese Python 4'
1.1 Albino boa 2'
0.1 100% Het Albino boa 2'
1.1 Colombian redtail boa 7'
0.1 Suriname Red Tail 3'

when I took him to the vet the first time, I mentioned RI and mouth rot because of what she was doing. basically all he did was open her mouth and look around and told me it was scar tissue bothering her. When I take her to the vet again, is there something that I can do to make sure he tests for RI or mouth rot? are there tests for this sort of thing? All of my other boas have been in great health so I've never had to deal with this before. If it helps, there doesn't seem to be any discharge from her mouth at all that I can see. I don't know, I'm just worried.

What kind of vet did you take him too. I have found that their are vets with more experience towards reptiles/snakes/exotics then others and these guys in particuliar know exactly how to deal with mouth rot or respitory infection. As these are both somewhat common ailments in snakes.

Is this "scarring" your vet talked about inside the motuh or on the outside? My snake was attacked by a mouse once (had to learn the hard way of why feeding live is wrong)on its back and my vet gave me antibiotics that i had to administer orally from a small eye dropper as well as a special cream to apply to the wounds. I would think that your vet should have been able to find out what was wrong and come up with some kind of treatment the first time. Wheezing with the mouth open sounds to me like respitory infection, more experienced keepers would know more then me. "Boaphile" would be a good person to ask.
-----
2.3 Bearded Dragons
1.0 Pastel Ball Pythons (NERD Line)
0.0.1 Water Monitors
1.1 Pastel Red Tailed boa Het. for Albino
1.1 Yellow Ackie Monitors
And Counting...

I had a snake with RI and mouth rot. My suggestion is to find a vet that specializes in snakes, that's what I did. It cleared up fairly quickly with the anti-biotics he gave me, and the Iodine solution, he gave me to swab her mouth with for the mouth rot. The inside of their mouths should be a pink color, mine was totally white and chunky looking. She's doing great now! I had to call a few places before I found a vet that actually had experiance with snakes. Good Luck!!

When is the last time your snake shed? A couple of my snakes get RI type symptoms when they are about to shed and then after they shed they are back perfect.

Marcus

I believe you are local to me, so here is my recommendation. Get that snake to the vet asap and get it treated for an RI or possible some sort of stomach infection with that stool. Call Dr. Harkewicz at the Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital. I know it doesn't sound like a place to take reptiles, but he is the best.
Here is a link: http://www.berkeleydogandcat.com/site/view/65853_DrKenHarkewicz.pml

Matt Crabe

Yes Matt I am local to you, a year or so ago I bought the 10 tub rack off you remember? Anyway, I will check out that doctor and see what times are offered for appointments so I can get something after work if possible. And Jgirl257 made the comment "The inside of their mouths should be a pink color, mine was totally white and chunky looking" That's exactly how my girl's mouth looks! only not sure about the chunky part, there doesn't seem to be any discharge or anything like that. her....gums I guess you'd say are a milky white color and it looks as if her bottom jaw is swollen. I don't know...I'm calling the vet. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it.

Normally she is a good eater, but she refused her meal last night and is still looking upward toward the top of her cage. I took Matt's advice and made an appointment with the vet he recommended but the doc doesn't have anything available until next Thursday. Hope she'll be ok until then.

I've had her for about three months now and she's only shed once. She doesn't go to the bathroom as much as I think she should but I'm no expert on that. I've had one other boa do this to me, he would eat and eat, not shed regularly and wouldn't defecate regularly and he ended up dying on me. I'm worried this is going to happen again.

I wouldn't wait until next Thursday. Call them back and explain that you don't think you can wait that long. Remember, snakes are very good at hiding illness, so if they are showing symptoms, they are probably very sick. If that doesn't work, I know there is a good vet in Vacaville somewhere, but unfortunately I don't know his name.

I have also gone to Dr. Asseo before and she is very good. She works at Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital in Pleasant Hill. Their number is (925) 676-1909. Dr. Asseo is a very experienced reptile vet, plus she's hot, so that never hurts, lol.

Matt

I explained everything over the phone to them and told them I was really worried and needed to get in right away. I guess the doc is not even going to be in the office for a few days which is making his slots really full. I called All About Pets and made another appointment with Dr. Freeman for tomorrow morning, I'm still going to keep my other apt. for next thursday. I'll make 7 if I have to.

If the animal's outside body temp is only 73 degrees I can pretty much guaranty it's a respiratory infection. No doubt antibiotics are needed at this point but the minimum temp should be more like 80 degrees with a maximum of 90 otherwise it will jusy come back again.

Well I don't know what else I can do then at this point. For some reason it's hard for me to raise their temps at all. I have all my boas in boaphiles, stacked, 1.5 heat, and I have the thermostat turned 99% up. the thermostats never seem to click off which tells me the temps aren't reaching near what they should be. I've always had a problem getting the heat where I need it to be. My next step, I'm going to move my stack into a hollowed out closet and maybe that'll help with some heat issues since they won't be out in the open. Like I said before, I have an appointment tomorrow and I'll just have to see what happens. I'll post an update tomorrow afternoon.