Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 4ft ball. My girlfriend was feeding it a small rat while I was at work.. Useally we don't kill the small rats just the larger ones but I'm not sure exactly what happened but looks like the snake was bitten on the upper lip near the pit not his nostrils by the rat there was a couple drops of blood in the cage and a little on his nose no serious physical damage was done his nose is still intact. But now he keeps opening his mouth every 4 to 5 minutes like he is havein a lil trouble breathing.. Its nothin tooo serious just I want to know will the small bite heal so he can breathe without opening his mouth?? And I know him opening his mouth can cause mouth rott and other problems.. What can I do to help him besides bring him to a vet we have none in my area for reptiles??? Any tips info advice would be GREAT.. I'm just worried about the lil guy.
Jbugg

If it is in fact not as bad as you say and the nostrils are not damaged just put a little neosporin or any antibiotic and it should be fine. The mouth opening is him just expressing his discomfort. They have no arms and hands after all so he cant reach up and rub it to see whats going on.

Oh, and never leave live prey un-attented. I don't care what size the rat is. I came home one day and found one of my best girls looking like she had gone through a garbage disposal after my kid brother thought it would be cool to see her take a JUMBO rat and when nothing happened he just went next door for 6 hours and left the rat in the tank.

The rat got his later. He met my Dumeril.

Omg that is horrible. Did she heal? I would want to hurt someone.

No she was long gone by the time I got home. Sections of her spine had been completley ripped out and the rest of her was such a mess I almost threw up. And yes my brother got the @#%& kicked out of him.

wow I am so sorry to hear that. I am sure he learned his lesson.