Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone has ever owned or seen/heard of a snake not having a tongue? Would the snake be able to live and would this cause a snake to not wanna eat? I picked up a reg Berm Python and since I picked it up I am yet to see it fork its tongue out. It is very skinny and I have had it for a month. I been soaking it in water and giving it alot of fluids. It looks alot better now that she is taking fluids and shed but she is still not eating. I opened up her mouth and didnt see any tongue in there. There was a little bit of yellow/green stuff (Grime) in her mouth where the tongue would be next to her breathing hole. She was also invested with mites when she got here. I was able to get rid of the mites and since her shed she has none. Any help would be great. Thanks

That is a definite sign of "mouth-rot"(infectious stomatitis)!!
this is extremely serious if not taken care of, and it will cause them to NOT eat, and cause other serious ailments from their metabolism degrading such as serious respiratory infections as well, and eventually lead to their death.

I would suggest that you take it to a reputable herp vet ASAP!, but if you think you can dedicate some time to it, this can be cleared up if you do a couple things pronto!

1) Keep it's enclosure at around 85-88 degrees, put an ACCURATE thermometer inside the enclosure to MAKE SURE you get accurate readings from the surface of the substrate where the snake actally is, as guessing temps does not cut it. Pry the mouth open with plastic knife, or something similar, and prop it open with the wide blade while you are doing this. Pull out ALL the yellowish cheesy substance with tweezers, including loose teeth, etc.... After all loose cheesy tissue is removed from top and bottom jaw areas, thoroughly rinse it's mouth with Hydrogen Peroxide solution. you can add a little Betadine to this if you like as well. Do this two, to three times a day religeously, and after aabout a week, you should see a very substantial difference. DO NOT STOP doing this until ALL the swelling and cheesy substance is completely gone. From start to finish, in about a two week period you could probably stop, but keep CLOSE tabs on it thereafter for any signs of reocurrence. If all is well after all this, your snake should resume normal feeding once again.

Please keep in mind,....this will absolutely work, but you have to make SURE you keep doing these things I mentioned on a very regular basis,....otherwise, if you feel it is a little beyond your ability, get the snake to a vet and SOON!. If this is left untreated, and is left to get only worse, the snake will only meat it's certain doom.

best of luck with this,...and please keep us posted on it's progress.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I've never had this problem but if I were you I would trust doug and do what he says. I just wanted to add that if you are unaware , snakes lose and regrow all of their teeth on a regular basis so don't feel bad about pulling out some teeth in the process.

I caught a California Kingsnake in Wenden, AZ a few years back and was very excited. It was my first Cal King but it was VERY thin. I decided to keep it an nurse it back to health. I noticed it had a prominent scar on the underside of its jaw, but otherwise appeared fine.

I took it home and set it up properly and left it alone for a few days. Then I offered it a large fuzzy pinkie mouse (it was an adult Cal King). It showed no interest. I waited a few days and tried again - same result. After about two weeks, I decided to look more closely at my new captive and investigated its healed wound. What I found was that whatever tore its mouth open had removed its tongue. It could no longer smell/taste to eat so it had been starving. I tried to get it to swallow a fuzzy with no luck and decided the most humane thing was to euthanize it. I wonder how many months (years?) it had been crawling around in AZ trying to survive without its tongue?

I hope that isn't what happened in your case. As Doug said, you can generally clear up mouthrot with H202 and betadine if you are fastidious with it. Once the infection is reduced, hopefully it will start using its tongue again and get back to shape.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas