Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a little off-topic, but I've found that I usually get a better response here. Anyway, here goes:

I have a WC black rat snake that looks as if it has mouth rot on its labial scales. The snake is active, alert, and appears healthy. My veterinarian is being...less than helpful at the moment, which is why I'm posting here. I've never had this problem in my herp collection, so I'm not sure how to deal with it. How can I treat the snake prior to releasing it?

Here's a pic of the scales:

The scales are more damaged on the left side of the snake's head, but it's still noticeable from the right side.

Thanks for the help!

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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
0.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cat - Pirate

feed it and let it go. nature has a way of taking care of things like this. By keeping the W/C snake in captivity you are causing more stress.

If you have to do something then swab out the white stuff with a Q-tip and apply peroxide before you release the snake.
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Mouthrot is normally an immune system failure. that is, its caused by common everyday bacteria. Which means the individual is stressed.

I agree with Bluerosy, let it go where you found it. Adult wildcaughts are very prejudiced over what conditions they want to live in. In this day, there are so many captive hatched individuals, there is little to no need to take a wild animal out of what it wants to be in. Get a captive hatched blackrat.

By the way, that is one beautiful snake, but it would be much prettier back where you found it.

The key to curing that snake is figuring why its stressed. Again to repeat myself, it most likely does not want to be held captive. Cheers

Unfortunately, the snake had mouth rot when I caught it. I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do for it prior to release. We're going to offer it food today.

Thanks for the help!
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
0.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cat - Pirate

I definitely agree with you, FR! I normally don't keep WC animals at all, but a friend of mine wanted to show the animal to his class. It's only been in captivity for a few days. Hopefully, it will be released in a couple of days if it eats or today if it doesn't.
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0.1 Banded California kingsnake - Zorro
1.0 Betta fish - Billy
0.0.3 White Cloud Fish
1.0 RES - Chopstick
0.1 Australian Shepherd - Jet
0.1 Domestic Shorthair Mix Cat - Pirate