Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings All,

I have discovered that 2 of my hogs has stomatitis. The took one of them to the vet a few days ago and i have a appointment today for the second infected hog.

I would like to know how (if possible) to retrain and keep a snake's mouth open with one hand... this way i will have the other hand to flush/clean out the hog's mouth. It is hard for me to get a extra pair of hands to assist me, everyone around me is terrified of snakes...lol

I would appreciate any help regarding this matter.

Regards,
Kenny

I would like to know how (if possible) to retrain and keep a snake's mouth open with one hand... this way i will have the other hand to flush/clean out the hog's mouth. It is hard for me to get a extra pair of hands to assist me, everyone around me is terrified of snakes...lol

I would appreciate any help regarding this matter.

A Specula set would be a worthwhile investment for you as is seen here: http://www.reptilebasics.com/specula-set.html

Of course this is still a difficult procedure to do even by a single person, as I speak from experience, and even a specula will not aid you much in a snake that doesn't want to cooperate (which is practically all of them). Therefore, another pair of hands is priceless.

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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

Although i kept reptiles since i was a teen, it was only recently that i am caring for more than 1-2 animals at a time.
This is the first time that i am dealing mouth rot. First with my 2 year old albino female that i took to the vet 2 days ago and now my sub-adult het pink male is infected. I actually just got back from the vet with him. Two vet bills within a week...

Now i know that scheduled inspection of oral cavities needs to be put in place. I just need to get better at the mouth cleaning and flushing routine.

Thanks for the reply Troy. As always, you are quick to offer great advice and share your experience.

Regards,
Kenny

Kenny, If caught early enough, the treatment is easy, even if working alone. Bacteria can enter the lining of the mouth and gums through any break or injury to the lining. Dip a Q-Tip in regular old hydrogen peroxide. Hold the hog with your left hand right behind the head. Hold the Q-Tip between the thumb and index finger of your right hand while opening the mouth gently with your 2nd finger. It helps if you have a long fingernail.
Then slip the Q-Tip in across the mouth, working the wet end on the infection. The hydrogen peroxide will bubble the infection out. Use the dry end to swab away the excess bubbles and bacteria after about 20-30 seconds. Do that 2 or 3 times a day. After the first time it goes much easier.

Your vet may give you some other anti-fungal, or anti-biotic mouth rinse, but the procedure is much the same. Good luck.

Wendell

Thank you for the tip Wendell Your method sounds much easier than what i was doing. I will give it a go tomorrow.

Regards,
Kenny

Do not use peroxide on your animal, but a betadine solution instead. While peroxide does help kill bacteria, it also kills healthy flesh around the wound. It is also less effective than betadine, and does not kill as many bacteria as you would think. The bubbles fool you into thinking it is doing more than it actually is.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Peroxide has been used for many years by professional breeders. But as I stated, I would only use it for mild cases. Severe cases where the disease has already caused rotting of the gums, need veterinarian care with antibiotics, mouth rinses, and topical anti-fungals, if necessary. Some reptile breeders recommend a peroxide, water and betadine mix, some recommend Lysterine mouth wash, some betadine, and some recommend Neosporin. The only time I ever had a snake with mouth rot, it was cured in less than a week using only hydrogen peroxide.

Wendell

With an animal, such as a reptile, that takes longer to heal, you only increase the healing time by using something that also kills healthy tissue. I am not saying it will not work, just that it is not as effective. I personally will take the advice of a licensed reptile vet over that of a "big breeder".
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Thanks for the reply Troy. As always, you are quick to offer great advice and share your experience.

You are so very welcome Kenny!

I guess the biggest thing, besides curing the Stomatitis, is finding out what has caused it so that you can prevent it from happening again. Stomatitis seems to have a highly variable means of developing based on this web site:

"Infectious stomatitis usually occurs as a response to stress such as an inappropriately temperature-regulated environment, overcrowding, internal or external parasites, trauma, or especially, poor nutrition. Vitamin C deficiency and inappropriate calcium/phosphorous levels in the diet have been implicated. Any of these stresses suppress the immune system of the reptile and make it much more susceptible to infections. Many pathogens can cause infectious stomatitis including bacteria, viruses, and fungi."

Hopefully you can track down what might have caused this so you can circumvent this problem.

In regards to using speculum, while they are a great tool to have, they are also not necessarily all that easy to use with hognose mouths as their mouths are more like castle drawbridges and can close up far tighter than a kingsnake or a corn snake. The problem with specula is that they are rather thick gauged stainless steel and are almost impossible to initiate opening of the mouth although they do work exceptionally well by placing in the mouth to keep it open. To open the mouth, I often use adequately cut pieces of that thin yet sturdy cardboard type paper that you often get in the mail for advertisements. It's thin enough so that you can get it between their gums and yet sturdy enough not to crumple up when it gets wet with saliva. Once you get the cardboard piece in between their jaws, then you can gently pry the two apart until you can place the speculum in their mouth. It takes a bit of practice and can be a bit nerve wracking and challenging the first few times, but it's easy enough to get the hang of.

I use the cardboard paper trick frequently when having to forcefeed baby snakes without any injury or ill effect on the snake. But then again, my wife is the one holding the snake while I'm doing all the prying and tube insertion.

All of this can be done individually as I have done it myself, but it is far more difficult to do and also with much more risk of injuring the snake in the process while it's fighting you from forcibly opening it's mouth. I only recommend doing this by yourself if you just have no other means available to you. Maybe coercing individuals with their favorite beverage or comfort food might help round up some assistance.

Good luck and if you can determine what has caused the stomatitis, please feel free to share as shared experiences are much welcomed so that others can be preventative.

If I can be of any more help, feel free to email me as I do not always consistently check on this forum.

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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

I agree. I am only hoping that this is just an isolated incident. I will definitely pay close attention to everything i do. There is a possibility that it's caused by bad feeders. I ran out of mice and was getting them at a lfs for a couple of months. I no longer have to do that since i just received my order today from a different source. I will report back if i ever figure out the cause.

I have ordered the speculum already. Just waiting for it to arrive Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
Kenny

I have always had good luck using a large paper clip to open my hognose' mouth, either to assist feed or to do any type of treatment needed.
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Greg Jackson

Get it to play dead