Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks. If there's a better health-specific forum to post this in, I would love to know.

I have a BCI of approximately 5-6 years of age, currently about five feet, rescued from somebody's driveway close to five years ago. She has been healthy as a horse the entire time and has received a few vet checks since being picked up.

I got home from work yesterday, and her lower jaw was HUGELY swollen. It was sticking out from beyond the top jaw line by about half an inch all around, the flesh inside the mouth could be seen, and I was unsure of how the hell she could still be breathing. She could move, she was breathing, and she could still flick her tongue out somewhat although she couldn't come close to closing her mouth. No discharge, no breaks in the skin, no redness in the mouth flesh, just huge swelling around and below the jaw.

I freaked a bit (understandably, I think) and took her to a local vet. The odd thing is, by the time I got her to the vet, her lower jaw/chin/jowl area looked slightly less swollen than when I first got home. I spent a decent amount of cash, got x-rays taken, and the vet said her lower jaw seemed a little too 'mobile' even for a snake, and decided the most likely cause was a jaw fracture. All the time I was there, it seemed like the swelling was going down slightly as she moved around a bit.

No abcesses presented, no growths, no nothing under the jaw.

Anyway, to try and cut a long story short, I was sent home with some anti-inflammatory medicine (Metacam) to provide each day, and a hilarious-looking jaw splint on my snake. I woke up today, and she had unsurprisingly rubbed off all splinting materials and had knocked over her water dish doing so.

Her mouth looks almost normal today, but I'm not sure if it was the medicine, or if there's something else that was going on. I'll be going back to the vet to see about other ridiculous splint options today until I hear if there might be something else going on here.

Info about her keeping:
Currently in a glass terrarium (soon to be in a boaphile type cage), it and water dish cleaned often.
NEVER eats live, so a bite is not the cause.
Temps are kept standard for a BCI, might drop slightly below ideal at night due to poor insulation in our house and the crappy heat-retaining properties of glass.

I DID change my food source recently, getting my frozen rats from a new person. Not sure if that could affect anything.

Anyway, I love this animal, and I'm scared that not all bases have been covered. I just want to make sure that I take care of any issues that might be there.

I've had animals that get either shed teeth, or substrate (aspen) between their teeth and gums. It can cause swelling. One can either use a reptile speculum, or grab the skin under their chin and pull their mouth open, which is how I do it. One can then use a Q-tip dipped in mouthwash to swab any sore looking areas and remove any debris. This has worked for me countless times.
It's a two person job. If that seems daunting at all, then see a vet. Some of us are 200 miles away from a herp vet, so..

Also, vets always make sure that they are getting paid WELL.
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Jason Dowell

Yeah, I'm kind of ticked that I spent that much money and am still quite unsure as to what the problem is.

I don't think there's a physical (substrate, etc.) reason for the swelling. I use heavy brown paper as substrate and didn't see any debris or even any irritated areas (aside from obvious swelling) in his mouth when I checked. Not much to swab.

I'm still really not liking this.
His facial swelling went down, but when I gave him his anti-inflammatory meds this evening via a needleless syringe as I have been each night, his face began swelling after he'd been handled. I also noticed that the flesh inside his mouth is much lighter than normal- though there is still no discharge or breaks.

COULD this be a fracture that's only presenting swelling when it is physically manipulated? I'm worried that giving him the meds is harming his face worse.

What the hell else could this be?
If it IS a fracture, what can I do? I'm waiting for the vet to get some more input from others, but in the meantime I'm nervous that I'll wake up to a dead snake.

Here's a quick pic of the swelling that's coming up, not as massive as the first night but you can see what I mean.

There is normally a lot of laxity in the jaw to allow swallowing of prey. Fractures are not very common. I have had snakes strike glass very hard with no evidence of trauma. There are a lot of ligamentous supporting structures and it would be more likely that one of these is injured (if the swelling is form trauma). Swelling can be from many different things. inflammation/ infection/ trauma/ neoplasia... the metacam is an anti-inflammatory that will help regardless of the cause. if the swelling does not resolve with time and anti-inflammatories additional diagnostics need to be done to see if it is form an infection, and if so appropriate antibiotics will be needed.
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Michael McFadden, M.S., D.V.M.

I truly appreciate the response. It outlines exactly what I thought to be true as far as the flexibility in the jaws of snakes. I guess I'll continue looking for answers other than the initial one I received.

No offense was meant towards veterinarians, I think you may be able to understand the fact that I am feeling frustrated and helpless.

I WILL say that this particular vet doesn't seem particularly herp-savvy and I will be finding a vet that is more knowledgeable about snakes, but I don't begrudge spending money on my animals' care, and I don't regret taking my snake in.

Are you aware that in the past 10 years the cost of becoming a veterinarian have skyrocketed? The average debt in student loans of a new graduate has gone from ~63,000 in 2000 to over 130,000 in 2010. That is JUST for four years of vet school. Add in four years of undergrad... In that same period the average starting salary has increased only about 10%...
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Michael McFadden, M.S., D.V.M.