Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have a yearling boa, who has had an odd face issue since he was born. Whenever he eats, and sometimes just randomly, his face swells up HUGE,(his lower jaw is sometimes as large or larger than his top! You can even see his 'gums') At other times it is completely normal. He doesn't seem overly bothered, and he eats like a champ.(he is infact the biggest of his litter.) His parents are unrelated BCI, normals. He has no other issues, anyone else have any experience with this?

If it truly is intermittent, I have a boa who does the same thing. No one has ever been able to solve the issue for me, including other keepers and two decent herp veterinarians. Her 'chin' area puffs up, her lower jaw gets gigantic, and then it goes away after hours or days as if nothing ever happened.

She seems to do it more often when she is going to be shedding soon, or just after eating.

Sorry I can't tell you WHAT it is, but if it's like what I have seen, it doesn't adversely affect the snake. She is thirteen years old or so now, and does great. Have any photos of the phenomenon? I'd love to compare. I'll dig out the pics I got of my girl doing the same.

Here is one of him, and one with a sibling for comparison. Glad to hear that its not troubling yours, i hope it stays that way for mine too.

That looks exactly like what my girl does.
As long as you're sure it's not an infection of some sort, I think you have very little to worry about. God knows I was freaking about it for several months. We did x-rays and testing and the whole nine yards, with nothing to show for it.
She has eaten, shed, pooped, and lived just fine for years with that coming up intermittently, and I'm grateful to you for sharing a similar case, as I could find nothing except for the info on corn snakes that show some puffing up like that before sheds.
I'm still looking for the pics of mine in full poof-mode, we changed computers. I'll still post them for you when I find them.

Glad to hear! I look forward to seeing some pictures, like you I have never encountered this before! Thanks for the response, talk to you soon.