Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i noticed today while feeding my mojave that on the left side of its head the skin on its jaw right in the corner of its mouth is kind of fliped inward as if it was biteing its lip..and it has a black coloration to it..i cant get close enough to see if its something stuck in its mouth or if the actual skin has turned black but either one cant be good..i dont know what this is or what to do about it..if nessecary i will restrain it behind the head to help it but even if i do that i dont see anything i could do to help it so its a pointless risk to take..im going to try tubeing it tomorow to get a closer look and possibly a picture..in the mean time does anyone have a clue what this could be?

Hard to tell from just a description, but it could be the beginning of mouth rot, or some other infection. If you could safely get a look at the inside of the mouth, it would tell you a lot. Do you feed live or pre-killed/frozen? If you feed live, possibly an injury caused by live rodent prey, that has began to get infected (though somewhat unlikely with a mojave). Post some pics and you probably could elicit an accurate answer from someone.

yes i do feed live mice..im thinking the mouse got a bite off before it died and that is what i am seeing on the snakes mouth..what are the chances of it becomeing infected and posing a serious problem..?

Nobody can diagnose a problem like this from a quick paragraph on the Internet, but I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the veterinary care articles on this site as they are specifically aimed at the safe and humane restraint of venomous snakes for examination and treatment. http://www.snakegetters.com
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