Gah! Help me!

[BloodyCats]

Snapping pics of my jungle carpet shedding I notice Irwin, my 3 yo corn is wigging out, curling around all over himself and trying to do something to his head. He just ate half an hour ago, no problem. So I thought he might just have the tail stuck somehow? This was a frozen/thawed rat pup, no problem for him.

So I see if I can help him and his neck is swollen, his head is pretty limp. I opened the mouth but can't see anything I recognize as strange. He kept his mouth open after I gently pried it open. He wheezed a little bit, so maybe he was scratched by mouse part going down? He was perfectly fine before the feeding, absolutely alert practically begging for food. One of my carpets ate a prey item similar in every way from the same bag and is fine. . .

It's Easter Sunday, no vets. . . is he screwed? Can I give him snake mouth to mouth? That seems like a terrible idea. This fella is my first snake. I son't want to lose him. He's still around but pretty limp. He's not his usually feisty self after a meal, in my hands he was like a big wet noodle. Poor baby! What can I do??

Some pics I took:

[CAV]

First thing I'd suggest is put the snake down. Handling it right now is not the best thing IMO.

Give it room and let it attempt to recover from the meal. It may be nothing more than an overstretched jaw.

[BloodyCats]

I put him down immediately after the pics. He seems to be doing a little better, he moved when I poked him, but is still very still and limp. I would never usually grab a snake after it has eaten, but he was flipping out. I had to see if he had something stuck in there. I don't know what to do now except leave him alone and hope for the best. Thanks for the reply.

[DdotSpot]

Keep us updated...geez that is scary!

[JTGoff69]

Did he get the rat pup all the way down? That one pic of his neck looks almost like it's stuck there. :eek1: How is he doing?

[oldhand]

Don't know what to say or suggest, hope it work's out, i know i'd be ****ting it if it was my snake.

Good luck and my thought's are with you.

[BloodyCats]

He was alert and at the door of the enclosure when I walked into the snakeroom this morning. I bent over for a closer look and he rattled his tail, which is normal for him, especially after feeding.

I think I'll take him in to the vet for a checkup. He seems healthy other than this incident. It was horrible after aout 30 seconds of trying to see if he had something stuck in his mouth for him to just go completely limp. No breathing, no movement at all. I set him in his cage, came back 10 minutes later to check on him and he was in the same position, but now with mouth open and tongue hanging out of his mouth and not moving! I thought he was dead. I had to touch him a bit and he moved very little.

I wonder what happened. This was so bizarre. And very scary!

[Susan]

Glad to hear that he's doing better this morning!

[E. g. guttata]

I noticed that my female's neck was swollen like that the other day. I opened her mouth and saw a dark streak on the upper portion of her mouth. There was a thread involving this phenomenon around shedding time. I'll see if I can't find it for you. BTW, after I looked in my female's mouth and let her back into her cage, it seemed to go away. I'll have to keep an eye on her, hopefully it's nothing big.

[E. g. guttata]

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18049
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16560

Here are those threads BTW. Hopefully this is what's going on with your baby.

[BloodyCats]

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18049
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16560

Here are those threads BTW. Hopefully this is what's going on with your baby.

Thanks, those are very interesting. The strange thing is my baby shed out last week. Then I took him out for my 6 yo niece to see. That was the last time I handled him prior to this incident and he seemed perfect in every way. This is quite confusing.

And also I believe he did indeed have the rat pup all the way down. The pup was probably only 3/4 of his width at his widest point. The last I looked in on him before this, it was in his throat with the tail and hind feet sticking from his mouth. His neck was very squishy during this episode, and there was no solid lump there as if it was the rat. I do believe he got it all the way down and that it was properly thawed (my jcp ate a medium rat at the same time, and they had been thawing in warm water approximately 1 1/2 hours.)

[MegF.]

I remember the thread, but I don't recall them ever saying anything about twisting all around and going limp with tongue hanging out. Glad to hear that he's seemed to have recovered. Let us know what the vet says.

[Hectorthesnake]

I was babysitting my Friend's BP one day, and that happened. So I took him out to see what was wrong. And he had a peice of bark stuck in his throat! I took him to the vet..

Maybe that is what happened with yours?
Hope maybe that helped..x_x