Substrate in mouth?

I always feed my snake in a seperate tank. I guess she must have had some bits of aspen on her though....I didn't even notice it while she was feeding...but noticed it after in some pics I snapped of her yawning. I tried to take a look at her then, but she started to give some serious chase...and decided it was a bad idea to stress her out having just eaten. I've heard horror stories of snakes getting infections from substrate in their mouths...is this something I should be concerned about and keep an eye on, or is it no big deal?

Unless they've had problems with regurging before, I'd just wrangle the snake and remove the piece as quickly as possible after noticing. Most snakes that are healthy don't seem to mind a "bit" of excitement just after eating. It shouldn't take too long to remove it, seeing as it only looks like one long piece. If its still there, sometimes they go ahead and swallow it.

I did have one adult male do a face plant into the bedding next to his tub wall once, just outside his tub was a bowl full of wriggling mice. Now THAT was fun trying to remove every bit of bedding from his mouth by myself. Needless to say, I keep the bowl of mice well out of sight now.

Well, now with her mouth closed, I don't see any substrate. So I don't know if she just swollowed it, or if it's tucked in. Should I try to get her mouth open to check? If so, how exactly do I go about doing that?

I believe most mouth sores develop due to substrate getting lodged and forming a "sore" that becomes infected.

A friend is helpful with this, so they can hold the lower portion of the snake to keep them from wrapping around your hands and their head. Although I've used toes as well.

What I do is grab the snake firmly behind the head, take your finger and pull back the lower lip and gently try to work a blunt or rounded object in between the jaws and open the mouth. Try not to apply too much pressure which might hurt the gums.

Once you get it open, you slide the object all the way back and the snake can't close its mouth. I generally use a chopstick or a bamboo skewer, something softish.

Most snakes don't like their mouths fussed with, and when they sense something in, they'll go ahead and open all of the way without much of your own effort needed.

Once everying is open, look around to see if you can see the piece.

Taceas said:

A friend is helpful with this, so they can hold the lower portion of the snake to keep them from wrapping around your hands and their head. Although I've used toes as well.

Click to expand...

LMAO! The visual I imagine for that is hysterical!

Trust me, it looks as rediculous as it sounds! =P

Oy...well that was a barrel of fun. Had my boyfriend hold her body while I dealt with her mouth. She looked like a little kid who didn't want to take their medicine "Nope..uh uh...not gonna open...no way....no sir....nope..." LOL. Allthough, she never once got aggressive, even with being restrained and having me poking at her mouth. She's a great girl. I tried for about five minutes...wasn't able to get the mouth completely open, but was able to peer into the side the substrate was on. I didn't look like anything was still there (I hope)...so I'm hoping that she swallowed it. She was getting really stressed, so I didn't want to keep poking around trying to get a better look. Sigh. I guess I'll just keep an eye on her....maybe try to get a better look in a few days after she's had time to digest.