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Blood in mouth of boa?

azhketh

azhketh

New member
I had my boa in a tub for a sauna to help with some stuck shed, and he struck at the side of the tub when one of the cats came over to look at him. There's a bit of blood in his mouth, but when I gently pried his mouth open with a chopstick, I didn't see any broken teeth, just a bit of blood at his lips and on the roof of his mouth. He's back in his cage now, but is there anything I can/should do for him? Not the first time I've had a snake strike in the tub, they' sometimes do that at feeding time when they get too excited, but this is the first time one of them has hurt themselves. Not seeing any broken teeth, I'm guessing he either he somehow managed to get his own gums with his teeth, or just the impact itself pressed the gums to the teeth and made a small tear somewhere. I'll check on him in a bit to see how he's doing, but I wasn't sure if I should try to rinse his mouth out or apply...anything. :shrugs:
 
Ouch, I'm gonna bump this up so someone more knowledgeable can answer. I think he sounds like he just gave himself a bloody nose, glad he didn't get the kitty!
 
I'm just gonna say keep it clean, my big guy can be an overzealous feeder and strikes at random objects during feeding time occasionally lol usually it's the rough plastic lip of his litter box turned water tub. As long as his cage is clean, water bowl is scrubbed and cleaned every day you're probably going to be fine. I think there is a slight sheath of gum over the teeth and he probably scraped it pretty good. Don't apply anything just check it every other day to make sure he doesn't start getting mouth rot or anything. More than likely though it's nothing to stress over. They haven't existed this long unevolving for nothing :) Also, I'm glad to see another boa keeper.
 
Oops, sorry mods, was in a bit of a hurry to post, so didn't think too much of where I was putting this. XD

Yeah, that's what I figure must have happened, I just wasn't sure if there was something I should apply to his mouth or wash it out, whatever. I checked in on him a couple times last night, and today before work. Haven't seen any more blood, so I guess it stopped. Gonna go glance at him again in a minute, give the water bowl a good scrub and to remove any stray aspen (I swear that stuff is alive and migrates, winds up in the oddest places sometimes).
 
lol yeah aspen really does get everywhere. I wouldn't keep pestering him so often, just check every other day for a few days.
 
Oh, don't worry, haven't been bothering him really. Just glancing at him in his cage to watch for any obvious signs of swelling/blood/etc. Haven't handled him until today. Today was feeding day and he took the rat without a problem. Hopefully it was just a bruised gum after all.

I didn't see all of his mouth, just his top gums/teeth. I'm an amateur when it comes to prying open snake mouths (lol), so I only just managed to gently open his mouth that far using a chopstick.

One good thing out of all of this is that I see Argento has calmed down a lot from when he was younger. In the past he's hissed at me once or twice and bitten me a few times, just out of fear, but through all this he never tried to bite or hiss once. Even before trying to pry open his mouth, I was touching his head trying to get off some stuck shed, and he just kept trying to get away rather than bite. I'm proud of the big guy.
 
Awesome, glad everything's okay. I've had to pry open a big boa mouth more times than I ever wanted to ugh.
 
It's not that big of a deal, and important that you check the mouth cavity... you seriously don't want a cyst to develop there because it's insanely difficult to treat... Iv'e seen snakes in horrible conditions due to such instances.
 
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