lock jaw?

[sarahvawn]

I have searched threads for anything similar to this, and I can't seem to find any. My 3 yr old amel's mouth has been ajar about an eigth of an inch for a couple of days now. I was gonna wait for till the end of the week to see if it fixed itself. I have been getting worried though so when I took her out tonight I tried examining it more closely to see if anything was stuck in there like I had when I first noticed it. I still see nothing in it. The thing that freightens me is that I noticed underneath her mouth it is discolored. I plan on calling vets tommorow, but I can't sleep. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Muggle]

Mouth rot? I'd go to the vet.

 

[MegF.]

Could be preparing to shed also. I've seen some odd heads on a few preparing to shed. Mouth rot as suggested is a possibility as is a foreign body in the mouth. Do you feed on substrate or is it possible that while burrowing it got some piece of wood or whatever you use stuck in the mouth somewhere?

 

[sarahvawn]

She gets fed in a seperate container. Thank you all for your information. I am going to set up an apointment for her today.

 

[CMatt2157]

How about feeding? Have you fed her since she has been doing this? I would obviously make a trip to the vet, but see how she reacts to food. (If she wants to eat, if she does, does her mouth stay open?, etc.)

 

[sarahvawn]

She was fed once, and ate it just fine. I have also seen her close her mouth. It is just open 99 percent of the time.

 

[snake5007]

sounds like mouth rot,i've had to treat quite a few snakes with it.you'll need some iodine and cotton buds,what you do is get a cotton bud and open the snakes mouth,then put the cotton bud in the mouth to stop your snake from closing it,then you dip a cotton bud in some iodine and wipe the affected area. thats the way i do it and it doesn't hurt the snake,it might be a bit stressful,but whats more important,saving his life or not stressing him out? i know you've got an appointment,this is just something else you can do to help!

 

[Roy Munson]

Could be preparing to shed also. I've seen some odd heads on a few preparing to shed. Mouth rot as suggested is a possibility as is a foreign body in the mouth. Do you feed on substrate or is it possible that while burrowing it got some piece of wood or whatever you use stuck in the mouth somewhere?

I like Meg's answer. I was worried about a seemingly misaligned jaw once, where the jaws didn't appear to close correctly. After shed, everything was normal as could be. The vet visit isn't a bad idea, but if you suspect that shed is near, you may want to just watch the situation closely. This hobby has truly taught me the difference between vigilance and paranoia.

 

[sarahvawn]

update

We did end up taking her to the vet, and the vet said she had jaw rot. We took her in at eight in the morning and by two she had shed her mouth was closed and the appearance of the infection seems to be gone. He said she had a mild case and it was probably caused by the tank being too cold. So we turned the rhetrostat up. She's been sitting in her water for about an hour now. I am just happy she's ok.

 

[MegF.]

Mouth rot doesn't just go away from a shed. I really don't think your snake has mouth rot at all. I think it just needed a good shed. Check your temps with a good digital probe thermometer. The fact that she's sitting in her water bowl after she's shed could be indicative of too high a temp. They only need 82 degrees for the warm side. You're far more likely to get a respiratory infection from excessively cold tanks than mouth rot.