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Tongue problem ?

I

idlehands

New member
Hi this might seem like a strange question but my 06 cornsnake seems to have a problem with his tongue? I can see a sort of pulsing under his chin, but there is definatley no tongue flicking out? He has always been like this, and seems perfectley healthy otherwise. Just wondered if anyone else had seen this before, or had any ideas what could be wrong? Thanks
 
Does he not even flick when he is given a pinkie/prey item?

My 14" 11 month old corn Jo has NO pulsing thing but I am new to the whole world of snakes. It will be interesting to see what the experts here say about this though.
 
No he never flicks his tongue at all (it`s really strange). He has never missed a meal, but when i offer mice to him it seems to take him quite a while to work out what it is, he nudges it and pushes it round alot first.

( I used to have a black rat snake for many years by the way, so i know what the tongue flicking should look like. And there is definitely no tongue appearing , just a slight pulsing under the chin ) He`s very friendly tho.
 
Awe... poor thing. I wonder if the little guy has a really short tongue or no tongue at all. If he did, the length of time you mention it takes him to figure out what things are would make sense. You know, when humans have a sensory handicap they say the other senses hieghten to compensate. I wonder/hope it's the same for snakes.

Someone here with experience will know I bet. Sorry I can't shed any light...
 
I've never seen a snake without a tongue or the ability to flick it, but if he's healthy and eating...I wouldn't worry about it other than the curiosity factor. If you open his mouth can you see his tongue there?
 
A lot of my snakes do that pushing/poking thing before they take a bite. They are looking for the head.

Nanci
 
Thanks for all the replys. I`ve never actually held his mouth open. But i have managed to peer in a few times when he`s yawning etc, and can`t really make much of a tongue out, possibley a thin stump with no fork but i`m really not sure. It does seem to take him an extra long time to work out where/what it is when feeding, seems to lose it sometimes even. He also tends to start in the middle of the mouse, then work his way round to the rear. Only seen him take it from the head once.
 
Even mine with tongues have done that though, so I'm not certain that the tongue issue has anything to do with that. Mine don't necessarily flick their tongues when beginning to feed. They actually seem to sniff with the nostrils. My Amazon tree boa definitely sniffs you with his nose when you're holding him so I believe they do smell something with their nostrils. It's probably not completely informative though. It would be interesting to see if you see anything. I can't recall if I can see the tongue clearly in my snake's mouth or not when they open like that. Looking at the one picture I have of my chondro yawning, I don't see a tongue at all, just the opening to the trachea. I wonder if it gets retracted back when they open their mouth...
 
After going though 3 months of force feeding with one last year and having it's mouth open many times I've noticed that their tongue retracts in to a tube in the bottom of their mouth. When the open their mouth you won't usually see it. I've seen this same thing in pictures of giant snakes with their mouths open, the tongue isn't seen when their mouth is open.
 
..

I don't know if this has anything to do with your snake or not, but sometimes when my snake is about to shed, he gets skin over his mouth and he can't get his tounge out..his head just sort of moves forward a little. I usually just lead him to his water bowl where he gets a drink, and then he can flick his tounge again. That or soak him.
 
I had a dream last night because of this thread. One of my snakes opened his mouth, and I'm like, "Oh, good, now I can see what normal tongue anatomy looks like!" and he had a lizard or human tongue! Weird...

Nanci
 
See, the first sign of drug use is not remembering anything......it all becomes very clear....
 
Whoa....I have never come across anything like that anywhere. I hope he is healthy/ stays healthy. I wouldn't worry about your snake taking the pinky in backwards though. My king always takes the pinky butt first. XD!

As for weird dreams. My friends mother always has nightmeres about my snakes even though she loves them. They are really odd dreams. =S
 
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