chris-uk
02-25-2013, 11:27 AM
I learned something new about checking sheds today. I'm not sure if it's a freaky chance incident or something relatively common.
Nobby (female Red-sided, couple of years old, bought as a "Northern" so we don't have any idea how old she is) shed this morning. She managed to make a bit of a hash of the head end but it looked like the shed was all in two pieces.
This afternoon I noticed she was slithering around so stopped to watch her for a bit, and noticed she yawned a couple of times, and her mouth wasn't fully closed. "Bugger. Mouth infection?" were my first thoughts. I took her out and had a look and her mouth definitely wasn't closing fully on the left-hand side and she was dribbling some fluid out of her mouth.
She wasn't being very cooperative, but eventually I managed to get her mouth open a bit (I was using my finger nail to catch her lower jaw) and at first thought it was a lot of white mucous. "Bugger. Trip to vet."
She then cooperated a little more and opened her mouth wider and it was clear that I was looking at a bit of shed skin that was stuck between her upper jaw and her cheek. I changed the mouth opening technique (remembered someone mentioned a credit card method to get a snake to release a bite, so I used a bit of cardboard inserted into her mouth and then used to press her lower jaw down) which enabled me to open her mouth wide enough that I could get the shed with a pair of tweasers.
The piece of shed was three facial scales, one quite large and two smaller (it looks to me like the first of the large infralabials and two of the smaller infralabials forward of it). It also looks like she may have retained her rostral scale, she's quite stressed so I'll take a look at it properly tomorrow. Also worth pointing out how great her temperament is though, because through all my prodding and opening her mouth she didn't musk or bite.
I need to keep an eye on her to check that I've not damaged her, there were a couple of specks of red (blood, but not flowing blood) in her mouth that were either me removing the shed or her working on the plants or woody bits in the viv to try to dislodge the shed from her mouth herself. I'll keep a watch on her and if she shows signs that her mouth may be infected I'll get across to the vet with her.
So, I don't post things like this without some questions...
1. How often have people come across this "shed in the mouth" situation?
2. What are the best ways to open their mouths? Bearing in that Nobby has a relatively small mouth.
Nobby (female Red-sided, couple of years old, bought as a "Northern" so we don't have any idea how old she is) shed this morning. She managed to make a bit of a hash of the head end but it looked like the shed was all in two pieces.
This afternoon I noticed she was slithering around so stopped to watch her for a bit, and noticed she yawned a couple of times, and her mouth wasn't fully closed. "Bugger. Mouth infection?" were my first thoughts. I took her out and had a look and her mouth definitely wasn't closing fully on the left-hand side and she was dribbling some fluid out of her mouth.
She wasn't being very cooperative, but eventually I managed to get her mouth open a bit (I was using my finger nail to catch her lower jaw) and at first thought it was a lot of white mucous. "Bugger. Trip to vet."
She then cooperated a little more and opened her mouth wider and it was clear that I was looking at a bit of shed skin that was stuck between her upper jaw and her cheek. I changed the mouth opening technique (remembered someone mentioned a credit card method to get a snake to release a bite, so I used a bit of cardboard inserted into her mouth and then used to press her lower jaw down) which enabled me to open her mouth wide enough that I could get the shed with a pair of tweasers.
The piece of shed was three facial scales, one quite large and two smaller (it looks to me like the first of the large infralabials and two of the smaller infralabials forward of it). It also looks like she may have retained her rostral scale, she's quite stressed so I'll take a look at it properly tomorrow. Also worth pointing out how great her temperament is though, because through all my prodding and opening her mouth she didn't musk or bite.
I need to keep an eye on her to check that I've not damaged her, there were a couple of specks of red (blood, but not flowing blood) in her mouth that were either me removing the shed or her working on the plants or woody bits in the viv to try to dislodge the shed from her mouth herself. I'll keep a watch on her and if she shows signs that her mouth may be infected I'll get across to the vet with her.
So, I don't post things like this without some questions...
1. How often have people come across this "shed in the mouth" situation?
2. What are the best ways to open their mouths? Bearing in that Nobby has a relatively small mouth.