Poor Boa, Advice Needed...

First of all, let me say that I will be taking the boa I am talking about to a herp vet on Monday morning, I already have an appointment. I just hate to spend the whole weekend worried about this guy...

Yesterday I received a 5 and half foot male Columbian Redtail Boa which was shipped to me. Nothing had ever been said or mentioned about health problems (and yes, I had asked). When the snake arrived it was wheezing heavily; however, after I put it into an enclosure, the wheezing subsided a good bit. He has no bubbles or other signs of a URI. He looks a bit dehydrated and slightly underweight. He drank water for 20 minutes straight and then payed in his giant water dish for a couple of hours.

FYI, I am not posting the ame of the guy I got him from, as he has not yet had a chance to repsond to my e-mail that I sent him requesting to know why I was sent a sick snake without being told anything about him being ill, and/or if the guy has any idea what is wrong with the boa. Obviously, I am not thrilled about receiving a snake in this condition.

Here is my concern... On his head, between his eyes and his nostrils, his face is terribly swollen. His nose/nostrils are perfectly normal. His eyes are normal, but the rest of the entire area on top of his face is swollen in an extreme way. There is no evidence of him having been bitten by a rat or other creature. There is a small scar on top where it does appear he may have rubbed the top of his face on a screen top or something, but theis area doesn't look too bad. The swelling is mainly in the sides of his face. He may have a touch of mouthrot I am thinking, but when I examined his mouth, there was no apparent reason from the inside of his mouth that it should be swollen like this.

I have some pictures up close of it, but am not sure they will post here. If anyone can possibly get a pic to post on this thread please e-mail me, I would appreciate it.

I am very concerned about this snake and am not sure if I should do anything over the weekend. I was going to attmept to feed him, but was unsure of if that would be wise or not.

Monday I am having him examined including a fecal exam and the whole gambit of stuff that I usually have done when a snake is ill.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Aprylla Hall

Here are 2 pics. Sorry, I could not get them to post, but if you click this link you will see 2 up close photos of the boas head.

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/apr.../ph//my_photos

by you not posting the name you are doing an injustice to the rest of the community if someone else buys a sick snake from this person you could have prevented that it 's obvious that the seller knew there was a problem with the snake that didn't happen in the 24 hours it was shipped you would have liked to know about this person selling sick reptiles before youmade the purchase you might not be in this situation it's sad for the snake that whoever didn't get him/her properly treated and its good you are and probaly better for the animal it was sold but i would almost bet you would not have gave your money for a sick snake when there is plenty of healthy boas available so do the right thing and post the sellers name because there is no lame ass excuse that makes it right to sell a snake in that conditon to someone unexpecting