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HELP: Misaligned Jaw after feeding!

V

viper69

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I was feeding my beautiful Hogg Island boa on Sunday. She's totally docile out of any container, active etc. But in a feeding container or tank she knows when there's food, and she has a lightning fast response. Her feeding response lasts for more than a day usually too. I typically put a blanket over her enclosure until she calms down.

Sunday night I put her back into her tank, and just as I'm putting her blanket over her cage, she struck the glass twice in succession. As a result, the right front portion of her jaw is not aligned. It's tucked under the top row of teeth.

There's no blood at all, her tongue comes out perfectly straight, I've seen her yawn twice on Sunday after striking the glass, but her jaw didn't go back into it's natural shape. However, I'm concerned, what should I do??

I've attached two pictures I found on the net of a different boa that exhibits the exact same look as my own (same side and region of lower jaw too). I couldn't get good pics of mine, she's still a little jumpy, and I can't focus through the glass.


ANY Advice is helpful. I've never seen this misalignment last this long before.
 

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Does she show any distress or odd behavior? Did the other site have any advice? I have not experienced this issue myself, but can give one tip from grim experience: it is all but impossible to get vet access during a major holiday. If in doubt at all, set up an appointment *today*. Good luck to both you and her.
 
She shows zero signs of distress, in fact. The person who posted on the other forum like 5 years ago, hasn't been active on the site. People said not to worry generally if it lasted a few days or so. One even suggested feeding again and it would straighten itself out..Which I may do before Xmas.
 
That should fix itself, seen it many times. If it hasn't corrected itself by after the Christmas break, then take it to a vet, I don't think vets are going to be accepting patients before then anyway. If it doesn't fix itself in the next couple days, you can flush it with a betadine solution until you get it to the vet.

Chris
 
I have betadine...Would you recommend diluting it..if so, how much? I'm of course concerned about the exposed tissue. The enclosure is clean as always, but bacteria are microscopic haha.

Maybe I should feed her mouse?

I had thought about taking her out myself and gently using a blunt probe to see if I could just unfold it myself, or just open her mouth. But perhaps not.
 
Don't use betadine yet, in fact don't do anything yet. Give it until tomorrow before even being concerned about it. If it still hasn't gotten it straightened out by Friday, do a 10% betadine solution flush. Just irrigate it once a day until you can get it to a vet. Manipulating the jaw yourself could just make it worse.

Chris
 
OK..I will wait on the flush..I wasn't going to do it just yet. I have seen some posters on the other forum say it could take 4-5 days.

Question..Would you feed her again, in hopes she straightens it out again?
 
No, I'd just let her take care of it herself, if it's something that feeding could fix, she'll fix it without it.

Chris
 
I had this happen to my ferociously aggressive female that has done this a number of times. Under close examination it is usually just the scale on the lower jaw caught on a tooth. Usually they can get it out them selves. If it is bothering her you will know it, she will rub her head like she is working a shed off. One time I had to help her with it, just gently pulled down on her lower jaw and it came loose. Good luck!
 
UPDATE with older pics.

mxracer4life said:
I had this happen to my ferociously aggressive female that has done this a number of times. Under close examination it is usually just the scale on the lower jaw caught on a tooth. Usually they can get it out them selves. If it is bothering her you will know it, she will rub her head like she is working a shed off. One time I had to help her with it, just gently pulled down on her lower jaw and it came loose. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I included some pics of my pretty Hogg, just so people could see her. I couldn't get one of her mouth). These were taken in March and Aug this year. As you can see she changes color quite a bit. Though the one in the chair the flash washed out her colors a bit, and it was night time so she's naturally lighter at night. She's always most colorful after she eats and up to a week after too.

Well, I just checked my snake this morning. Last night, I just couldn't wait any longer, so I took her out, and after getting the right position w/her, I gently prodded her to open her mouth (I've done this before w/a different one for minor reasons), and there was nothing to see over all that looked different. I wasn't able to keep her mouth open, I didn't want to agitate/stress her any more than she may have been. I prodded her lightly about three times for her to open her mouth. I think the oral tissue by the "deformed" lower jaw was a bit inflamed, but I only got a quick look. In any event, I had her open her mouth a few times, and at one time she shifted her jaw muscles a bit. At that point, nothing went back to normal, and remained the way I originally reported.

This morning I checked her out, and while the deformed scale is still dented, it's no longer under her top front teeth. So that's good. I'm thinking she may have rubbed her mouth over night and/or yawned to get it back into place. It's not totally normal yet. There is still a very small line of some exposed healthy oral tissue, so her lower jaw or tissue hasn't entirely pushed itself back to normal. It's actually hard to tell now (except for the dented scale), I had to look under her head to see the irregular/nonsymmetrical shape of her jawline relative to the roof of her mouth.

Vets:

I called the vet's office who specializes in herps, and spoke to the tech. So, after talking I'm going to wait it out a few days, and see how she is on Monday or Tuesday. If there's no change from what I noticed today, then I'm definitely going to bring her in. I feel a bit better though. Hopefully it was just some irritated oral tissue and some misaligned tissue/lower front jaw. We'll see.

I think in the future I will put up a blanket the day I feed her so it's in place before and after I feed her. Hopefully this will minimize or prevent the problem I had this last time.

She's still behaving normally, and that is good too.

Thanks for everyone's help. I will update as needed.

QUESTION: In the future, what's the best way to maintain her mouth open so I can get a longer look if necessary?? Her head, at its widest point, is between the diameter of a quarter and a half dollar.
 

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viper69 said:
QUESTION: In the future, what's the best way to maintain her mouth open so I can get a longer look if necessary?? Her head, at its widest point, is between the diameter of a quarter and a half dollar.
Click to expand...

Pick up a set of Speculums. They're rarely ever needed, I haven't used mine in several years, but when you need one they're very handy.

This is the set I have. I got them from Midwest at a show.

http://tongs.com/speculums.aspx
 
Thanks a lot! I've never seen these before. I was thinking of getting a snake hook too. I may wait for the show in January..they might have some there.
 
viper69 said:
I was just on another site looking at cages, when I found a set for much less than tongs.com, these are only 10 dollars.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/specula-set.html
Click to expand...

Even better. I didn't realize Rich carried them. I've had mine for many years, and at the time Midwest was the only place I found selling the ones of decent quality.
Those look exactly like mine though.
 
I have no personal experience with this sort of thing. However, my snakes have always done sort of a Yawn after eating, and straighten everything out. If for some reason she didn't do this, than I would just feed her again, and I'd be really surprised if she doesn't reset it after two feedings.. Just my amature opinion, but that's what I would do.
 
Nick & Chelsea said:
I have no personal experience with this sort of thing. However, my snakes have always done sort of a Yawn after eating, and straighten everything out. If for some reason she didn't do this, than I would just feed her again, and I'd be really surprised if she doesn't reset it after two feedings.. Just my amature opinion, but that's what I would do.
Click to expand...

Well I know I could feed her. However considering it had been a few days and there was no change (except this morning) I had decided to wait.

She had opened her mouth at least twice, and that didn't realign it, hence my post. I had seen someone recommend feeding her again on a different forum for the same issue, but I was cautious, she's never had a problem resetting. Though I think this is one of the hardest strikes she ever did, and did it twice in row w/in seconds.

She's not hostile in any way, but she has an incredible feeding response. I've owned her since she was born, and I know when she's hungry, and when she's "in the mood" to eat. Her entire behavioral and physiological changes are radically different when she's in feeding mode. At least she's a great eater. She's fine once she comes out of her tank, then she's curious and all active, and at times, almost impossible to get back in. No hostility at all. When I handle her, she still exhibits some of the same behavior w/me at 4ft as when she was barely 12" long.

I'm considering getting her a new enclosure, but I have some questions for which I'll post in the appropriate forum.

Thanks again guys!
 
if there is no cut why would you wash with betadine does not make any sense to me looks like lip is caught on some teeth. at worst all you need to do is grab behind head and check with either a finger if comfortable doing or some forceps, i would not rinse mouthe with anything unless you absolutly know there is a cut and infection.
 
That's a nice looking Hogg you have there! I can understand you being worried about her, but I seriously doubt that she won't recover from this on her own. These are the most resilient animals that I have ever seen. One of my albino boas was scratched by a rat, directly above his eye. After a couple of sheds the wound was gone, but there were a couple of scales missing and it ALMOST looked like his eyeball would fall out (because it didn't look like it was totally enclosed). A few more sheds later and he's totally back to normal.

I realize these are completely different incidents, but I wanted to give you assurance that these are not exactly fragile animals. If yours has not already returned to normal by now, I would be very surprised to hear that it's still in the bad condition by Monday.

Best of luck and please keep us posted!
 
First, that is beautiful Hog Island boa you have there, looks like a very traditional Hog, like the ones off the island.

Craig, to answer your question about the betadine solution, the reason that they have these "hook ups" is that they slip their gums over their teeth, piercing the gums. It isn't a big deal, somewhat like biting your cheek. I only advised the use of betadine if it hadn't corrected the issue after a few days, seeing as she probably can't get the snake to the vet at the moment. This would prevent any possible infection cause by the tooth piercing the gum.

Chris
 
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