This is my Dward/ SD retic, he is just over two years old and has been pushing a lot lately. Recently, maybe 3-4 weeks ago i noticed his nose was swollen on one side. I figured this was just swelling due to pushing and double checked his enclosure parameters, gave him more time out of his viv to get some exercise and hopefully help him chill a bit. However he has continued to push and tonight I have noticed that something like a scab has appeared on the swollen part of his mouth.
Can anybody help identify what is going on here? Is this likely to be mouth rot or an injury?
Im planning to get him to a vet asap, but would be glad to know if there is a good way to get in front of this.
His warm end is 90F cool end is 80-70 depending on outdoor temp. He is currently around 4.5ft living in a 4x2x2. He is fed (rat, multi or duckling)every 10 days, give or take a day or two.
He is not lethargic, ive not seen wheezing or excess saliva.
I am going to tag @tommccarthy. He has a lot of experience with retics. Since your guy is now 2 years old maybe he is acknowledging female snakes period. Which doesn’t sound right. So hopefully Tom will see this soon.
That spot on his nose and mouth looks a little rough tbh and I am glad you plan to get a vet appointment lined up……
I love retics. Can’t have one but I love them. Good luck!
It looks like your retic has an abscess with maybe some pus. You need to get him to the veterinarian ASAP. He needs his mouth cleaned out and meds. He may have broken a tooth when he was eating and got an infection.
Do you feed live or frozen thawed?
Here is my link to my home treatment page of my website.
Hi, thanks for the response. I will get him in to a vet asap. I feed him frozen thawed. Prey are always thawed through the day at room temp and then warmed up in water for a further 20-30 min before feeding in the evening.
yeah. I second Tom’s advice.
He could have gotten the abscess from the pushing or as Tom said while eating.
There have been retic/bp hybrids so possibly if there is an adult female BP he may be picking up on that. Or at least I have heard of them and some debate on if that was true or not so
Been to the vet today. Abscess was spot on and it was indeed filled with solid puss. Abscess has been cleaned out and treated with Iodine and he has been given an injection of antibiotics. He is back to the vet on Thursday for another round of antibiotics and I will be cleaning the wound daily with iodine solution.
Thanks to everybody who contributed to this discussion.
Oof. So glad you got to them as quick as you did!
Sorry you’re still gonna need to wrestle him for the cleaning. I hope he’s not too much of a spitfire for you
Thanks. I’ve been handling him regularly since I got him almost two years ago so luckily he is very tolerant! Hopefully recovery will be smooth from here!
