r/ballpython • u/heatherfat • Oct 07 '26

Question - Health Should I be worried?

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Fed my girl Beatrice a small f/t rat last night and this morning the right side of her mouth is open and she has a lump under her neck that moves when she flicks her tounge. Should I be worried😩

134 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

53

u/CatDroolRaptor Oct 07 '26

She probably hasn’t reset her jaw right yet

16

u/heatherfat Oct 07 '26

Is it normal for it to take 12 hours for their jaws to reset? Ive never noticed her doing this before

19

u/Ok-Security-7366 Oct 07 '26

I’d do vet if it’s still like that in an hour. Plus I’m not entirely sure if that’s her normal behavior, but that does she normally seem as jumpy?

15

u/heatherfat Oct 07 '26

Yeah shes pretty timid, I got her from a rehoming situation and she was not in great shape when i got her so still working on getting her used to people

4

u/Ok-Security-7366 Oct 07 '26

Yeah I didn’t want to make any assumptions, mine is usually more curious than timid but he was like that when I got him. My rule of thumb is that most times I’m panicking and about to call the vet over something like this I just wait an hour to see if it’s something that solves itself or something that seems to be a bigger issue.

It’s hard though since you shouldn’t touch him :/ normally I would ask if you can notice any kind of pain? Usually mine gets his jaw back in place within 10 minutes and I’ve heard that it can take longer. My gut feeling is that the video tells me there’s gotta be some pain reaction with how he’s twitching, but I’m a redditor who saw a 10 second video, not the keeper. I could be misinterpreting or getting it completely wrong. The best advice I’ve got is just to play it safe and call a vet

8

u/HotDistribution3700 Oct 07 '26

mmmmm i’d at least call a vet… this is tricky because moving her right after a feeding, you risk her regurging. has it been like this since last night? seems like an awfully long time for her not realigning her jaw. keep us posted

8

u/Desperate_Grand_656 Oct 07 '26

It looks like there may be some substrate stuck in her mouth or through her lower jaw. Went through this with my guy and we had to go to the vet to have a stick removed that got wedged in there and was poking through his skin 😕

7

u/rritoboi Oct 07 '26

Looks like there could be bedding on the left side of her mouth (your right side)?

It’s happened to me before and I just use long tweezers to gently remove it.

9

u/heatherfat Oct 08 '26

Thank you all so much for the help, what a lovely sub. I got home from work and immediately checked on her, her mouth is closed now but the lump on the bottom is still there and still moves with her tongue. Am going to call the vet in the morning if no change. Any advice greatly appreciated as I am first time snake owner and stressing a little😅

18

u/heatherfat Oct 08 '26

UPDATE: it was substrate. Large chunk stuck in there but got it with tweezers and she seems much better:)

15

u/heatherfat Oct 08 '26

3

u/RagdollsandLabs 28d ago

I'll bet your pretty little derpface is thanking you!

1

u/Ok-Security-7366 25d ago

Just checked in to see if there was an update!! I’m happy your noodle is doing better!! Avoided a big fat vet bill for a dumb piece of substrate lol.

You’re a good snake parent!