Bredli damaged mouth when striking - what to do

[Fiona74]

Hi, it's been ages since I've been on here but what brings me here today is my nearly 3 year old bredli has damaged her mouth when she struck at me through the glass of her enclosure. Now a brief run down on her housing history. I've had her since a hatchling and up until a few months ago I had been keeping her in a plastic 28L tub with a heat cord at one corner / a hide / water and a branch. She NEVER struck EVER when I got her out. She always seemed very content.

The feeding routine which she became used to was leave her tub on the shelf and just lift the lid to feed her, this she knew meant food and she would strike, this is the ONLY way I ever fed her. However if I wanted to get her out I would take the tub off the shelf onto the table or whatever and I could get her out without a problem. We both had the system worked out

I bought her a bigger permanent enclosure which is a corner tv unit converted specifically for reptiles. When I put her in it she picked a corner and stayed there. I gave her time to settle. When it came feed time I would put her back in her tub as I didn't want her to associate every time I open the glass door to being fed. Getting her out was interesting as she would strike at me which I put down to her being scared.

Today when I opened the glass doors she was on the floor (under the paper) and she struck repeatedly at the glass (or me actually) so much so that she stuffed her bottom lip. It's like it is folded back over her bottom teeth. There was no blood and she stretched her mouth a bit to fix it but it is still a bit 'flat' on the front.

I got her out and had a closer look as I thought I might be able to (gently) pull the bottom lip back out/down but she was stressing too much so I left her alone.

So I am wondering two things:

I'm hoping if I just leave her alone for a while it will rectify itself, and she is due for a feed so should I feed her tomorrow then as maybe that will help put the lip back into shape?

She is back in the plastic tub for now as I know she feels secure in there but although she can move around, she doesn't have much room to stretch, should I just leave her in there for now?

She was the perfect snake while living in the tub and the only reason I moved her was so she had more room to stretch out.

Sorry for the long post but I tend to explain EVERYTHING

I'd appreciate hearing from others this may have happened to as she is my gorgeous girl and I hate seeing her stressed. Thanks!

 

[craig.a.c]

Get her to a vet and have it checked out.

I had a murray darling do the same things a few years ago and ended up dying from canker/mouth rot.

 

[Banjo]

Next time when you place the snake back into the new enclosure place a light curtain over the front to allow light in but reduce what the snake can see, this may help making the snake feel more secure, and let it settle in for 2 plus weeks.

 

[Fiona74]

Ok thanks for the advice. Her mouth is looking 100% better to the point where if you didn't know what happened you wouldn't know there was anything wrong.

I will keep her in the tub for now and feed her as normal and in a few days put her back in the bigger enclosure with something over the front. I will also have another good look at her mouth.

 

[hugsta]

You could risk infection if the bone is broken and the possability of your snake dying, if it isn't broken then it should be a problem. Always best to put the animals current enclosure into the new one if you want to have a nice smooth transition from one environment into the next. Let the animal get used to its surroundings and eventually remove the hatchy tub.