Diary of a snake (and her girl)...

[kibakiba]

I like that idea, Steve! I might have to try that.
I've been in a lot of situations like that with my Dr. too.

[ConcinusMan]

I'm with Steve on this one. You may just have to get forceful. If there's stuff stuck on the wound area, even if it's just a dirty scab, it's better if it comes out of there, even if it causes a little bleeding. I don't think the card thing is necessary though and it's too easy to cause further injury or break teeth. It's pretty easy to get far enough in their mouth using a swab. Just push your way in there by rolling it in a way that causes the "lip" to go upward. The snake will often yield by opening it's mouth slightly.

You probably don't need to force her mouth open, you just need to get that swab in there behind the "lip" enough to clear out whatever is in there. You might end up rubbing a scab off causing a little bleeding but in the end it will heal faster by getting the medicine in the wound better. If it's foreign material in there, it must come out.

I know, this sucks and it isn't easy but mouth wounds/infections/embedded foreign object is nearly always fatal if not treated.

[kibakiba]

Would it still be a risk to cause and injury or break teeth if you're extremely gentle and careful when doing it? I was thinking that you just slip it right under the lips to help you get the mouth open slightly, if I did it I wouldn't slip it all the way in the mouth, but just barely.

[guidofatherof5]

Slipping it all the way across the mouth lets you open the mouth uniformly. I've never broken any teeth off or had any injuries occur. Using the corner edge makes it very easy to start.
The lips will move independently of the jaw so just raising the lip area isn't going to be enough.
I think more harm could come by not being aggressive. Being firm lets you make the inspection in the least amount of time. If you are too cautions you will add more stress(time) getting it done.
This is just the procedure I use.
Someone else may have a different/better way of getting it done.

[ConcinusMan]

The lips will move independently of the jaw so just raising the lip area isn't going to be enough.

I guess that's what I was getting at, the lips do move pretty easily and are flexible. I can't see the snake myself but it looks a lot like the same kind of injury some of my babies have sustained from fighting and I used this treatment and it worked. I only needed to get the medicine under and/or behind the lip in the affected area. Swelling and the lips not sealing properly allowed foreign material to get under the lip, further aggravating the situation. This treatement, and keeping them on paper towels cleared it right up and after a while, the lips went back together enough to keep stuff out. It's really just the open part of the lip was the problem. I didn't actually have to open their mouths or treat the entire mouth. It was a pain but I'm happy to say that even the worst cases did fully recover.

Since there's no food fights or other obvious ways to get injured in this case, maybe you'll get lucky and find that there is no infection. Maybe it's just some substrate wedged behind the lip.

[EasternGirl]

Okay...well, I tried to reply to everyone's posts the other night from my phone...but I'm seeing now that the post never went through. I was saying thanks for all of the ideas. I have tried to get her mouth open, to no avail. However, she has opened her mouth in her enclosure...while I was watching...and I couldn't see anything in there. She does have a lot of retained shed around her face still...and it looks as though she is getting ready to shed again soon. I keep treating her mouth everyday with the hibiclens solution. I'm just hoping to see some improvement soon. She hasn't gotten worse, and she is eating fine.

Now for some funny stuff....She never tries to bite me...even when I am poking around her mouth trying to assess the lip issue and putting medicine on it. However, after I put her back in her home, and she feels safe...she will poke her head up and look at me...and I will say "Okay, tell me how mad you are.."...and she will look at me and open her mouth a couple of times as if she is biting at me. It's too cute.

Tonight...she was particularly mad at me when I was putting her medicine on her mouth...I noticed she was flattening her head...I had heard people on here talk about that, but never seen it. She made some kind of strange noise...I think she hissed at me. Then...she started constricting! Again, I heard someone talk of a garter doing that on here. It was the funniest thing...she wrapped herself around me and started squeezing as hard as she could...I had to stop and look at her and say "Really, Selena? Seriously?!?"...I think she doesn't want to be bothered with right now because she is going to shed again soon. Now she is back in her home starring at me with that angry snake look on her face....lol.

[guidofatherof5]

You know her well.

[Mommy2many]

My Midnight makes no qualms about how she feels about me, she bites every time. And that is for cleaning her house

I can only imagine what she would do if I had to administer medicine.

[EasternGirl]

Lol....Le Ann...I'm very lucky that Selena doesn't seem to even know how to bite. She is a very good girl when I put her medicine on now...she doesn't even struggle that much anymore. I think her mouth is starting to close a bit more.

Here are some new pics of me holding my girl...(and one of her poking her head out from behind a leaf).

[guidofatherof5]

The mouth is looking better.
Just a note. Some mouth injuries will take a long time to heal and once healed will have scar tissue which can distort the mouth somewhat.
It's usually not a big deal and the snakes operate just fine. I have a couple snakes with small bumps under their lips.
Other than that they are as normal as can be.
That is as normal as a radix can be