What are symptoms of ball python mouth rot?

Question

I notice a pinkish color on my ball python around the lips where the tounge comes out and has darkend. He now has two dark lines goin down his lips, ending at the "chin". I don't see anything else on him. He eats well (sometimes skips) at least every 14 days. Has no discharge or anything like that . Is this mouthrot or just dirt. Is it normal to have pinkish color where tounge exits. His substrate is newspaper.

Answer 1

Mouth rot or stomatitis is the most common sickness in reptiles. It does consist of discharge coming from the nose and mouth (I have actually seen a snake hack a lugie) They will breathe with their mouth open and will stop eating because they cant smell their food and their eyesight is so poor. Also their mouths will become very pale.

Ball pythons are sensitive snakes, they stress pretty easily and arent the best eaters in captivity. We have a 27 yr old ball python that only eats about every 4-6 months and is perfectly healthy. He has gone as long as a year.

So basically your guy seems pretty healthy. His colors and markings will change slightly as he grows so that is probably what you are noticing on his face.

Newspaper is a perfect substrate.

You are doing a very good job paying so close attention to your snake. Keep up the good work.