Canker? What causes it in Snakes?

[rodentrancher]

Dave breeds racing pigeons and they get Canker. I don't know why? What causes it in Snakes please? Cheers Cheryl

[rodentrancher]

Anybody??? Please?

[ssssnakeman]

i think its caused by damage .such as a bite from a mouse,causing infection,combined with, possibly stress or ....im no expert

baz

[serpenttongue]

Its usually caused by damage to the gums or a broken tooth that gets infected and possibly incorrect temperatures.. A cheesy scum builds up on the infected areas within the mouth and over time the gums can become covered with it. In severe cases it can spread down the throat, teeth can fall out, bleeding occurs and the jaw bones can even break and crumble.

[rodentrancher]

Oh ok, thanks! Wonder what causes it in pigeons. they don't have teeth hey? Pigeon canker usually shows up as a big wad of gook in their throat! Very gross when Dave has to squeeze it out through their mouths. Ewwww!!!

[ssssnakeman]

same name but different attributes i think for bird canker


baz

[geckodan]

Canker is an often misused medieval word referring to any disease involving pus in a cavity . So we get mouth canker in reptile, ear canker in dogs, and thraot canker in pigeons and birds of prey. This is where the similarity ends. They are all caused by different organism and within a single species may be caused by several different organisms.
In reptiles it is better known as stomatitis and the better texts will refer to it as this. Any text still calling it canker is very outdated.
In herps it can occur due to infections from bacteria, mouth trauma, vitamin deficiency or all of the above.

Dr Danny Brown

[rodentrancher]

Ok Dan, thanks for all that. Maybe we should start referring to it by the correct name, and not Canker any more? cheers Cheryl

[rodentrancher]

So Dan, would the Bacteria be caused by a Protazoa?

[craig.a.c]

My Inland carpet python died from canker. She damaged her jaw when she went to bite me, it developed very fast and didn't take long till it was irreversable.

[craig.a.c]

Here is a pic of mouth rot (canker) in my Inland python Angel.

[geckodan]

A bacterial infection could concievably follow a protozoan infection but is more likely to develop as a result of tooth damage, rub lesions, vitamin c deficiency, poor immunity due to low body temp and again all of the above.

[shanesaussie_pythons]

Hi all in pythons it starts with a injury to the mouht and dan is correct at the early stages the infection is known as stomatitis.witch can be caused by any number of injury such as they get when strikeing at live food or when they bite and even at times when trying to start sheding there skin while rubbing there lips to start the shed.and then stress or incorrect husbandry like wroung tempretures witch will cause stress and that lowers there amune systems and then thats when it turns realy bad with lots of swelling and mucuss and puss and the mouht and gums can become covered in a cheesy like puss.And it is at this stage it becomes highly contagesand at that stage it is still called canker by many vets YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THEM SAY THAT A PYTHON HAS FULL BLOWN CANKERNow this is more prevelent in captive reptiles that are fed live food witch is why it is best to feed either prekilled or thawed frozen food and these injuries can be picked up before it gets to the stage of full blown canker.By learning how to give your reptiles a quick inspection health and condition wise. If you ask your vet each time your there and pay attention and learn what the inside of a healthy reptiles mouht should look like.And if injureis are noticed seek vet attention and turn up the tempreture a couple of degrees this will help the animals amune system kick in a little harder and keep its cadge clean and keep the animal quite and stress free untill a vet can be contacted useual treatment for full blown canker would be to quareteen the animal away from others as well as cleaning the mouth on a regular basis with something like metrim and a corse of antibiotics at the same time.But as i said you can leson your chances of canker by not feeding live food and correct tempretures and good husbandry and regular health checks.And while the animal is being quareteened sterilize the animals regular cadge.Because its a bad one for reptile keepers to get.ITCAN BE NASTY.Once a animal has had full blown canker and after it has been cuered.For some reason it can reacure through out the animals future its like once it has had it it becomes prone to it .And when ever it is highly stressedor a minor mouth ingury it will pop up its ugly head again. hope this info is usefull regards SHANE