Hi, I have five year old a corn snake that has internal parasites. The vet showed me how to give him medicine, but I can not get his mouth open! I've tried and tried but he gets defensive and I'm afraid he's going to bite me. Also I'm afraid I'm hurting him. Do you have any suggestions on how to get a snake to open up and take their medicine?
Aww, I'm sorry that your buddy has a parasitic infection but I'm very glad that the vet is able to give you some assistance!
Getting a snake's mouth open is not always the easiest task, especially when there's no promise of a tasty meal involved.
To help me give you some pointers, I've volun-told Snikki to come out and give me a lack-of-hands!
The dullest, cleanest, most harmless butter knife in your kitchen. A clean unused popsicle stick, a thoroughly-washed credit card, or a plastic tongue depressor would also work. I'm working with what I've got on hand.
A snake that won't take their medicine.
A human helper (optional)
First, get your snake on a comfortable working surface. It's easiest if they have something to wrap their tail around but make sure it's something heavy enough that they can't knock it over or drag it onto the floor.
Second, grab your snake gently but firmly by the sides of the head. Not top and bottom, you want the sides. You'll have more control and you won't risk putting pressure on your snake's throat or glottis this way.
Now you're going to use the back of your butter knife, the dullest part of the dullest knife in your entire house, and gently lift one side of your snake's lip and slide the knife into their mouth.
I didn't get a photo of this because I was taking hitting the camera shutter button with my nose while holding Snikki with one hand and the knife with the other. I went in from her right side, my left, and used the back of the butter knife to lift up the side of her mouth, then angled the knife inward to very very gently pry her mouth open.
Here you can see her open mouth. I'm not opening it very wide and I'm not applying very much pressure. She's not thrilled about this but she's not in physical discomfort nor showing any signs of severe stress. She's not thrashing, tail-rattling, nor struggling to pull away. She is making an attempt to move away from the unwanted thing in her mouth but she's not panicking.
Note that I'm not pushing the back of the knife into her jaw muscles and I'm not touching the top or back of her mouth at all. The goal is to not put any pressure on the jaw muscles that might cause discomfort or pain for your snake. The easier this goes for both of us, the sooner it's over and she can get back to doing important snake stuff. If I work quickly and gently, I can slide the knife sideways (not straight out) out of her mouth and she'll leave it open for a fraction of a second.
At this point you can quickly shimmy the syringe with the medicine into your snake's mouth, or have your assistant do that part while you hold the snake if you have a helper handy.
All done! Thanks for being a great model, Snikki!
She was bewildered but not overly put out and I put her back in her cage without any fuss.
Remember to hold your snake by the sides of their head, keep their body supported and give their tail something to hold onto to minimize stress, go in from the side of the mouth rather than the front when forcing their mouth open, and don't touch the back jaw muscles. Follow your veterinarian's instructions regarding getting the medicine down his throat.
Lastly, I know it's hard but try not to be nervous. When you're feeling uneasy during handling, that can tip off your snake and it makes them uneasy, too, so try to take a deep breath and project confidence.
I wish him a speedy recovery and I hope that this isn't too hard on either of you!
