Retic is pushing in new cage...

Dear VPI,

            I have a retic that I just recently built a new cage for.  He spends most of his time trying to get out (like most snakes) in his attempts to do this he has rub his nose raw and some gum tissue is protruding out of his mouth (I attempted to get a pic for you but was unsuccessful) I checked the rest of his mouth and he does not have mouth rot, his gums underneath his nose is the only swollen area. Anyways if you have any good home remedies to fix this problem it would be appreciated. Thank you, Scott

Dear Scott,

You don't need to send me a picture-I've seen it. It means his cage is too small and the only thing that I know of that will stop his self-destructive behavior is to put him in a much bigger cage. If you get him in a bigger cage, his face will probably heal without a problem. If you don't, he may eventually kill himself, after totally scarring his face for life. Once they start to push, I've never known them to stop.

That's a VERY common problem with retics and just one more reason why they aren't good snakes for most people. You just built a cage and before you can blink he's outgrown it-get used to the idea--we've had 15 footers that required cages as big as 20 feet long.  DGB