Thing on Head

[Cazador]

I nice close-up would be great. Whenever I'm giving any sort of treatment that takes a while or that the snake may dislike, I always restrain them. For small snakes, you can put them in tubes, like 1/2" (1.5cm) aquarium tubes. It's a bit of work, but the trick is to get their heads inside and not let them back out. Then they can only continue to move forward until their head sticks out the other end.

For larger snakes, or when dealing with the cloaca, you can put them in a pillow case with just the part of the body that you're interested in sticking out. Then, if they try to thrash around, the pillow sheet gently restrains them and keeps them from musking all over you. It won't "tame" them, like the bathtub trick, but even calm snakes sometimes freak out when being examined/treated.

It's really bad to have them thrashing around wildly when you're holding their head because, unlike mammals, they only have one connection point between their vertebrae and skull.

[abcat1993]

Woohooo! my snake has blue eyes! I will see if shedding helps or not, I am guessing that it will since it has been a while since it shed and it probably was just dead skin/scales/whatever it is.
I guess that is why he didn't eat last night... ... ... ... ... ...

[Cazador]

Congrats, but you should wipe it down with a wet, white paper towel to check for mites BEFORE it sheds. It may be nothing, but I've read that mites can cause that whitish appearance in deep scale creases. They'd be a lot easier to treat before the shed, if they're present because you'd kill most of them with treatment, and the shed would then eliminate any eggs that are stuck to the skin while you're thoroughly cleaning the enclosure. It's probably nothing, but it can't hurt to check.

[abcat1993]

And how do you do that? just wipe his head with a moist paper towel and look at it to see moving things? I don't know if him/her being practically blind right now is good or bad for this. Will it freak him out if he is grabbed and wiped?

[Cazador]

There are a lot of times when you have to weigh the benefits of one action against the negativity of another action. To me, the presence of mite have priority over the possibility of agitating a sensitive snake.

You dampen a white paper towel and either wipe the snake's head a few times really well , or hold the moist paper towel around the snake (in a circle) and allow the snake to crawl through it. There should be more mites on the head, and near the vent/cloaca. Ideally, you could wipe the snake's entire body a couple of times, but I understand your situation. Then look on the paper towel for small, black mites crawling around.

[abcat1993]

Can mites ever be white? On one corn snake or ball python I saw at Petco they had moving white things on them. Or maybe I was halucinating or remembering wrong. Also how long do I have until he sheds? the tip of his nose already looks different, but I would rather do this tomorrow. I guess I should probably start right now though, just in case.

[abcat1993]

Never mind, I did it, and got musked on. Now I know what it smells like and unfortunately I will reinforce my knowlege of that smell the rest of the night since the snake is in my room. And I didn't see anything.

[Cazador]

Good job, Matt. It's a small price to pay to know that your snake doesn't have mites, and now you know what musk smells like . The eyes will probably be blue for about 2 days. Then they'll clear rapidly, and it'll be about 2 more days before it sheds. This is a typical pattern, but there are exceptions. If you don't have your water bowl under/over your heat source, you should do so until your snake sheds. You might also consider misting the substrate once in a while. It's a bit of overkill, but you want to make sure your snake's enclosure isn't too dry during the shed.

[abcat1993]

But placing it under the light sounds like it will get too hot. Is it ok to have your snake swim in 90+ degrees water?

[Cazador]

If the temp under your light is 90+, in or out of water, you should reduce the heat .