Corn Snake

I have a problem with my twelve month old Corn, Ozzy. He is about 30 inches long.

About a month ago I noticed that small, clear, scale sized pieces of skin are flaking off him. He also feels unusually dry to the touch and when he moves through your hands you can here is scales crackling against you.

He has not lost any of his colour and his eyes have not clouded over at any stage.

The last time he shed was about 4 months ago and previously to that he was shedding every month like clockwork.

Food-wise he was eating a mouse fluff every 5-7 days but I have not been able to get him to feed in the last week.

He also exhibits sniffing and puffing behaviour and rubs his nose against objects in the viv as if he wants to shed.

I have a 2'6'' vivarium with a thermostatically controlled heater matt under two thirds. The tank temperature fluctuates between 70°F (at night when the house heating is off) and 80°F in the day. I am using gold chip as a substrate in the viv.

I am very worried about him and I'm not sure what to do - Could anyone give me any ideas?

Try giving him a moist hide. Hopefully this will help him to shed. Take a butter bowl (or other appropriately sized container with a lid), and cut a hole on the side. Put in damp paper towels or sphagnum moss. Put the hide on the warm side of the container to increase humidity.

Hopefully he is puffing due to the fact that he needs to shed. If he still does it once he gets the skin off, then I would recommend getting him to a vet. If you can't take him to the vet, then try increasing the temp in his enclosure. Sometimes with mild respiratory infections, an increase in temps helps.

Thanks Terri - I'll give that a try.

Do you think an additional heat bulb would be adviseable anyway rather than relying on the heater mat?

I read on-line somewhere that the temperature probe for the thermostat should be at the cool end of the viv. When I bought the viv, the shopkeeper fitted the mat etc, for me and installed the probe at the warm end. Which is correct?

Shaun

As of right now, I would not install a bulb. Radient heat can be more drying. If he is still making strange noises after he sheds, then you may need to use a bulb to raise the room temps a bit.

As for the probe for the thermostat, it should be on the warm end. The shopkeeper was correct.

Thanks for your help Terri.

id also give him a nice warm bath
maybe put the water bowl above the heat mat for a few hours to temporarly help the humidity

I personally would be a little hesitant to give him a bath unless absolutely necessary. I prefer to not soak one with a respiratory infection. I have only seen it make the RI worse...never better.

Anyone else had bad results from soaking a snake with a RI?

oops that wud make RI worse

you are in a lil of a problem, you need humidity to shed, but u need a dry set up to help with the RI

Update?

I was wondering how your snake is doing. Please post an update.

Thanks for asking Terri but there's really no great change with him at the moment. He does seem to be a bit more active. I have a put a box with some damp kitchen paper in to raise the humidity.

I took him to a local reptile expert at the weekend who seemed to think that he was in a pre-hibernative state due to decrease in night-time temperature. This seems to tie in with the fact that he hasn't shed for so long - about when winter started in fact. He advised that a red bulb was required in order to bring the night-time temperature up which I have now installed. He said that the bulb would also help accelerate the evaporation in the damp box. He also said that a daily bath for about an hour might help. I tried this for a couple of days but Ozzy seemed to be distressed and the "clicking/snorting" sound he's making at the moment increased when he was in the water. When he's breathing, sometimes his throat moves - swells like a frog.

Reading other threads it seems that some people are spraying their snake / vivariums with water. Is this an effective way of increasing the humidity?

Do I need to give it a little more time do you think?

As I suspected...soaking made the breathing sounds worse. I think your snake has a respiratory infection. Of course, I am not a vet so please do not take my opinion as a diagnosis. I would not raise the humidity in the whole tank because of the RI. If the increase in heat does not start to clear up the RI pretty soon, then you should take him to a vet. He may need a course of antibiotics to help fight off the infection.

Where could he have picked up a RI?

He has no contact with other snakes. I don't think he could have brought it in when we first got him because he was fine for the first 8 months. Could it be from his food?

I've just read another thread which mentioned using olive oil to help with a bad shed. Is there any virtue in this as they claimed it did the trick but don't want to exacerbate any possible RI?

Unfortunately, bacteria live everywhere. Your snake does not have to have contact with other snakes in order to pick up a RI.

As for the olive oil, it can help with a shed because it softens the old skin. It also doesn't wash off quite as quickly as a water based product (like KY). If you choose to use it, just be certain to not get it in your snakes nares (nostrils). He is having enough trouble breathing already. You should also put your snake on paper towel substrate if you use the olive oil.

Thanks for all your help Terri. I'll get Ozzy to the vet ASAP. I'd hate to loose him.


NB: I've just had a look at your phot album - you have some stunning looking snakes - I didn't realise there were so many colour variants.

You're welcome. I hope your little one gets better soon.

I am glad you enjoyed my photo albums. I have quite a few more snakes, but haven't had time to get pictures posted. I am going to try to work on it this weekend, though. As for color variants in corns...I believe there are over 50. I'm not sure of the exact count, but it's a LOT!

Update:

I took Ozzy to the vet last night who diagnosed a resp infection. I was shocked when he opened Ozzy's mouth (something I hadn't been able to do) to see that his throat and airway were purple coloured and swollen - No wonder the poor boy was having trouble breathing.

I have a course of antibiotics which I have to inject over the next week and then I'll take him back to the vet to check his progress.

With regard to the bad shed the vet recommended keeping the damp hide and massaging his skin with damp cotton wool to help things along.

I am SO glad you took Ozzy in. Sometimes a mild RI can be treated at home, but it definitely sounds as if Ozzy's RI had progressed past the "mild" stage.

Good luck! I hope he bounces back quickly!