Weird spot on my baby corn snake's head?

[Danadae]

We got got a new baby corn snake about 2 weeks ago. He's a cute little guy but we're worried about this small spot on his head. It was a tiny spot when we got him, but it has gotten a little bigger and it looks like tiny skin flakes are sticking up around it (see the picture link below). He acts normal, has fed recently, shows no signs of a shed coming on, and seems all around healthy. What could this be?

http://i45.tinypic.com/14twjkm.jpg

Thanks!

.

[Danadae]

Can anyone help?

[Weda737]

I have no clue, if it were me, I'd maybe dab it with some vitamin E oil to help it heal until I could find any info about it. I found a yearling black rat snake that had what looked like the same thing and he was feisty and healthy. It's in a weird spot to be something from head rubbing, too small to maybe be a burn? I dunno, maybe someone more experienced will pipe in. Good luck to you and your little cutie.

[Chip]

I want to say that looks like an injury, but the resolution is poor and it just looks SO symmetrical. Do you have any photos from when you first got him? Has he shed yet? My big concern would be that the shed come off in one piece there -or at least all come off. If it appears at all an open wound, put some triple antibiotic ointment on it. I'm not ready to say that snake needs to see a vet, but I'd sure watch it very carefully. If you have any better pictures, any older ones to compare, or can add any description, it can only help.

[Danadae]

Thanks for the replies folks, and sorry for the delay in getting back with you. I had to go out of town for a couple of days.

Here is a better picture of what I now think is a head injury. It has changed in shape and size (a little bigger) and it still has these tiny little skin flakes that stick up around it. See the picture in this link:

http://i49.tinypic.com/s13vys.jpg

He's VERY active, feeds easily, and acts normal. The only thing he does do is this movement like he's scratching himself by gripping and rubbing firmly on your hand and he sometime rubs his head on things like he's itching. At first I thought he might need to shed but there are no signs of it, and he gobbled up a pinky tonight when offered to him. I started to think he may have mites so I looked him all over and saw nothing. He's brightly colored and has such TINY scales that I think I'd notice if he had mites. He has a day/night lamp on a timer and a heat pad, but there's a felt pad on the glass bottom of the tank and the substrate is on top of that and are no hot spots in the tank (I have 3 thermometers around the tank and I bought a point and click one to make sure).

So I'm at a loss. He had this when we got him but it was so tiny.... what could it be? We've gotten really attached to this little guy and don't want him to be hurt. Can anyone help?

Here is a pic of his terrarium for ideas.

http://i48.tinypic.com/14xkl1x.jpg

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Cocoa3Ghost]

To ease your mind one of my adults had something very simular to this... It came and went but just as a safety precaution with a q-tip I applied Betadine 10% once a day for about 5 days, hope this helps

[Weda737]

hard to tell but it looks pinker in the new pic, maybe it's trying to heal. I would try the betadine too, I've never used it but I hear a lot of good things. Has he not shed yet? When he does you'll be able so to see better what's going on, if it's healing or getting worse. Kinda makes me think of something fungal but honestly I don't know.

[CarlieLynn]

I had a snake with similar markings. I purchased him like this, they said he got his head stuck, and when he pulled back pulled up the scales. It went away with a couple sheds and he ended up looking perfectly fine afterwards :). I hope it is a similar situation and it goes away with a shed. Either way when the snake does shed you will have a better idea what it going on. Best of luck !

[Danadae]

Thanks for the replies folks, we feel a lot better now. We keep you updated!

[Cocoa3Ghost]

Hope he gets better for ya :)

[Clickslither]

Mine had something similar but smaller on the left side of her head when I first got her. After the first shed in my care it didn't really look any different, but she just shed again last week and it almost disappeared, so I am sure it will be gone completely pretty soon. The size of yours does probably warrant some ointment though.