*Insecurities*

Okay, so I finally get a new corn snake after my first died. I've been all excited to get one, and now that I have it, and after reading about all the many problems that a corn can have on this site, I'm worried. I doubt there's any reason to be worried about anything, but I'm really afraid of something going wrong with this snake.

I picked the snake up last night at this guy's house, and right as we were leaving I noticed this little cough/weeze/hiss sorta sound coming from the snake's bag. Immediately I think the worst, and decide this guy has given me a sick snake. Then I reason with myself and decide to wait to see if it's just the snake voicing his opinion about being cooped up in this bag in my hands. I get the snake home and put him in his new viv, bag and all. He comes partway out of the bag and just sits there, not moving a lot. Of course, I'm thinking that the drive home has killed him, or the fumes from my very old Chevy Chevette have gotten to him, and many other horror stories. But then a little later on he's moving around a bit, with his mouth open (but no tongue flicking...) and making this weird cough-hiss noise. Perhaps he's just doing this because his jaw was broken when he was little and it is a tad deformed. I tell myself to relax and leave the snake alone, and I went back in the morning to check on him. There are little ants in the water dish, I assume from the bag he was in. I clean up the cage, and note that the snake has moved behind this box I gave him for a hide. With the lid of the tank off, he's moving around a bit more and flicking his tongue around, exploring. I guess he was just unsettled from the ride home. He still sits a lot with his mouth hanging open, but I think it is because of his injury.

Aside from all my worries, he's a beautiful snake. I don't know where I can gain access to a digital camera or a scanner, so I don't know if I'll be able to post pictures. He needs a little beefing up and some more time to settle, but I'm glad to finally have another snake after all this time.

Hi there. Perhaps you can take your little guy to a vet just for a check up. The descriptions you provided don't sound normal to me. As for the "ants" in the water bowl, are you sure they might not be mites? If so, this little guy can have that in addition to a respiratory illness.

By taking the snake to the vet he can give it an all around check up so you don't have to worry considering the circumstances with your last snake and how sensitive we can tend to be.

On the other hand, if the snake is indeed sick (which I hope it is not) at least you can have a record from the vet stating what is wrong in case something terrible does happen so you can go back to the breeder and at least get a refund. That way the breeder cannot say it was your fault since you took the snake in the day after you picked him up.

I don't wish to sound negative, just erring on the cautious side. Best wishes.

Always trust your gut feeling

with his mouth open (but no tongue flicking...) and making this weird cough-hiss noise.

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WIthout seeing the snake in person, the symptoms suggest that your snake likely has a respiratory infection. You either pay for a vet visit or immediately demand a refund from the seller. You can raise the cage temp to ~90 degrees and make sure you keep it isolated from other animals. Although it can be serious, this infliction can usually be treated with antibiotics from the vet.

You need to give the snake a once over for mites. The little specks in the water could nothing more than wood mites, an altogether different critter from snake mites.

I don't mean to sound negative but wow sounds like something is wrong with your snake. Then you post about something wrong with his mouth? Why did you go from one loss to buying another sick snake? Does not make sense to me. In the reptile world there is no such thing as buying the runt of the litter. Those are the snake that just die.

I dunno maybe I missed something in the post you had. Good luck with him.

Well, the snake was free, and the guy warned me about the problem with the mouth. The snake doesn't make that hiss noise unless I mess with him, which is why I don't think it is a resperatory infection. I'm going to take him to the vet, just in case though. I haven't checked for mites because I don't want to bother him too much until he's settled. I'm sure the ants are ants, and I know they came from the bag he was in. I didn't find any more after I cleaned those first ones up and took the bag away.

He's acting a bit more normal now, so I'm pretty sure his behavior was just because he wasn't settled and I was almost expecting something to be seriously wrong. I'm feeding him today, and if he refuses I'll know something is wrong because the guy said he had never had a problem eating, even after being moved.

It is amazing how different I feel about getting this snake from when I got my first snake. I didn't know anything but the basics with the first guy, and he was the healthiest snake I'd ever met, until his unfortunate end. I didn't know to leave him alone for a while and I wasn't super cautious with anything, and he was a happy little critter. Now, with reading all of the "advice" on these forums, I'm worried about every little thing. That can't be healthy. But, I know it is good to be cautious. I'll keep y'all updated when I take him to the vet.

Oh, and another thing, the problem with his mouth isn't from being sick or anything. When he was young, he broke his jaw and it was never fixed properly. I've been told it doesn't affect anything with eating or shedding or whatever. We'll see about that after I feed him tonight!