Spirit
New member
Hi guys! (first post here)
2 weeks ago I bought my first corn snake from a local pet store. The guy who sold it to me breeds snakes and is somewhat of a reptile/serpent savant so I trust him completely when I was told my snake was in excellent health.
He shed the day before I bought him, but the lower part of the tail did not shed (lack of humidity)... my substrate was still SLIGHTLY damp, so this seemed to do the trick to rid the rest of the shed the following day.
The problem though, is in the last couple days I've noticed he has a strange patch along one side. It's a VERY small circular area where the scales appear SLIGHTLY raised and hard to the touch. I don't THINK it's a tick or mite, but is there a way to tell for sure?
He's only about a month old so the scales are very small (the cluster is of about 8 or so scales). The "patch" is only visible if you're looking very closely at it or touching it with your finger. You can't see it if you didn't know to look for it.
As for remedy, I was told to keep a close eye on it, but upon internet research I see that olive oil is a good aid for mites or ticks? Is this safe? And forget water... he's terrified of the stuff. Will NOT sit still. haha
Not too sure what to do when I don't know what the problem is... Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks all!
PS. He's still fairly shy so he spends most of his time in hiding, but when I do have him out, he's very trusting and quite active - but still very calm - ... lots of tongue flicking and exploring, so the "patch" doesn't seem to be bothering him at all... if that helps...
(sorry so long!)
2 weeks ago I bought my first corn snake from a local pet store. The guy who sold it to me breeds snakes and is somewhat of a reptile/serpent savant so I trust him completely when I was told my snake was in excellent health.
He shed the day before I bought him, but the lower part of the tail did not shed (lack of humidity)... my substrate was still SLIGHTLY damp, so this seemed to do the trick to rid the rest of the shed the following day.
The problem though, is in the last couple days I've noticed he has a strange patch along one side. It's a VERY small circular area where the scales appear SLIGHTLY raised and hard to the touch. I don't THINK it's a tick or mite, but is there a way to tell for sure?
He's only about a month old so the scales are very small (the cluster is of about 8 or so scales). The "patch" is only visible if you're looking very closely at it or touching it with your finger. You can't see it if you didn't know to look for it.
As for remedy, I was told to keep a close eye on it, but upon internet research I see that olive oil is a good aid for mites or ticks? Is this safe? And forget water... he's terrified of the stuff. Will NOT sit still. haha
Not too sure what to do when I don't know what the problem is... Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks all!
PS. He's still fairly shy so he spends most of his time in hiding, but when I do have him out, he's very trusting and quite active - but still very calm - ... lots of tongue flicking and exploring, so the "patch" doesn't seem to be bothering him at all... if that helps...
(sorry so long!)