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Corn Snake has Nose Bleed Please Help

C

chipfedd

New member
Hi My daughter picked up an Albino Corn Snake over the summer and he's grown quite large in the past 6 mos. He shed about a week ago and I tried to feed him but he seems to be finicky after he sheds and did not eat the rat. Either way it's been 2 and a half weeks and I've been trying to feed him for the past 4 days with no success. Well tonight when I went to feed him and hung him around my neck he started to bleed from his nose and it was quite bad. I put him back in his tank and he immediately curled up under his bowl. I haven't seen any details around something like this happening else where... He seems fit enough just agitated lately always moving in his tank. Is it possible this bleeding is due to stress or is it something I really need to be concerned about.

Thanks in advance.
 

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So next morning he's active as ever no bleeding... but we are handling him with kid gloves. I'm changing out his bedding as it's about 1 mos since I last changed.
 
Are you sure it was actual blood? The inside of the nostrils on your snake should be red or pink.

Are you feeding him live food or frozen-thawed? Is there anything in his tank that he could have injured himself on?

On a side note, you may want to switch him to mice instead of rats. Rats can be a bit fattier and once a snake has gotten fat, it's very hard for them to lose weight.
 
It was blood. It sprayed from his nose into my tub where I was about to feed him and on my tshirt. When i put him back in the tank his nose was filled with blood... Should've taken a picture but didn't :(.

I've been feeding him medium size rats and he hasn't had an issue. They are alive. I've gone to a smaller rat a week after a similar episode where he didn't eat after shedding and he gobbled it up which I'll probably do. (Medium rat for sale :)

The bleeding though I would assume is a sign of something... I cleaned out his tank now. I put cyprus mulch down as usual... Last batch was in yard for couple months i'm thinking because it wasn't sealed and fresh maybe he got something from the bag of mulch...

Thanks for the post.
 
I wonder if he took an injury from his last meal? Spraying blood out of his nose sounds pretty serious.

I would really recommend switching to frozen-thawed. A live rat can injure or even kill your snake when it's fighting for its life.
 
Hmmm his last meal was 2 1/2 weeks ago. I'll try frozen thawed if this is recommended. In truth I hate dealing with live rats. I was concerned he wouldn't eat otherwise.
 
I did say it cause "injuries like this", I think that says it all, that you are going to see an injured snake.
 
I would say as well to switch to mice or he will die sooner than later due to fatty issues. (think human eating McD every day). Second I would probably take him to the vet, I COULD potentially see him having blood pressure issues if he already has increased fat deposit on the inside and the pressure made the thinner vessels in the nose break. HOWEVER that would be a human reaction not sure that applies to snakes. But yeah I'd take to the vet and such a big snake only needs to eat every 10 days if it's fully grown not once a week.

Good luck with the little cutie pie <3
 
Mr McCain's Progress

Ok so just an update on Mr McCain. He's eaten twice since this posting, but they have been small live mice. I took him to the vet as he was going on 3 mos with no feed. He gave him some antibiotics and told me he was indeed a male and told me to 'soak' him frequently, but otherwise he was a healthy adolescent corn snake. Regardless of this he was still not eating frozen-thawed rats. So i just bought a small mouse and put him in the tank for several hours at a time. Eventually after the 10th or 11th time he ate it. I've done the same to him again putting the mouse in for periods of time, and again eventually he eats it. These mice are small and no harm has occurred to the snake as I cannot wait hrs for him to eat. Not certain what else to do but this seems to be working.
 

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Never a good idea to leave a live mouse with your snake and walk away. In the wild a corn snake is never confined with it's prey. You are looking for trouble on your present course. You only have to feed once every 10 days. Find the time to watch or train him to eat F/T.
 
Thanks for pic smigon I think it's great to raise awareness of what feeding live prey can do to these guys , I couldn't do live prey myself I'd be too scared Theo got hurt ,good luck on moving onto frozen x
 
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