So no this isn’t a genetic question just worried about my 2 year old ball who’s been off feed for a month (after being a solid eater for two years) and during a weight check, nearly 700 grams, I noticed a bit of dry scaling near her nose and what kinda looks like a swollen face/nose region. I tried to get some pics, but a snake in motion stays in motion. I can try and get better pics later if these don’t help. But wondering if her face/nose is swollen what could be causing it and would that be a reason to be concerned and/or the reason she doesn’t want to eat. Setup has not changed in any way recently and Temps are as they’ve always been.
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Bump is caused by nose rubbing most likely, typically stress would be the #1 cause of that behavior. I had one do that for the first few weeks after moving her to a larger enclosure and I don’t think she felt safe. Have you switched enclosures recently or changed your temperatures or anything else that sticks out?
Not necessarily serious by itself but it can lead to quite serious infection if it continues unchecked. Not sure what your enclosure situation is but I’m guessing you need more clutter and maybe to black out a few sides or just cover it completely with a sheet/towel.
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Absolutely nothing has changed in the two years we’ve had her. Same tank, same decor (excapt larger hides), same Temps, same humidifier. I can try more clutter. Can try blacking out sides. But like I said nothing has changed. We were thinking of upgrading but that wasn’t going to be for another year at a minimum. Here is a Pic of her enclosure. Would she suddenly feel stressed after the same routine for two years?
The towel and such on top is to keep in humidity. The left side is a little foggy cause I turned on her humidifier a little bit ago.
If nothing has changed I agree, no reason the same old routine would just start stressing her. I’m not sure. If you find a list of common causes for nose rubbing I would start going down the list and crossing off the ones you don’t think could apply. Sorry, mine was more obvious.
I’m still gonna try blacking out some of the tank though just in case. We moved in January and maybe something with the new placement of her tank is off, even if she was eating fine and such last month. See if increased darkness during the day helps somehow. What would you suggest for blacking out? Cardboard? Black poster board?
I used poster board for mine just because I didn’t have a fancy nature background and I thought it looked better than regular cardboard
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Maybe it’s not from rubbing against the tank but possibly the decor inside the tank? But yeah if your snake isn’t showing any real signs of something serious then just keep a close eye on it, best advice I could give someone is to not freak out right away or react because it probably wont help anymore than the initial problem.
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There is plenty for her to rub up against or nose around on. Besides the fake plants and the large root decor thing there’s a good bit of cork bark pieces to give even more cover closer to the ground. There’s also another semi open hide on the warm end where she usually goes to help herself shed. It’s kinda rough (without hard edges) so maybe that’s it?
Now besides keeping weekly track of her weight while she’s off feed I’m gonna keep an eye on her nose and the dry patch to see how it progresses if at all.
You should take pics to document if anything gets worse. Like maybe take a pic for 2 weeks straight and compare the first and last pic?
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I would do that but the worry is handling to much when she’s off feed. Been trying to keep contact down to a minimum in the hopes she eats again. But can do a quick Pic I suppose if I can get something easy during weighs.
Do you feed live or pre-killed prey? I know you said you may see some swelling.
We got a mojave that had been bitten in the mouth by live prey. His previous owner wasn’t doing much at all for it. The bite was on his bottom jaw but he would rub his face and nose on anything her could. My guess is discomfort and/or stress caused him to do this. His rubbing then caused rubs on his nose. Once we started treating the bite he quit rubbing and is almost back to 100%.
Just a thought, I hope you can find what is up with her!
One month is not abnormal for a ball to go without eating. I had a Killerbee yellow belly that literally went 8 months off feed then one day started eating again and never missed another meal. Offer food every couple of weeks and my guess is she will pick back up when she is ready. As far as the bump and swelling cant really speak to it as the snake is not in my care to observe. Could be from any number of things. Have you looked inside her mouth to see if there is any kind of infection or swelling? If it doesnt seem to get better a trip to the vet may be in order.