Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just got two rough greens two weeks ago, and one of them had some weird "blemishes" on him that got worse over time...
they looked like clumps of dried scales, protruding somewhat, with a reddish-brown colouring. i definitely didn't think they looked healthy.
also, both snakes haven't eaten, despite crickets and even worms being offered.
i discovered a mite on the unhealthy looking snake last night. i had read in what seemed a fairly good book that some low-level first aid could be used to treat minor cuts or scrapes, so i put some teatree oil on him. he moved more when i did that, but didn't seem too agitated.
i put him back, and an hour and a half later, i went and checked on him... he was clearly dead. his head was hanging down limply, and he had a fairly large chunk missing from his neck.
note: the hole in his neck did not, to my memory, correspond with one of the blemishes i described.
in the tank with him were several small crickets, a few earthworms that were in a little jar with the lid removed, and the 2nd rough green who didn't stir from the hide.
while i know i probably made loads of mistakes with these my first snakes, i am really hoping that it wasn't my fault in some way. i can't work out what happened!
i am going to treat the enclosure and remaining snake for mites asap.
by the way, the surviving snake was in good health and was very active last night, when i fetched him...
does anyone have any experience with these kind of events? was there anything i could've done to save him? could it have been a cricket biting him?
any help or advice would be appreciated!!! i want the other snake to live!

>i had read in what seemed a fairly good book that some low-level >first aid could be used to treat minor cuts or scrapes, so i put >some teatree oil on him. he moved more when i did that, but didn't >seem too agitated.

I don't know about snakes, but teatree oil is toxic to cats. I wouldn't use it on a snake.

deg

thanks, i wasn't aware it was toxic for cats!
i'll avoid it in future.. but i'm fairly certain the neck wound was the thing that killed him. the thing is determining what caused that, and i think it's the cricket i saw crawling near him at the time. but it's still fairly strange.
someone else suggested to me that it might be an internal parasite as well.

Next time, be advised that ONE of the many reasons that 2 snakes should not be kept together is that if one gets sick, the other has a high liklihood of getting sick also. Are these wild-caught snakes? Did you get them from a pet store? Sounds like you got off to a bad start either way.

If your remaining snake does not make it (and I hope he does fine, of course), try something simpler next time like a corn snake or one of the other North American Ratsnakes. Buy from a reputable breeder, captive bred, and make sure that all your equipment, tanks, etc have been sterilized. Good luck. Duffy

i got them from a pet store where they were kept together. from everything i've read, barring illness, they like the company of other greens. so, i just continued that... but you're right, the deceased one had mites, so i just steralised and de-mited the whole enclosure and snake yesterday. he seems to be doing fine, though i'm still not sure he's eating! makes me wonder if i should get him a pinky in case he's a Brazilian green racer (disturbing how alike rough greens and green racers are!). well i'm pretty sure that's not the case, but i'm going to do some checking online to be sure.
i'm not sure if they were captive bread or not. it's one of the questions i should've asked. but yeah i know better now.
i think i'll eventually get another snake, but i'm going to see if i can keep this one alive first! guess that's partially dependent on how many psychotic crickets i have in the box...