Reptile & Amphibian Forums

photo not great but you can see how there is some puffyness under his neck. is this normal. i feel around at it and it is soft like he just extends his head/neck in certain ways .. if that makes sence.

he is around 31/2 to 4 foot. ghost corn. and like 4 years old. i house him in a 40 gallon breeder size tank. with UTH. he has plenty of space to get away from the UTH.

i'm wondering if this is why he won't eat anything other then hoppers. he is very capable of eating jumbo mice. (f/t). he's only eatien 2 hoppers in the past 6 months. he seems fine otherwise. drinking and shedding on schedule.

any ideas if this is normal? i have another amel corn about the same size and doesnt' seem to have this gong on. but i'll have to check him/her out alos. i believe this is a male.

there does not appear to be any discharge from his nose/mouth to make me think of URI. he's active when i have him out. i had him out last night and he was chilly to the touch but warmed up as he moved around my hands, etc. thanks anyone for opinions.

There are two things I have seen cause that. Sometimes my corns show that puffing when they are nearing shed, the swelling will go down after they shed. In other cases, I have seen it in an animal that had hook worms in her throat. It is a little worrysome that he has only had two hoppers in six months. It is normal for males to go off of feed during breeding season, however six months is a little excessive.
If he doesn't shed soon, I'd take him to the vet or at the very least try and get him to eat something so you can take in a fecal sample.
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Carol Huddleston
www.lowbellyreptiles.com

There appears to be some swelling. I would not think it is from a URI but more likely to be mouth rot or an infection from a mouth wound. Have you checked his mouth and throat? A small piece of wood shavings may have caused an injury. When you check the mouth don't forget to check the upper area, especially right behind the nostrils.

My corn/rat snake sometimes does the same thing. I say sometimes, because the 'swelling' seems to come and go, sometimes over the course of a few minutes. I have noticed it for the last 4 years and I haven't seen any other indications that something is wrong, so I quit worrying about it.

jorj

he has shed. photo was taken after he shed. he is on newpaper so he has not eating shaving or anything like that. i have to look into his mouth and see if anything is there. i am concerned hes only eaten 2 times in 6 months but i did hear they can go long time without eating. but this seems to long now.

If he has shed than I would take him to the vet. Six months is a little long to be refusing food, coupled with his throat, I would suspect he is in need of help. One other thing I thought of after the last reply was that I have seen one case where a corn's salivary glads were plugged, causing swelling. However, I would lean towards a worm issue.
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Carol Huddleston
www.lowbellyreptiles.com

he's eaten f/t every since i've had him. bought him from kathy love couple years ago as a baby. i am thinking vet now. i will have to see how much $ that will cost me. that is interesting about saliva glands. i will have to look in my snake book and on line about illness in snakes. i've always read they can go long time without eating but now i think its time for action. thanks again.

The corn that I had with hook worms was also feeding on f/t. I have no idea where she got them. She didn't get sick until she double clutched a huge batch of eggs, so maybe she had them for a very long time and once her immune system was comprimised, the worms took over. Poor thing got pretty sick but is fully recovered now.
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Carol Huddleston
www.lowbellyreptiles.com

Freezing keeps food fresh (for a while). but it may not kill all eggs, spores, cysts, etc. So, yes, may be possible to get worms from frozen thawed. I know I wouldn't eat uncooked frozen/thawed pork.

To me, that does not look like pre-shed swelling. It does look like a problem, perhaps worms, an infection, a tumor, or something else. The swelling coupled with the not-eating is a big problem!

Get that snake to a vet PRONTO!

Best,

John D
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"