Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering about my male grey band. He constantly (not all the time) rubs his nose against the glass in his tank. I'm thinking he just thinks he can get out. Any answers are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ross

They sometimes act like this when they have mites and/or ticks. You may want to look real close at this snake. Usually when I see this type of behavior the snake has had little white mites crawling on the snake. Check it out.

Wayne H. (www.snakeworld.com)

Thanks a lot Wayne. I'll take a look at the snake. If he doesn have mites, then I'll need some help on how to get rid of them since I'm new to this. The snake just came off 5 doses of baytril to treat a beginning respiratory infection about two weeks ago. Thanks again. I'll post another message real soon with what I find. Any other comments are welcome.

Ross

The respiratory infection could be the cause of the actions you describe. Make sure it is 100% cured of the infection to be sure.

How can I be sure that it's cured? Is there a chance that the medicine didn't work? The snake rubs against the part he can see out, but not the back where there's a black backdrop. He only does this sometimes. Any chance it's not medically related? Thanks again.

Usually if they are sick you will notice some sneezing type noises or a swollen throat along with mucus if it is bad. It's also common for them to go off feed. Look in it's mouth for mucus and take it from there.

How do I safely open his mouth? He ate yesterday, and I have not seen him sneeze or bloat his throat. Thanks for bearing with me.

You can use something like a popsicle stick to open it's mouth. But if it has eaten you probably have little to worry about.

Steve