ODD/Scary Behavior

Ok. I am new to these forums but not new to corn snakes. I have had a few. Two weeks ago I bought a baby corn snake that is 15 inches long. He is an amel corn. We got him from a pet store out of town.

After letting him settle into his environment for about a week and after his first feed and rest, we got him out to handle. We had found mites, yikes. I have never had a snake with mites so I went to SEVERAL places in a few different local towns and 90% of them recommended Black Knight. They explained to take him out of the cage, soak him, then spray out his tank, remove old bedding, spray every object in his tank and let them sit and them rinse everything.

Then they told me to set the snake in an open place and use just one little seconds worth of spray in his general direction and let him sit.

We did all this, everything was rinsed and clean, and he was fine. A day later we went out for a few hours, came back and he was acting really wierd.

He was under his hide rock with his head sticking out and he acted like he couldn't move his head or like he was blind. I reached in to pick him up and instead of jumping or running like normal he just let me pick him up. But he stayed curled up and let his head hang limp.

Then after holding him, he wouldn't move! Then he starting pulling off some sezuire like moves. He would shake is head like he was saying 'no' really fast then freeze. We offered him some water and he just stayed still. No tongue flicking or anything, it scared me.

So we took a small dab of water and ran it down his nose and he finally flicked his tongue...IT WAS WHITE instead of his normal reddish pink...

After an hour of offering water and holding him he would move around a little, but not much, and he acted VERY dizzy or like he was blind. We re-rinsed and cleaned everything in his cage, got him fresh water, and adjusted the temps to 85 on the hot side and 75 on the cool side. (they were a little lower).

Then we put him back in for the night. He started holding his head up a little, but he wouldn't move from where we put him, like he was really weak.

When we woke up we caught him getting a big drink of water, whew. Then after checking on him again he was finally under his hide out log. (He has a log, a stump, and a rock to hide in, he loves them all)

What could have done this to him? The mites, mite killer or did I buy a sick snake?

I've seen that happen plenty of times with baby colubrids at the sanctuary. They came from the Texas seizure so I assume something weird was in their system.

I'm very glad he's doing much better. Mostly every snake that had that happen (from what I've seen) died. It was very strange, and I'm unsure of what kind of disease it could have been. Keep a close eye on him and make sure he's doing okay, it's very horrifying to watch that kind of stuff happen.

Alright, I'm afraid to tell you this but I would NOT be surprised if your snake is going to die.

Black Knight is toxic if directly used on a reptile.

BK is a roach killer that is not tested on reptiles nor it is meant to be used directly on reptiles.

The only thing I recommend for mites is PAM (Prevent-A-Mite) and you have to follow all the instructions and use it ONLY on the enclosure and NOT the snake.

Unfortunately, it may be too late for your corn snake. You could try to take it to a vet, but I don't know what they could do..

I really hope your little corn ends up being okay. I've got a friend that had a baby corn act just like that after mite treatment, unfortunately they had overdosed the mite killer and the snake eventually passed.

Baby corns seem really susceptible to over doses of chemicals. I'm really sorry.

The only thing I use directly on the reptile is betadine. You can let the snake soak in it diluted with water. Betadine will kill the mites but wont harm the snake. I have been using it for over a year for everything including steralizing wounds, as a sterile cleaner for cages and for mites and scalerot.

Ditto on Black Knight being terrible for reptiles.

If your snake makes it, and you have mite problems in the future, Provent-A-Mite (yeah the product is actually spelled "Provent", a play on spelling since it's sold by Pro-Products) is the way to go.

There's nothing much you can do for your corn except just give it clean living conditions with correct husbandry, and hope for the best.

Whenever you get a mite spray, follow the instructions not someone from a petstore. Im really sorry about your little guy, but the odds arent good.

Well, my baby corn is fine, it's been a few months and he hasn't shown any more scary behavior. BK says on the bottle it is for reptiles...it's a new form for reptiles and has instructions on how to treat mites on snakes...

Anyway, little Sunny is great. I have several other corns now and all are healthy and great! Thanks for looking out :)