Large scale near my python's neck

I just got a ball python as a pet and I noticed a very large scale-looking bump on the neck of it; about a half-inch away from its head. The python is 16 inches long and the scale bump is about the size of 6 scales put together. It looks as if I could easily break it off if I chose to do so. Is this normal?

Turns out it was some kind of tick or something. I took a pair of tweezers and pulled the damn thing out and it was still alive. Could the snake have contracted anything bad?