help!!! something on his mouth

i just brought him home last friday. yesterday was the first time i took him out and it was for 5 minutes. today i took him out and noticed he kept opening his mouth, so i looked and this is what i saw! i'm so scared and i feel awful for not knowing what happened! when i took him out yesterday i noticed his nose was dark like that but i thought he might have been pushing his substrate around (coconut fiber). i know i would have noticed him opening his mouth yesterday, so this has to be new. i was also hearing tiny bubble-popping sounds sometimes when he was sniffing/breathing, not all the time, but i've never had a snake so i don't know what is normal breathing for them and what isn't. he also has teeny-tiny dots on his scales down his body (the pictures are the only spots i saw) as well as a teeeeeeny-tiny dot on the roof of his mouth above the bottom where the scab-thing is. when i was handling him today he seemed okay, curious and cruising around except for his mouth. when i set him back in his tank he took the chance to explore which he hasn't done yet (at least from what i've seen), then went into his warm hide. any advice or thoughts? i need something reassuring because i feel terrible. ): i'm also supposed to feed him tonight, should i even try?

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Is it not the eco earth?

One reason I like to mix substrates is the eco earth can be dusty and get in their pits and nostrils. If you put the snake in a bath they will usually swim and blow air out of their nose which clears out the eco earth.

I mix cypress, eco, and repti bark and like it very much.

it is zoomed eco earth, but i was doing a lot of tank work (removing substrate to place repticarpet underneath, taking some substrate out) before he came home so the coconut fiber that's in there is probably pretty thin and dusty.

Right, I meant is the spots and the stuff on the snakes mouth eco earth?
Have you tried to rub/wipe it off? A damp qtip could be used to clean the snakes mouth.

no! that's why i'm worried! i tried to clean it off with the small time-frame he allowed me to grab him and it was like a scab or something. i couldn't clean it off. same with the tiny spots on his body, they were on his scales that i couldn't remove. i have no idea what happened or what i did and i'm so worried.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

no! that's why i'm worried! i tried to clean it off with the small time-frame he allowed me to grab him and it was like a scab or something. i couldn't clean it off. same with the tiny spots on his body, they were on his scales that i couldn't remove. i have no idea what happened or what i did and i'm so worried.

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i haven't tried a wet q-tip, would it be okay if i took him out again to try? i don't want to stress him out, though he seemed fine while being handled earlier.

If you are sure its a scab removing it is probable not the best thing to do. If you think it could just be dried substrate I would give it a try.

Feeding tomorrow will probably be best if you handle it to get a better idea of what it is.

just tried a q-tip and it's definitely not coming off. it's like a burn? the only thing i could think of is he maybe found the probe and tried to bite it, but it was hot? could the probe even get that hot if my temps are right? i did have a temperature spike today from a space heater that was left on. could something have gotten too hot that he touched? i feel terrible. do you think he needs to visit the vet?

If you are talking about a probe to a tstat is should NOT be inside the tank. It needs to be moved ASAP.

Do you have a heat lamp sitting on top of the cage? If so its possible it touched the screen that's hot from the bulb or che. This is just one of the many reason I suggest using lamp stands.

As for the probe being hot or being bitten, that would not happen and would not be the cause of this.

i do not have a lamp. where am i supposed to move the probe to while still knowing my temps?

Between the uth and the tank. You may also want to try and handle him over some white paper towels to see if any of those black dots fall off and if they are mites...

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

i do not have a lamp. where am i supposed to move the probe to while still knowing my temps?

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Hold on just a second. The thermometer probe can stay inside your tank, affixed to the bottom under the substrate. (Hopefully you have two sensors, one for hot and one for cold side) . The thermostat probe, needs to go on the outside where Viol8r specified.

Do you have both a thermometer and a thermostat?

i'll definitely be moving the probe out of the tank. thanks, guys.

as for the dots, they're not mites; i tried to scratch them off (gently) with my nail and they didn't move or anything. i looked him all over and those dots were the only two. i have no other animals and he was gotten from Reptiles by Mack less than a week ago, so i doubt he has mites.

do you think he needs a vet visit? or should i just monitor him until it goes away? i hope you guys don't think of me as some monster. ):

i have the thermoSTAT, which my UTH is plugged into, and that is where the probe comes from. that is what is buried under my substrate. my thermometer is a dial combo hygrometer (which i try not to rely on) and i have a digital thermo/hygrometer as well.

Sweet, glad to hear you have a thermostat! Yeah, I'd second what everyone has already said. Thermostat goes on the outside so it measures the UTH only. I don't think biting or touching the probe could be the source of your mouth problem. I'd keep and eye on it and if it gets worse, take it to a vet.

that's what i wanted to hear: i just need to watch him and monitor it; no vet just yet. thanks everyone. i've never had a reptile or a snake and i'm trying the best i can and this has scared the crap out of me!

the probe will be removed tomorrow, since i have to get another thermometer with a probe in there (i hope that's okay with y'all). i will be keeping a close eye on him, and i'll try feeding tomorrow and see how it goes.

again, THANKS everyone!

I would move the tstat probe now. As in tonight. Its a good chance that your snake could have been exploring and rubbed his face a bit raw. If that is the case your snake has a higher than average chance of moving the tstat probe and letting your uth run away and put your snake at true risk. I would just leave the tstat set how it is and leave it that way until you get another thermometer. If it were me I would invest in a IR temp gun as pretty much every thermometer I have tried has given up on life. I hardly have any thermometers in my cages now because they just keep failing. I stick to the IR gun.

I do not believe a vet visit is in order yet and would just keep a close eye on it and see if you cant catch it doing something that may have caused the scab. I would make sure that there is not any items inside the cage that could be sharp and done the damage.

Mites like to get under the scales so you would not be able to simply wipe them away. Hopefully it's just discolored scales and nothing to worry about. You should move the probe asap. He could pee on it, cool it down, in turn increasing the heat, then burn himself.

I don't know why no one else considered this or said anything, it looks like maybe a small feeder bite? Or scrag or something? Doesn't reptiles by Mack feed live?