Really worried about my snake, please help?

[marenkae]

Hi. I have a ball python, I've had him for two years. I just moved across the country and drove with him from the south to the north. I feel like maybe the car ride and huge temperature change might have stressed him out and caused him to act erratically? Otherwise I don't know what could have caused this.

But basically after I moved in, I set up his tank and he moved into a spot right under his heat lamp and stayed there for a full day without moving. Then yesterday he randomly started slithering around his tank faster than I've ever seen him move before. He's usually pretty slow and calm. He likes to try to explore and escape but it's never been so frantic looking. He was moving his head around kind of wildly. He also has been scraping his head against things and soaking a bit... which is fairly normal for him about to go into shed, which is what I thought was going on. But today I looked over and noticed him scraping his face repeatedly against a bark hide he has in his tank. He kept scraping his face against the bark in the same spot and I noticed that it looks red and sore there... there's a small spot at the base of his mouth kind of on his cheek on the left side of his head. I've never seen this happen before? And he kept scraping the same spot... I have absolutely no idea why. I took the bark out of his cage so he wouldn't have anything rough to keep irritating the spot.

At first I thought his moving around so much was because he was hungry (he's a bit overdue to be fed because of the move) but now I'm concerned something else is wrong because of the sore on his face. Should I still feed him? I'm worried about him being hungry but I don't want to give him a mouse if he's sick or hurting.

Please help, I'm at a loss and really worried about him.

[cheaversg]

do you have pictures

[NH93]

Don't worry about the feeding for right now. They can go a LONG time without - as in months. And some do go off feed on their own without any negative effects.

Right now I'd focus on what the sore is. Unfortunately I have no idea what it could be. Try doing some digging, Googling, etc. on snake infections or sores, that sort of thing. Hopefully someone with more experience will jump in here!

Otherwise I'd advise a vet trip, to air on the safe side. But to an *experienced* snake and reptile vet! Not just any ole' vet.

Best of luck, and I hope things improve.

[dr del]

Pics would help.

Triple check the temps in the enclosure. Especially be aware of things like sunlight through a window hitting the tank in its new location.

They can start the whole settling in process simply by moving their tank from one place to another in the same room.

Also check for mites and see if he is in shed.

But mainly pics of the injury so we can see how worried you should be.

[Slim]

Mites was the first thing that came to mind when I read this, but if the temp during the move got too hot for an extended period, it could be a neurological issue. It's not unheard of for an overheated BP to develop problems.

[marenkae]

okay here's a photo I tried to take of the sore spot, sorry it's not the best quality

[BallPythonGuy007]

Hmm interesting. I've never sen this before. I would really stress on getting this checked out. As NH93 said, do some googling. I'm think vet though

[marenkae]

Hmm interesting. I've never sen this before. I would really stress on getting this checked out. As NH93 said, do some googling. I'm think vet though

Yep I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. And even though I took the bark out of his cage, he still periodically will rub that spot against the walls and floor of the tank. I'm hoping they won't hurt him any more because all the surfaces are smooth. I just don't know what else to do for him and I'm really anxious about this. Thanks everyone for trying to help out.