Kingsnake Biting Himself: Bad Cut on Tail

[mopuim]

My kingsnake has had a problem with attacking himself, which usually happens between the time of passing a bowel movement and when he eats. His grace period is generally after he eats or if he is shedding.

What he will do is attack his tail and not let go, and it is not easy to get him to detach. I generally have to get him off with alcohol. When he does this, he shouldn’t be hungry or ready to eat. I also do not think this is a heat problem because besides the biting, he doesn’t show signs of overheating or trying to escape any source of heat.

He usually bites his tail or around his cloaca. This is what his tail looks like before today, which looks worse in person:



Today, he had attacked himself twice, and the second time he bit a large gash in his tail with a bit of blood. I am afraid that a cut like this won't heal on its own:


I am not sure what to do at this point, for it happens frequently. This cut is the worst he has had so far. I am afraid that he is in pain and I am just letting him continue on this way. In the past, he has nearly strangled himself to death after attacking himself to a point where his neck turned reddish purple. Any advice is welcome and thank you for taking the time to read this post.

[Bogertophis]

If that was my snake, I'd get him seen by an experienced "herp" vet- & best if you can take a fresh stool sample too. My interpretation is he's in some sort of pain (I don't mean from his bites, I mean that's his response to where he's hurting- I've seen this behavior before in a snake), & in the meantime, get some Vetericyn ointment (for snakes/reptiles) it's for topical use on his injuries & will help him heal without infection. This must be awfully hard for you to watch him doing this- it would be for me- I hope you can get him some help.

[nikkubus]

I would get him to a vet that has experience with snakes.

I would also try to address what is causing him to do this in the first place. I have limited experience with kingsnakes, so hopefully some others can chime in, but I know they are more likely to do this than other species. I would make sure husbandry is on point and that his enclosure is designed to be as stress free as possible.

His scales look like more is wrong than just bite marks. I'm not sure if that is because he had been swallowing his tail long enough for acid to start eating at his scales or if there is a fungal problem going on. If he has an infection, it could be what's causing him to want to bite.

Giving us an idea of how you keep his enclosure, maybe even some pics, and husbandry info would probably help a lot when someone who deals with kings more sees the thread.

[mopuim]

I've brought him to the vet for these reasons along with a bacterial infection that he had in the past, and they believed it had been because of a source of pain, but he no longer has the infection and still does this. The infection took a while to go away and kept reappearing, but I don't see many signs of it anymore except that his stool isn't perfect. The vet I go to is an exotic pet vet that specializes in reptiles, and even they haven't had much experience with this type of issue.

I think his scales are shaped weird because he bites himself a lot. He just shed recently and looked a lot better (still had scars), but now I am wondering if there was some kind of scale rot going on because I didn't know what that really looked like til now, and I thought they were just his wounds healing into scabs. When he bites himself, I wash him off and let him soak in some water with a little bit of antibacterial soap. Also, he's only tried to swallow his tail as if he were eating it a few times, and he usually bites it from the side.

I was thinking there was a problem with his enclosure. He lives in a 40 gallon, which maybe is too small? He likes to roam a lot after he passes a bowel movement and acts like he is in hunting mode way earlier than he should be. He also does a lot of constriction around my hands, bites often (only bit once before he got ill), and can be very quick and over-alert. I thought that maybe he was very stressed, so I got some new hides and plants for concealment.

I have a photo of his enclosure:


The left side is the warm and the right side is the cool. (When he bites himself, he usually does it around a plant or something, which he strangles the plant while hes biting himself. He does do this around a little tree hide that's supposed to be on the right, but I had to take it out because he hurts himself worse on it. He does like to sleep in the empty rock water bowl though, but I don't know if that would count as a hide.)

He has a heat lamp that is on during the day and a heat mat with a thermostat that is on at all times. I keep the thermostat a little higher because he has a thick layer of substrate and he doesn't usually burrow on or near it.

[bcr229]

I would call the vet and let them know that the behavior has started again. The infection may be back.

Also I'd suggest white vinegar over alcohol to encourage him to release, as it's not a poison if the snake happens to ingest some. You could also try rubbing some white vinegar around that area as the smell will discourage him from biting, if this happens to be an overly-active food response in your snake rather than a physical problem.

[Bogertophis]

...discourage him from biting, if this happens to be an overly-active food response in your snake rather than a physical problem.

I was wondering this too ^ ^ ^. Some king snakes have crazy food responses. But also remember that their appetite is driven by their metabolism which is driven by the warmth they experience- so is perhaps his enclosure being kept too warm & without enough of the "cool" side?

Another thing that impacts their appetite is if they're sharing meals with internal parasites (which can also cause pain, btw) so have you had his stool checked? I would...something's clearly wrong.

[EL-Ziggy]

My kingsnake had a crazy food response and would bite himself too sometimes but it was only at feeding time. How much/ow often are you feeding your snake and what are your temps like?

[mopuim]

I used to feed him every 7-10 days when he was acting normal and never had this response. Now he passes stool 2 days after eating and acts like he wants to eat again. I try to wait at least 7 days before I feed him again and he will eat a pup rat. The thing is also that he doesn't just nip himself and let go. He bites and constricts his body around himself and it takes a bit to get him off.

He has a 50w bulb on during the day and his heat mat is at 95 which might be high but I keep it at that because he has a thick layer of aspen bedding and doesn't burrow near it (The surface temp of the bedding is not 95 though). I have tried adjusting the temps but haven't seen much of a difference.

(Also, I had taken him to the vet initially a little less than a year ago and his stool sample showed no signs of parasites.)

[Bogertophis]

I used to feed him every 7-10 days when he was acting normal and never had this response. Now he passes stool 2 days after eating and acts like he wants to eat again. I try to wait at least 7 days before I feed him again and he will eat a pup rat. The thing is also that he doesn't just nip himself and let go. He bites and constricts his body around himself and it takes a bit to get him off.

He has a 50w bulb on during the day and his heat mat is at 95 which might be high but I keep it at that because he has a thick layer of aspen bedding and doesn't burrow near it (The surface temp of the bedding is not 95 though). I have tried adjusting the temps but haven't seen much of a difference.

(Also, I had taken him to the vet initially a little less than a year ago and his stool sample showed no signs of parasites.)

I would lower his temperatures- mid-to upper 80's at most- & don't use such thick substrate so you can correctly assess the temps he's exposed to. 50 W bulbs generate a lot of heat too- what's the temps inside his cage? He needs about 75* to 85*, & if he loves to burrow, give him a deep box full of aspen on the cool, unheated side to "play" in. What ARE the surface temperatures?

FYI, passing stool 'too quickly' can mean parasites are "helping" the digestion along- might want to get his stool checked again- 2 days isn't that fast considering he seems to be over-heated, but still- has he ever eaten live since his stool was last checked? (if not, I suspect it's mostly that he's kept too hot)

Adult kings should typically eat about every 10 days, but if their metabolism is in high gear from being too warm, all bets are off. I rarely used overhead heat/lights with the kings I kept- only in winter to raise the warmth some. They do well with UTH.

[bcr229]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if his metabolism is in overdrive due to the heat. Unless your house ambient is very cold - like under 70*F - I'd ditch the lamp and just use the heat mat set to the upper 80's as measured on the enclosure floor. King snakes will burrow and the aspen will act as an insulator to hold the heat under it.