traces of blood in enclosure

[TheAnalogue]

so my female normal with is about 6 months old had at least what looked like a good shed (all in one piece including eye caps) on 09/02/2011. ever since then she has been rubbing both sides of her face on everything in her enclosure. I have noticed small traces of blood on the paper towels that I use as a substrate at least 5 times and I am starting to get worried. During the shed I had the humidity between 70% - 80% but now that she is out of shed I returned her to her normal humidity of 40%-50%. can anyone give me some insight on what is going on?

thanks

[dr del]

Hi,

You often get a bit of blood from their vent when they shed but it stops quickly so you shouldn't have seen it more than once.

Are you certain the shed was complete on the head? I ask as the rubbing could be her trying to remove a stuck piece or it could be in response to something irritating her on the outside or inside of her mouth and lips.

Is she leaving any traces of saliva or anything on the cage furniture when she rubs her head?

Have you checked inside her mouth to rule out mouthrot and RI?

Could she be cutting herself on anything sharp inside the enclosure to cause the blood?

Stressed snakes will occasionally rub their noses raw trying to escape so triple check all your husbandry as well.


dr del

[TheAnalogue]

I checked out her head and I could't find any stuck of shed, but I could have missed something really small. she isn't leaving any saliva or mucus around the cage and does't seem to be presenting any symptoms of RI. But I have never seen a snake with RI in person so maybe I'm missing something. the only thing that she has done recently was elevate her head more than usual but that was only one night and she hasn't done it since. I can't hear any noises when she breaths, and otherwise seems to be acting normal. I'm not sure how to check inside her mouth so I haven't checked that, and there is not anything sharp in her enclosure. I'm more than willing to take her to the vet if anyone thinks that I should. As a college student I don't want to wast money on it if this really isn't anything to worry about, thats why I'm asking here first.

thanks for the reply dr del