# Corn snake discolouration on head :s



## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Hi, i recently got a new young Amel corn snake at the end of December, and after getting her home i noticed she has a sort of greyish patternless patch on the top of her head, but at the time i didnt think anything of it, i thought thats maybe just how they are, but looking at other corn snakes i havent seen anything like it, they all just have the perfect pattern on their heads. Ive read that it can be caused by the snake bashing her head against the enclosure trying to get out, but i havent seen her doing this in my enclosure, and her head was already like that when i bought her from the pet store. I'm just wondering if its anything to worry about, and if it will ever go back to normal? Also if it was caused by them trying to get out of the enclosure, wouldnt the discolouration be on the nose rather than the top of the head?


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## Herpster (Oct 24, 2006)

Normally the nose is where they would get scaring so I doubt it is because of it trying to get out. Some scales can have a lack of pigment, I had a royal that had 5 scales on her head that stood out. It never changed and never bothered her :2thumb: a picture will help though if you want your mind put to rest.


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Yeah i thought that using the top of the head to try and get out would be a bit strange, but it was on the internet so it must be true 
Like i said, its been there since i bought her and it doesnt seem to be bothering her so i never thought of it to be an issue, but i am a newbie after all so thought it's best to check. I do have some photo's but i dont know how to post them on to the forum, ive found the thing that you click to add an image but then it asks for the URL of the image and that was enough to send my brain into meltdown haha, computors definitely arent one of my strong points! Thanks for the reply by the way, appreciate it


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Ive managed to enter a URL so hopefully this image has worked, you may need to zoom in to see it properly, on the photo it appears to be a purply colour on the top of the head because of my viv light but normally it looks like a silver/grey colour and its really shiny when the sun shines on it


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)




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## SilverWings (Sep 26, 2013)

A couple of my amel babies got marks like this as they grew, if memory serves it was around 4-8 months old. Eventually they faded away to orange again. It doesnt look like a wound, so I wouldn't be concerned, they can change colour quite drastically as they get older.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

The problem with things like this is, it could be anything really, without knowing the full history of the snake, it "might be normal" it might just be an old scar wound, off something. 

Either way I don' think you have very much to worry about from it, but it might be worth running through your enclosure, or better (throwing a photo up) just in-case something else might be able to be picked up on, and give details of your heat sources, temperatures, any decoration, etc, is there a humid hide available for the snake at all? : victory:


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## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

I've seen a few corns in the past with something like this. Didn't appear to affect them at all. Could be one of many things that cause the discolouration as mentioned above.


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

as above, doesn't look like anything to worry about tbh...if you find the area changes shape/color/texture more, or shed becomes and issue in that area, then its worth getting checked by a specialist reptile vet

to be it just looks like a bit of extra color tho, even a bit of iridescence...rather than anything to be concerned about


info on your setup would be very useful to double check...

enclosure type
heater type
thermostat type and probe position
thermometer type and probe/position
substrate type
has access to 3 hides? one warm, cool and humid?


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Wow, thanks for all the help, everyone! I'll try to answer you all but i cant go and re-read all the messages while im typing :/ 
Firstly thanks again, i feel much better about it now  and yeah personally i think it looks quite cool when the sun shines on it, but i was worried that people were gonna see her and think i've been beating her up lol. 
Yes i have read that they can change colour and stuff with age but didnt know wether the scar thing would change as its not really part of the colour or pattern. I bought her at the end of December and was told that she was about 6 months old at the time, but other members of this forum have judged by the size of her that she's probably more like a year old (she's around 2ft) but i have been told that you cant really judge age by size as two snakes can be born at the same time and one can be twice the size of the other after a year depending on who started feeding first etc. she's in a two foot wooden viv with glass sliding doors, about an inch and a half of aspen substrate which is a little thinner over the heatmat, the warm hide is over the heat mat and it traps both the microclimate thermostat probe and the thermometer probe on top of the substrate inside the hide. She also has a cool hide, another hide thats half and half over the heat mat, and some shrubbery across the back which covers the warm and some of the cool end. She has a branch to climb, and a water dish big enough for her to fit in (although ive never seen her do it) that gets changed at least every three days but usually every day. The cool end fluctuates between 20 and 24 degrees celcius (depending on wether my mum has the heating on) and the thermostat kicks in when the warm end drops to 30 degrees and goes off when it gets to 35. She has only shed once since i got her and it was a perfect shed, all in one piece, eyes and everything. I dont use a humid hide as the humidity is fairly high anyway, its usually just under 60% and i always open the window and freeze to death myself if it gets any higher. Ive been told that 60% is towards the higher end for a corn but not worryingly high? I intend to buy a dehumidifier to use in my bag of substrate to try and dry it out as much as possible before i use it to see if i can bring it down a bit that way. I think ive just about covered everything here but feel free to ask me anything else you need to know. I will take some photo's of the enclosure but i need to put them on facebook first so the photo's will have a URL to use for this forum, im no good with computors so thats the only way i can figure out how to do it lol


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

could you edit that into paragraphs please...its making my head hurt trying to read it lol :whistling2:


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Lol yeah ok 2 mins


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Wow, thanks for all the help, everyone! I'll try to answer you all but i cant go and re-read all the messages while im typing :/ 

Firstly thanks again, i feel much better about it now and yeah personally i think it looks quite cool when the sun shines on it, but i was worried that people were gonna see her and think i've been beating her up lol. 
Yes i have read that they can change colour and stuff with age but didnt know wether the scar thing would change as its not really part of the colour or pattern.

I bought her at the end of December and was told that she was about 6 months old at the time, but other members of this forum have judged by the size of her that she's probably more like a year old (she's around 2ft) but i have been told that you cant really judge age by size as two snakes can be born at the same time and one can be twice the size of the other after a year depending on who started feeding first etc.

she's in a two foot wooden viv with glass sliding doors, about an inch and a half of aspen substrate which is a little thinner over the heatmat, the warm hide is over the heat mat and it traps both the microclimate thermostat probe and the thermometer probe on top of the substrate inside the hide. She also has a cool hide, another hide thats half and half over the heat mat, and some shrubbery across the back which covers the warm and some of the cool end. She has a branch to climb, and a water dish big enough for her to fit in (although ive never seen her do it) that gets changed at least every three days but usually every day. The cool end fluctuates between 20 and 24 degrees celcius (depending on wether my mum has the heating on) and the thermostat kicks in when the warm end drops to 30 degrees and goes off when it gets to 35.

She has only shed once since i got her and it was a perfect shed, all in one piece, eyes and everything. I dont use a humid hide as the humidity is fairly high anyway, its usually just under 60% and i always open the window and freeze to death myself if it gets any higher. Ive been told that 60% is towards the higher end for a corn but not worryingly high? I intend to buy a dehumidifier to use in my bag of substrate to try and dry it out as much as possible before i use it to see if i can bring it down a bit that way.

I think ive just about covered everything here but feel free to ask me anything else you need to know. I will take some photo's of the enclosure but i need to put them on facebook first so the photo's will have a URL to use for this forum, im no good with computors so thats the only way i can figure out how to do it lol


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Ive added some photo's of the enclosure to the album on my profile if you want to go and have a look at them that way? I can upload them to this thread but they all seem to have the same URL so i dont understand how it will work? Also im sorry about the photos, i probably should have got dressed before taking pictures through the glass doors lol


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

SerpentSid said:


> Wow, thanks for all the help, everyone! I'll try to answer you all but i cant go and re-read all the messages while im typing :/
> 
> Firstly thanks again, i feel much better about it now and yeah personally i think it looks quite cool when the sun shines on it, but i was worried that people were gonna see her and think i've been beating her up lol.
> Yes i have read that they can change colour and stuff with age but didnt know wether the scar thing would change as its not really part of the colour or pattern.
> ...


all sounds fine, the humidity level isn't an issue at all as long as the enclosure is well ventilated (2 big vents at the back and the gap between glass should be enough)

corns come from a wide range of temperate zones, right upto 60% humidity, so that in itself isn't an issue, just be sure to keep the ventilation high - if she does develop an RI (unlikely), then you may want to consider adding more ventilation, or even a mesh top

opening your window and cooling the room will actually increase the relative humidity inside the viv...its important of course to give a room fresh air once a day, but in terms of humidity it wont really drop it off in the way you are expecting...but as I said abut ventilation, that's the key


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Well glad to know my setup seems ok, and the humidity does seem to drop a bit when i open the window but i guess that depends on the weather outside. My viv only has one big vent and the gap between the doors, i could buy and install an extra vent but if you guys all agree that 60% should be ok then there's no need to bother. I always keep an eye on her breathing and nostrils etc and havent seen any signs of problems up to now so hopefully were all good  thanks again folks!


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

I offer humid hides with all my snakes, regardless of the humidity, or if they are shedding I really don't think that in giving them that one more extra option to decide where they want to be can be harmful, it is just one more option for an enriched functioned life style with a different stimuili factor that serves a practical self maintained hydration area for your snake too. 

It isn't a hard thing to provide for them  

But that is just my opinion. 
All sounds good with your snake though. 

For future reference you can upload photos up with photobucket. 
This guide should be able to help guide you. 
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/newbie-advice/112135-how-post-pictures-using-photobucket.html
: victory:


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Yeah i did make a humid hide when i saw she was in blue, but her eyes only went slightly blue, then went back to normal the same day, so i left the humid hide in for a few days and she didnt seem to use it, nor did she shed, so i thought maybe i just imagined the blue thing, so i took the humid hide out and then she shed a few days later, but being a newbie i didnt realise the process took so long or i would have left the humid hide in. She's only shed the one time up to now so havent really thought about wether to use the humid hide again, i was thinking its already humid and she has a big enough water bowl to get inside if she wants, but if you think i should then i will definitely put the humid hide back in. The last shed was in the middle of January so i expect she'll probably be due to shed again soon. Thanks for the tip with photobucket by the way, ive just downloaded the app


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

yeah I agree, I don't see why a snake shouldn't always have access to a humid hide really...in the wild, they would always have access to underground, humid spaces, to use whenever they want, regardless of shedding


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

I guess so, but i imagine it will raise the humidity of the whole viv even higher than it already is, so it's probably gonna be wise to improve the ventilation first, right?


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

SerpentSid said:


> I guess so, but i imagine it will raise the humidity of the whole viv even higher than it already is, so it's probably gonna be wise to improve the ventilation first, right?


depends on allot of factors tbh, what kind of viv is it?


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## SerpentSid (Jan 28, 2015)

Not sure of the make, just a wooden one with glass sliding doors, about 24"x15"x18" its definitely 24" but im just guessing the other figures


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