Snake acting STRANGE !!!

[Joe_do]

Hi Guys,

i have a coastal carpet 22 months. She has been acting strange lately.
when she is moving, suddenly she would burst out with energy and move really fast hitting the sides of the cages and stop again as if they were involuntary mpavements... U can tell that she is not comfy as once that happens she holds the branches tight with end of her tail, even when she is crawling on the ground. The bursts are so violent it knocks of the basking stone n branches off. Also, she keeps rubbing her left side of the face every now and then. She has been through shed 1 week back and it has been a complete shed.
she has never done this before and has been doing since last few days. Although when offered food she actively takes it.
please let me know if any of you guys can help me with it.

greatly appreciated !!!

 

[Raymonde]

Also, she keeps rubbing her left side of the face every now and then.

I have never experienced anything like what you describe. The only thing I can think of (while we wait for more knowledgeable people to contribute), the rubbing of the head on the side could be because she has something stuck either in her scales or even in her mouth or throat. It is one possibility although i have no idea if that is actually what is wrong. If it is internal you probably need a vet to help, the likelihood of that being the case is decreased by the fact she is still accepting food. To my knowledge it is very odd behaviour and if no one comes up with a good explanation I would be taking her to the vet if it was my snake.

Question, what kind of substrate do you have with her? any bark or sand, or other small things?

 

[pythoninfinite]

Two things come to mind, without actually seeing the snake - could it have mites? Sometimes these can cause a snake to become very unsettled due to the irritating bites. If it's a possibility, place the animal into a plain, preferably pale coloured, pillowcase for an hour or two, and you will see small, pinhead-sized black or dark brown critters on the fabric. They leave a brown smear if you wipe them with your fingers.

The other thing is - could it actually be a boy? Males at this time of the year can be very restless - I have a male Roughie which is cruising his enclosure 24/7 at the moment - it's unsettling to see but not unusual at this time of the year. The fact that it's feeding normally doesn't preclude nastier prospects, such as viral infection, but makes it far less likely.

Jamie

 

[Joe_do]

Hi Ray,

thanks a lot for your feedback. The substrate I use is newspaper but I don't think that would be a problem

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Jamie,

i have checked the for mites under her head, also replaced the newspaper with a4 plain paper to look for mites.
do you think it can be coz she might have outgrown her hide which she was chilling inside 2 weeks back. Previously she would spend a lot of time in the hide n come n bask occasionally but now she doesn't go in there. I reckon she has outgrown the hide.
can a snake act like how I described if it is stressed of not able to get in the hide?

 

[pythoninfinite]

If it can't physically fit into the hide, it may be the problem, but snakes actually like to curl up in tight places, so as long as it can get in there, even with no room to spare, it's probably not the problem. You could however, try placing a cardboard box with an access hole in the cage to see it that settles it.

Jamie

 

[Joe_do]

Yeah, already done that...

 

[SKYWLKR]

Where abouts in your house do you have the enclosure set up? Is it near something that could be causing a vibration or tremor that startles it? Do you have a on off thermostat? If it's not mites or substrate irritation, and it's feeding well, I'd investigate whether it's being spooked or not. Like Jamie said, the hide shouldn't be an issue unless its something inside the hide perhaps? Can it see it's own reflection? Is it a fight or flight reaction?

Process of elimination...

PS. Have you checked if the eye caps were intact at the last shed? Could there be something stuck on the left eye? Just a thought anyhow.

 

[cement]

To go from a cruisy normal pace to a burst of speed, and to be gripping hard on something for no apparent reason suggest to me she is in spasmodic pain. I would take her to a vet to check her guts out. if she's banged her face against something while in one of those contractions she could have dislocated her jaw similar to like when they feed, and be rubbing it to put it back in. It would be worth the vet check I think.