My snakes skin

Question
Dear Andrew, I bought a lil ball python snake from craigs-list a few months back when we brought him home he had mites we got rid of them ! but I see he shed constantly.  we feed him two white mice a week sometimes he won;t eat or he will only eat one.  Then his skin has yellow orangish crust around his neck a pet shop told us to put bacitracin on lil scars I thought the mice bit him.  we always rub him down with olive oil virgin hum we absoulutly love him I would really cry and I am crying now that is how much I love him and he is the sweetes lil snake . He lets us touch his top of his head I rub under his chin I help pull of some skin around his eyes he is just a loving peaceful snake.  How can I also know if he is blind sometimes I wonder can he see?

Answer
Hi Julie,

the trouble with buying snakes online is that you can never guarantee that they will be healthy or even the snake that you pay for.

without actually seeing the snake its hard to know what the problem is. your best option is to take him to a vet that has a good knowledge of reptiles as they will be able to properly diagnose your snake. it sounds like your snake has some form of infection from a wound.

in the mean-time i would bathe him in lukewarm water every other day and ensure that his tank is spotless. i would also strongly reccomend applying some antibacterial medicine such as 'Tamodine' to the wounded area daily.

royal pythons are renowned fussy eaters and anything can cause them to fast. if your snake is eating something every so often and isnt losing weight then this isnt too big a problem.

if your snake is blind either in one or both eyes the eye(s) will be cloudy all the time. snakes dont have particularly good eyesight anyway, so to actually test whether or not a snake is blind is difficult. blind snakes can live as full and happy a life as visioned snakes, they can just be more problematic feeders.

the baths should help soften the skin a bit to help him when he sheds and the clean tank and tamodine treatment will help keep the infection at bay and will help the snake fight it off. however i would recommend taking your snake to a vet asap as they will be able to offer more powerful medicines and treatments.

i hope this helps,

Andy