Ogryn wrote:Hi, Dakka. Now, I was upstairs in my room, painting some of my Death Guard. My mom comes in, to feed my snake, Titus. After putting the worm in, he gobbles it up. He then starts knocking his nose against the glass cage, and staring at her angrily. He then opens his mouth to my mom, which I thought was a sort of off thing. Does anyone here know what is happening?

So the Baron had many problems with him. One of which is a very common problem, especially in kingsnakes or other types of snakes that are not very content to sit around and be still. Kingsnakes are naturally more curious and active than other snakes. Often this leads to them bumping their noses continually against the glass or the roof of their tank. They will never stop pushing and trying to shove their face through the glass.

This causes rostral damage. Many times this may not become too severe. However, if left unchecked, the snake may start causing its nose to bleed, and over time may slowly deform his face--causing more complications. Obviously there are some extreme cases, but it is always good to stop a snake from nose bumping/rubbing against the glass.

Keep in mind I'm not talking about occasional nose bumping. I'm talking about a snake that just will do almost NOTHING else other than slam and press their face into the glass.

Unfortunately, the habit is impossible to stop. The only thing that can be done is to distract the snake. How do you distract a snake? The answer is: more enrichment.

I removed my snake and cleaned his cage out so that I could begin decorating from the beginning. I bought some more hides from the store. I also went outside and collected rocks, sticks, and some logs. !Make sure anything you plan to put into your reptile's cage that is not specifically made for reptiles is sterilized! I sterilized the branches I brought in from outside and then washed them.

I put all of the branches in so that the environment in his tank was very busy. I got him a nice big basking bowl and filled it up with water. Put in a lot of substrate--lots more than you usually do--even if your snake is not typically a burrower.

Also add maybe a cardboard ridge along the inside of the tank that is about four inches tall. This will help keep your snake from trying to push out of the glass. They'll see that there is something obstructing them there and not try to push against it.

Now add the snake back in. The Baron stopped nose-rubbing/bumping a LOT. His nose which was pink and even started to break and bleed in some places healed up pretty well. Why does this work?

Snakes that nose-bump are just special snakes that are more curious and need more stimulation than the average snake. They need more things to do and to go check out and explore. They are antsy because they are bored. Adding a lot of decor and branches makes the snake feel safer and more content to be inside his own cage. He has lots of things to slither through and to smell and look at.

Your snake will eventually get bored with the setup though and start nose-bumping again. For the Baron it took about two months before he went back to rubbing his face. Now I just have to clean his tank again and rearrange things--maybe add new branches. That should keep him happy for another two months.

Nose-bumping will never be cured, but the snake can certainly find better things to do. It's just the personality of the snake and it won't go away. Keep him interested in other things and distracted by what is IN his tank as opposed to what is OUTSIDE his tank.

Anyway, this worked for the Baron really well. If anybody else has other suggestions, comments, or concerns, feel free to add more. If anybody else has other ideas for enrichment, I would love to try them out and see how the Baron likes them.