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Weird behavior or stress?
My normal female has been acting funny for a while now (1.5 months?). I thought it was stress but it's not getting any better and the husbandry is proper. Hot side 89-91 cool side 77-79, 3 hides, 50-60% humidity, etc.
Is it abnormal for a BP to apply sporadic, uneven pressure when being handled? She has always enjoyed twisting between my fingers, etc since I got her, but it's a little different now. Sometimes she will squeeze VERY hard and move her head in a jerky, almost wobbly or shaking way, and press it flat against my hand or finger and continue squeezing and pushing for no apparent reason. She usually pushes with her face head and neck. I'd say she's itching in some way almost but it's a very inconsistent behavior. The last couple of days I've found her clutching her wood log that also looked like itching and her hot hide flipped upside down. I'm not sure if she's writhing around in the hide and causing it to flip or what. It could possibly be time for an upgrade there.
I've run her through paper towels to check for mites and inspected every inch of her. She seems totally healthy otherwise. Last shed was literally 1 piece every scale. I see no gross scales or mites anywhere.
For some reason my gut tells me that I fried her brain when I first got her and didn't have my heat pad on a stat, but I'm hoping that's just me assuming the worst. Are these signs of that at all? She really is acting more neuro than sick. Nose and mouth are clean, no wheezing, etc. The only thing that would cause this kind of behavior seems like mites, but there are none?
So TL;DR my snake has jittery movements, wobbly type behavior sometimes, and when held can spontaneously vary the strength of her grip greatly. It also rubs its head and face firmly at sporadic intervals.
Is she scared, neuro, or other?
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Has she been acting that way ever since you got her? Or was there time after your UTH not being on a stat that she was normal? I've been told that if they are exposed to temps of 105+ for a while that it can cause neurological problems. My snakes squeeze harder in some places when I'm handling them, and usually its to get a good grip on me to secure themselves so they dont fall off.
Do you have a temp gun of any sort? Its a good idea to have one just to check and make sure that your stat is working and at the correct temperature.
-Joe
1.0 100% Het. Albino
1.0 Pastel
0.1 Fire
1.0 Pinstripe
1.0 Purple Albino Retic
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Does she have any Spider genetics, or was she a Spider sibling? I had a male normal that acted a little duffy like some Spiders do. Turns out he was a Spider sibling. Genetics can be funny like that.
Thomas "Slim" Whitman
Never Met A Ball Python I Didn't Like 
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Over heats can cause neuro issues. If there was a point in time where she was kept in an overheated space. Yes she could have been overheated and this is the reason she's a little wonky now. Overheats can be irreparable. I have a female that was overheated by her last owner and she has a wonky side too. Kinda wobbles and she's blind in one eye so she has a head tilt.
Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com
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Re: Weird behavior or stress?
 Originally Posted by Homegrownscales
Over heats can cause neuro issues. If there was a point in time where she was kept in an overheated space. Yes she could have been overheated and this is the reason she's a little wonky now. Overheats can be irreparable.
Definitely true, but I'd expect a burn before the heat was enough to cause neurologic issues, especially since it was a UTH and not all-around heating. OP- Did she get burned when her UTH was unregulated?
I have a few BPs that just go through moods or are always quirky (with and without the spider gene). If it is neuro from overheating, there's nothing you can do. As long as she's eating well, etc., and doesn't seem overly stressed (extra jumpy, hissy, moving quickly toward hiding spaces) when handled, then I wouldn't be too concerned after double-checking husbandry. You could even treat her tub with PAM on the off chance that you just haven't found the mites that are bugging her yet.
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I use an infrared gun and a probe-style thermometer and do cross check them. She was never burned, however a part of me has suspected blindness to explain some of the things I've observed. Even blind, their pits would still work? How do I test her for blindness? She has somewhat acted this way since I got her but I assumed stress initially. When I go to pick her up, she does move quickly and kind of desperately sometimes to escape to cover. This is why I assumed stress.
The issues with very irregular squeezing, rapid head movements, and neck and head pressure/rubbing are the things that are bugging me out. Sometimes she'll rapidly whip her neck around a finger, apply a large amount of pressure, and then slowly continue squeezing while working the grip down the length of her body at some awkward angle, like gripping the tip of my finger over the end of it rather than wrapped around it. These are probably stress too? How can I calm her down? I handle her for only a short time 2 times a week or so and the husbandry in the setup is spot on. Are some snakes just wildly nervous individuals? Can twitchy or jerky movements be a side-effect of stress? Even when she crawls along and seems calm, her muscle movements are jerky, twitchy, and uneven.
All of the times I feed her by placing her in a separate tub with the f/t and putting the lid on and giving her complete darkness and privacy. She wont take it any other way.
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