Is my BP acting strange or am I over reacting?

For my first snake, I adopted a 65-70cm unsexed BP who had been found injured (in north Alabama) and treated for an abscess. She has been a good eater for me so far, eating a jumbo mouse every 10-14 days.

She appears to be a normal morph, but expresses a head tremor. Different than a spider wobble, from what I can tell from youtube videos. I often catch her shaking her head rapidly (back and forth, two or three times a second). She shakes it laterally, about 3cm. It appears to be rooted at the base of the neck.

Furthermore, she has begun eschewing the hide in her cage (in the hot side) for an elevated, fake tree branch on the cool side of the cage. As I type this, she is actually curled up 20cm+ off the ground - as if she wanted to be an emerald tree boa when she grows up!

Ambient temperature in my house has been 84 degrees during the day (it is Alabama, after all), and as low as 70 at night.

One side of her gut makes me think 'het for spider', but I know spider is dominant. Im fairly sure that I am just imagining things on that front, but I dont know what to look for regarding morphs. I have gone through NextWorldExotic's amazingly helpful guide (just what I was looking for!) but I have a neurological condition that can make abstract pattern recognition difficult.

How hot is your hot spot? How are you controlling the temps? Can you post a pic of everything?

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Originally Posted by Swingline0.0.1

How hot is your hot spot? How are you controlling the temps? Can you post a pic of everything?

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Here she is.

She went back into her hide, now.

It also occurs to me that I don't think she has pooped since I got her (though she shed once). Ive fed her 4 times so far.

Nothing is regulating the temperature, but the hot spot stays in the high 80's to mid 90's during the day. I am actually going to be making my own thermo-regulator with an arduino in the immediate future (ordering parts Friday).

Ambient humidity in my house is 55% at the moment.

It is an absolute must for the life of your snake to regulate the temps. If the temps spike, you are looking at burns and possibly neurological damage.

She really is a lovely snake, but the fact that you don't regulate temperature makes me worried that might be the cause of her tremors.

Sudden temperature spikes are very dangerous to snakes, and they can and do cause neurological damage, which it sounds like your baby has. For her sake and yours, please change that situation as soon as possible. It could very well be that an unnoticed temp spike gave her mild brain damage, which could manifest as the shake you see.

I have no way of knowing that for sure, but I've heard of that happening before so it is a possibility. If that is what happened, I don't know if she'll recover or not, perhaps someone with more knowledge of this subject can chime in.

Gale

What are you using for heat? Under Tank Heaters, lamps, or both? If you are using an unregulated UTH, then it is probably way hotter under the substrate on the glass than you realize...

She has been displaying the head tremors since the day I got her, though it would have been in the triple digits when she was found.

I often walk in on her doing it (1-5 times a week), and she will stop when she notices me. She usually is coiled like she is going to strike when this happens, even if she ate just yesterday. While the behavior is weird, I would imagine that if it was brain damage it wouldn't go away so easily.

I don't see how the temperature could be spiking. My thermostat keeps interior ambient below 84 (she stays in my room, the coolest room in the house by several degrees). I am using a Zoo Med heater which is actually attached to the side of another cage placed adjacent. There is an almost 1cm air gap between the heater and her cage.

I observed the thermometer for the first day I got her, during which my house was at its maximum expected temperature. It never reached over 95.

Temps can and will vary without a control of some kind. The question is when and how much. Where is your thermometer probed placed at in your tank?

On the pane immediately adjacent to the heating pad.

For light I use an old UVB light that has passed its usefulness as a UVB source. It is low heat and suspended above the top of the cage.

It does seem unlikely then, although if she was found -did I read that correctly- and temps were very high it is possible.

From what I understand, although Spiders are known for the "wobble" other morphs and even some normals do it. I am just not certain that is what your snake is doing.

I would say if it doesn't interfere with her eating, shedding, or otherwise living a normal life, it's nothing to worry about, though me personally I wouldn't ever breed her because of it, not that you plan to, I'm just saying.

Gale