Now I'm worried - Help with Ball Pythons

One of my biggest fears may be coming true and I'm scared to death for my snakes. When we moved to a new apartment in August, we lost our male corn snake. We are not sure what killed him. We froze his body and I went on caring for my collection as normal. I have not added any new snakes since May of 2011 (from my sister who's collection is clean) Everyone is eating normally, has fresh water and is cleaned on a weekly basis (or more often if someone defecates).

In September I lost Ness, the normal granite baby from Clutch #1 from this season. You may or may not remember her. She was the baby that hatched out of the split egg. She was eating normally and shedding. I fed her on a Tuesday and by Thursday I found her dead in her tub. Froze her body and decided to put my collection on lock down. No snakes in, no snakes out until I could figure this out. No snakes were showing any signs of illness at this point. This month, clutch #2 was still holding out on feeding (at this point, its been a month since they hatched. And they hatched out small at 50g a piece) I decided to assist feed the two spinners as they were the smallest. I have experience with assist feeding and only just barely put the mouse pinkies in their mouths. The male spinner is doing fine and has eaten on his own since. The female spinner died a day later. Out of that clutch, the spinner male has taken two meals (one assist, one on his own) and the normal female has taken one on her own. The spider and pinstripe have not eaten yet. I went to check on them tonight and found the pinstripe acting strangely. She is being housed with her clutch mates and I have isolated her in a 10g tank. The other 3 are doing fine and do not appear to have any signs of illness.

Here is a video I took of the pinstripe. She has lost 11g since hatching in the beginning of September. As of yesterday, she did not act like this.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...014_212415.jpg

I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong with your snake. I'm sorry for your other losses too.

I would take her to reptile vet. I don't know if they can still do a necropsy on the frozen snakes, but I would look into it. It sounds like something is going through your collection. :(

For some reason I can't view the video, even if I click on the original link. Seems like something funky may be going on. Can you try to get the video uploaded to YouTube? I'm interested in seeing what you experienced with the Pin.

I can try and upload it tonight, if not then tomorrow. In a nutshell, she just seems extremely weak and has very little control over her movements. They are jerky and uncoordinated. If this is simply due to malnutrition (losing over 1/5 her body weight) then perhaps it can be reversed. She is isolated in her own 10g tank with hides, newspaper and heat. I assist fed her a large mouse pinkie and she gobbled it down immediately though she did seem to have to put a lot of effort into it. I will update this thread about her condition.

It looks very strange. She looks like she's wobbling or has something else neurological going on from the way her head wags back and forth.

I would 100% take a snake (or more than one) to a reptile vet as soon as possible. The cost of the vet may be expensive, but may also save the rest of your collection, especially since it sounds like this is spreading.

I'm no expert, but that kind of looks like a Spider Wobble to me (but on a pin). Now you're making me worry because last night I saw my pin do a little wobble for like 10 seconds and then she stopped, after that she seemed normal, tho.

Hope you figure it out :(






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Jay, I'm no expert on neuro issues, but I'm curious as to where in your racks the snakes that died were located. The reason I ask is because this all started when you moved into the new apartment, and I know most apartments are routinely treated with pesticides, so I was just wondering if there was some common denominator in regards to whether or not they were all located in the bottom of the racks, near the floor, and if your apartment had recently been treated.

Checked on her just now. She is still wobbling, but she kept the meal down and is still alive. With how bad she looked last night this is surprising.

As far as location, the corn snake's tank was on the floor, the normal female was in a top tub about 3ft off the ground. This particular clutch are in tubs in the incubator (I have not had someone to help me build my rack until this weekend. It is getting built today and all the babies in the incubator are going into the rack.)

The apartment management is trying to get our apartment sprayed but so far we haven't let them come in to do it. They claim it is non-toxic but we told them we don't trust any bug killers so they are not to spray our apartment.

Now, when she was eating last night, she ate in a similar fashion to my spider female from Clutch #1. That spider would not eat and had to be assist fed several times. She hatched out at over 60g and went down to 43g (She's eating live only on her own and gaining weight. Now up to 49g). At one point she was so weak, she acted just like this pin, so I'm wondering (and in a sick way, hoping) it is just malnutrition causing her to lose motor control. All of the other snakes appear fine and will be fed today. I don't know of any herp vets in the area that are open on weekends, but if her condition has not improved by Sunday evening, I will try and make an appointment for Monday or Tuesday.

Thank you all for your advice. I'm trying to keep myself from worrying so much but if this isn't malnutrition, then I don't know what I'll do. These snakes are my babies! Not to mention I'm watching someone's snakes right now and I've had to tell her that she can't come get her snakes yet since the snakes would be going to a house with other reptiles. I don't want to risk more lives. She's okay with that but misses her babies.

Oh and I opened the little pins mouth last night to see if I could find any mucus or anything and her mouth was clear as far as I could tell. This morning she was curled up in her hide, the meal barely making a bulge in her tummy. But to my relief she is still alive and responsive. She did wobble when I lifted her hide but once I put it back, she went in, curled up and I left her alone. I'll be checking her tonight as I want to leave her alone as much as possible with that meal. I will try feeding her again in 4 days if she improves or the vet gives me the okay.

Hi,

It really does look like the spider wobble.

As already said I would suspect either overheating, toxic exposure or possibly even parasites ( I know some cause stargazing and other motor problems ).

I would sit down and look at everything that might be causing problems in your snakeroom like airfresheners, paints, varnishes etc as well as the veet visit and temp check.

Hope you find what it is.


dr del

Good luck Jay, please keep us updated!