Odd behviour...

Hey Guys,

First off let me start by saying that I do not have a lot of experience with ASF hoppers, and that I have never bred ASF's so this may be a completely normal behavior, I just wanted to check with some experienced members of this forum.

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I picked up some ASF's the other day as I still have a couple of Ball Pythons that wont switch over from Natals to Norways. Anywho, The guy at the feeder store was low on stock with his ASF and only had two adult, and 1 hopper. I took them since I have started piggy backing the ASF with F/T Norway.

When I got them home the Hopper appeared to be dead.. I picked it up and it was laying on its side stiff as a board. I poked it and its arms wiggled a little bit. I put it in a critter keeper over night to see if it would recover as I can't stand the thought of throwing a live animal in the garbage.

I woke up in the morning to find it running around its kritter keeper in circles. It falls over periodically, gets back up, runs back and forth a few times and runs in circles again. He's been doing this for 12 hours or so...

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Like I said, I have no experience with hopper behavior and don't know if I should cull it and freeze it.. or if I should let it be until next weeks feeding.

Thanks Guys,

Chris.

Haha, sorry I dont have an answer for you but that is really weird behavior. Maybe it had a stroke or a seizure or something?

I've never seen any of my hoppers act like that. Mine are all really active and will bolt across the tanks to avoid being picked up. Sorry I can't be of more help. Maybe Rhasputin will chime in with some experience. Doesn't sound normal to me...

thanks guys,

I didn't think it was normal LOL, he seems okay other than that. hmmm lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by decensored

thanks guys,

I didn't think it was normal LOL, he seems okay other than that. hmmm lol

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Do all four of his legs move? i have no experience and Rhasputin would be your best bet IMO, but maybe they broke a leg? or maybe they came out of socket? I had a rabbit that did this and it turned out both of his left legs were broken.

Not much help, but eh, still adds a little more info

It sounds like it probably had some kind of neurological problem, maybe a stroke or a seizure. I would feed him off, because you're not going to want to breed from him.

Something else it could be, is malnutrition. Was the animal thin looking, with a bony tail and a 'big' looking head? This would point to malnutrition as a culprit.

Also check the skull for deformities. If the forehead looks very bulbous, it could have a deformity that causes physical manifestations.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

It sounds like it probably had some kind of neurological problem, maybe a stroke or a seizure. I would feed him off, because you're not going to want to breed from him.

Something else it could be, is malnutrition. Was the animal thin looking, with a bony tail and a 'big' looking head? This would point to malnutrition as a culprit.

Also check the skull for deformities. If the forehead looks very bulbous, it could have a deformity that causes physical manifestations.

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thanks i'll go check those.

cheers.

Sometimes this just happens. Feed it off and move on.

This happens fairly often. Usually the eventual result is a dead rat.

Mike is also correct. The result should be, or will be, a dead rat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

Mike is also correct. The result should be, or will be, a dead rat.

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thanks guys, I'm feeding him off this week. he's still alive although he's stopped running in circles. i'm not too worried - they are just feed (no plans for breeding asf) i was just curious. thanks for all the responses!