What is Wobble?

Wobble is either a neurological or inner ear disorder common to several ball python morphs, (most famously, the spider morph).

Animals that show signs may keep their head tilted slightly to one side, may shake when moving or stalking prey, and may be discoordinated. They may also spin in circles (in severe cases). One way to test for this is to turn the snake upside-down. An animal with wobbles will take an abnormally long time to turn its head right-side up, though its muscle tone is good, and it has no problems doing so.

Wow, glad I found this thread. I just purchased a small BP collection which included a 2011 female spider, and sure enough she has "the wobble". Worried me at first, but she's eating and seems fine otherwise. I named her "Spazzie Annie", and like most of you, I find her quite endearing. I won't attempt to breed her for a while yet, but when I do I was considering pairing her with my Dinker cinny male. Any thoughts on that?


Slitherous

I think it's kinda funny how, now a days, a wobble is considered "cute" by some. back in 2008 I was spanked pretty good on fauna for selling a woma
with a wobble to someone. I was a major newbie back then, still am but not so wet behind the ears :D, and didn't realize my woma's corkscrew
type movement was such a bad thing. the videos at the time didn't show what he was doing, so I said "no" when asked.
to this day I shy away from anything with spider or woma genes in it. And let me tell you I ADORE bumble bees. gonna end up with one some day,
especially since they are now in my price range.

as for the spider bred to your cinnamon dinker, go for, cinnabees at HOT!

My bee has the wobble pretty severe, he corkscrews a lot when I hold him but he pounds food and is growing super fast. Doesn't affect him in any way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Wobble is either a neurological or inner ear disorder common to several ball python morphs, (most famously, the spider morph).

---

Donna, do you have any articles on this? I had not known that the wobble was connected to inner ear and saccule. I would love to see any articles you may have found!
Thanks
Alex

Thanks for this thread. I had heard of "wobble" but was never really sure what it was. After reading this thread and looking up some videos I now understand what it is. My bumblebee has never displayed any signs of "wobble" from what I have observed. It's interesting how some snakes with the spider gene will show it a lot and others wont at all. Thanks again :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

Donna, do you have any articles on this? I had not known that the wobble was connected to inner ear and saccule. I would love to see any articles you may have found!
Thanks
Alex

---

Do snakes have saccules, or are they an anatomical feature found only in reptiles with an external ear?

And what does the inner ear of a snake serve with regards to balance?

Answer these two questions Alex and you'll figure out whether any articles exist..........

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/21...expansion.html

Yup they have both inner ear and saccule, I would assume they are balance. I know the hear or feel, hard to place human sense on a reptile, vibrations through the ground with mandible quadrate and columela auris (column of the ear if my latin serves)

http://www.herpnation.com/hn-blog/sn...=john-c-murphy

I hope there is actually real study of wobble and what it actually is rather than a lot of guesses.

Wobble to me looks like a neuromuscular issue the muscles just are not doing what the mind wants but that is absolutely nothing more than a guess. :)

Well, I am new to this forum, but not to snake keeping, and with all the in-breeding occurring to create all these different morphs it's no wonder a few neurological symptoms pop up. I find it interesting though that the spider morph in particular is known for the disorder. I remember back in the 80's having a single P molurus from a clutch which showed similar symptoms, (otherwise healthy though), but that clutch was from normal unrelated parents, and the entire clutch looked normal. I guess as long as the snake is eating and growing there is nothing to worry about from a husbandry point of view, but what about breeding a "wobbler"? Congenital disorders are rife in pure bred canines, and certain breeds have well-known tendencies for certain diseases and ailments. Are we as reptile breeders going down the same road with all of these "designer" morphs? I remember my sister spending 10K in vet bills one year on her pure bred dogs, and I for one could ill afford such a thing with my snakes. And, with prices of designer snakes fast approaching the level of pure bred dogs, (actually exceeding it in many instances), we are rolling genetic dice. Having a snake which wobbles but is otherwise healthy is one thing, but having animals with congenital tendencies to develop more serious disorders might be on the horizon, especially for those that persist in seeking the "holy grail" of BP morphs.

S

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/21...expansion.html

Yup they have both inner ear and saccule, I would assume they are balance. I know the hear or feel, hard to place human sense on a reptile, vibrations through the ground with mandible quadrate and columela auris (column of the ear if my latin serves)

http://www.herpnation.com/hn-blog/sn...=john-c-murphy

I hope there is actually real study of wobble and what it actually is rather than a lot of guesses.

Wobble to me looks like a neuromuscular issue the muscles just are not doing what the mind wants but that is absolutely nothing more than a guess. :)

---

Question Alex:

A saccule is intricately linked to balance and equilibrium - correct?

Therefore if someone has proved that the spider genetics result in a deformation to the inner ear, it should be easy to find - correct?

Or does it sound like someone's attempt to sound scholarly to explain an unknown genetic snafu? To be clear, this idea of an inner ear abnormality has been tossed around for a few years, but like many other things, it has gained credibility just by being repeated often. I know of no studies done.......and I would hazard to say none exist.

FWIW: I have the Hartline pdf somewhere on my hard drive. It says pretty much the same thing that your link does.