Newbie With Sick Snakes - Really long but important!

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Originally Posted by Isabeau

I hope so. Maybe I'll name him Derp. Seems like a good name for such a sad little snake. Do all spiders have this problem?

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In some it's mild, in others it's so bad the snake can't survive.

My spider owner shipstarted by accident. That is a story to itself and is not relevant here. My first spider was a train wreck. He was a mess when I got him. I will never do business with that particular retailer again. He would do the spider dance for an hour at a time. He had problems striking his food. I could have sent him back but I did not. I got his conditions perfect. Symptoms started to reduce. I got him eating. Symptoms reduced more. I exercised him. Symptoms reduced more. He went from being my biggest pain in the butt eater to my resident pig. He still has minor symptoms. A weird head tilt here and there. The only time he does the full on spider dance is when he is wanting to be fed. I now have three spiders and will be breeding some next season. They make really good barometers of your husbandry. You know when something is wrong at least in the snake's tiny mind.

I have never ever heard a first hand account of a spider having to be put down because of spider symptoms. I know I have asked that very question to the breeders on this board. No one has ever put one down or heard a first hand account of it happening.

As a newbie, I guess I don't understand the reason to keep breeding spiders if they end up with neurological problems, no matter how minute. No offense to anyone. I learned with breeding fish, rabbits, and rats that some genes just weren't wise to pass. Like hairless rabbits. They look cool (if you're into hairless animals like I am), but they live short and miserable lives usual. Hairless guinea pigs, on the other hand, only suffer from scratches, dry skin, and getting cold more easily. All very easy to control. Neurological stuff is scary territory.

As for feeding my group, I was thinking about starting with live pinkie mice just to see if they want to eat. I'd rather have to deal with live pinkies than try to explain to hide frozen animals in the freezer. I'm going to have to pick up a little stand alone fridge/freezer (dorm size) when I can.

I dont think pinkie mice are good to start those guys- they're much too big for them. I think maybe adult mice would be a better place to start.

Like pastelballs mentioned pinky mice are to small. For derp i'm thinking rat pups or fuzzies. If your feeding options are limited do something bigger then mice pinkies. For the other two i'm thinking weaned rats or adult mice if mice are the only things you can get. If any of them eat it'll be a great step forward. If your gonna get a dorm size freezer thats a good idea it's what i have and a number of people on here as well.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file..._18_11_pro.jpg

Regarding the spider gene i see where your coming from if they had any more issues i might have stayed away from them. Two of my bp's have spider in them and they do fine. For a couple reasons the spider gene is just a staple gene in the ball python breeding world. A long time ago spider along with pastel made the first combo the bumble bee and neuro issues aside it's a pretty neat gene. Its kinda interesting to think if spider was discovered much later i wonder if it would have went down the same road the scaleless ball python went through. Scaleless seemed like it was gonna be a huge thing but long story short it flopped. Shamefully i really want to see what a scaleless pied looks like.

Also JordanOrNoDan if your reading this i'm curious to know if you ever got a sugar ball python cause i remember what you said in my collection thread.

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Originally Posted by Isabeau

As a newbie, I guess I don't understand the reason to keep breeding spiders if they end up with neurological problems, no matter how minute. No offense to anyone.

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No offence taken. Spider is an endless debate and I used to believe like you until forced into a new direction by circumstance. Fact is they tend to make excellent pets. Their dispositions are usually great.

So what happened at the vet isabeau? Hopefully nothing too bad.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

In some it's mild, in others it's so bad the snake can't survive.

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Watching the video broke my heart. I really am baffled as to why people keep breeding these snakes despite their well-known propensity towards equilibrium and wobble issues.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

Fact is they tend to make excellent pets. Their dispositions are usually great.

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Same with Normals.