Boid Encephalothopy????

Hi Everyone,
I am trying to get a little information on Boid Encephalothopy. I'd like to know symptoms, things to look for. Also has anyone had any experience with this disease?? I recently took in a rescue from a local school in my area. She has a respiratory infection and at our vet appt. My vet was a bit concerned about her head tilt. I've had her quarentined and were getting her infection under control. But my vet suggested I look up info about this disease so I have a feeling what to look for. I can't find nething tho. Also any other suggestions about the head tilting. I understand that these are not qualified vet suggestions but any personal experiences would be welcomed. She tilt her head to the left every so often. Also sometimes when she's going around the tank she will occasionally put her first maybe fourth of her body upside down and do a big loop. Just trying to get a general idea of what may be going on so I can monitor things more carefully. Please let me know if u need any more info from me.
Thanks everyone!

Be extremely careful when handling the rest of your collection if the new BP is showing symptoms like this. The 'star gazing' can be an indicator of IBD, but unfortunately the only real test to see if it really is IBD is to send tissue samples off to a lab after the animal has passed. I'm sorry that I don't have any other info for you on encephalothopy. I'll rummage through my books to see if I can find anything on that specific topic for you.

is it a spider...could it be that famous wobble...sometimes that looks a little like IBD?????

Just a thought...I really don't know too much about this stuff

I havent heard of this one yet but from what I have been able to find out so far it doesnt seem to be contagious.

Its a neurological problem. Most likely genetic.

IF the snake does have that I would not be worried about the other snakes BUT i wouldnt be so fast to put its problems on a neurological problem.

Id be more worried about the RI and keep it in a differnt room for a long time to be sure it doesnt have IBD.

so like, "mad snake disease"?

Haven't heard of encephalothopy in snakes before personally.

Other suspects are possible as well, IBD being one of them I suppose.

Luckily to find out if it has IBD, just wait a short time (a few weeks maybe? I'm no IBD expert) and see if it dies. IBD makes quick work of pythons.

Maybe you could take a few pics or even better post a video of odd behavior?

Boid Encephalopathy is all inclusive. It includes ALL types of brain disease that may affect boids, NOT necessarily IBD (which is actually believed to be a retrovirus that shuts down the nervous and circulatory systems).

Here is a really interesting article I found on Encephalopathy in all types of snakes, spefically a case in a kingsnake (not a boid, but the article does mention boid brain disease cases):

http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/reprint/39/2/431.pdf


And here is an article I wrote specifically on IBD:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...991#post688991


Unfortunately, not a whole lot is known about brain disease in these animals because most people do not pay to perform necropsys on their pets after they pass.

Hope this helps, and your little one gets better!

I'd just like to toss in that my Woma does the same things with her head/neck/upper body, but even more severely than what you describe with yours. She was diagnosed with basically the same "wobble" as what Spiders have, so yours could have a similar neurological problem....

Hope it isn't anything too serious!

If its a normal ball and not a spider, quarantine it and wtach it while you treat the RI. (well quarantine anyways of course)

If it's IBD then unfortunately the snake will be dead very soon.

If the snake lives past a month or so then it may be some kind of neurological thing.

I just wanted to interject my two cents. I have heard of IBD taking as long as 3 months to kill a Ball Python. Based on that knowledge, I would recommend a minimum of 3 months in quarantine.

I just wanted to update as it's been a really long time since I viewed this thread. It's a year later and no further symptoms or progression. We were
Thinking possible blindness it that one eye and her tilting the side of her head to make up for this. She's a normal so I don't suspect the Spider wobble. As far as IBD. Thank god it is not. This was quite scary for us. The reason we suspect possible eye problem or neurological problem is on that particular side of her head you can pretty much put your finger right up to her eye and she doesn't do a thing. On the other side she pulls back immediately. I appreciate everyones advice in this matter. We got so caught up in watching her that I forgot to keep up with the forum. This year because she got a clean bill of health she will be doing her first clutch. If the babies experience the same thing then it would definately be a genetic thing and she will be held from producing from then on. If not then I suspect a trauma. Thanks!
Morgan Weiss

I would recommend keeping the babies longer than you would from a normal snake to see if they start showing any signs later on, just in case it isn't something that shows immediately. probably not the best snake to breed her offspring back to if it is genetic. Maybe something to warn anyone that gets one of her kids about? Just in case... Best of luck and I'm glad she's still healthy!

Yes, for the most part since we haven't seen anything else I'm just doing a norm to norm pairing with her. If they don't seem to have any issues then they will be offered up as pets and the new owners will be told of what mom went through and her poss trauma or condition. Our vet is confident that she is completly healthy ie she has no sickness. He is leaning towards trauma but in the end we won't know unless the offspring experiences it aswell. If that is the case and it's the same as mom just a slight tilt if the head they will be rehoused to experienced owners for free.

Ya know something else that I thought of in regards to how she was acting. If she was severly overheated she would reflect symptoms of IBD as well. Just info for the future as I think you nailed it with being blind in one eye. Poor girl!

I have heard of over heats acting like IBD. Ivr never experienced it tho. Is tgat something that could potentially have long lasting affects? I mean with death obviously being one of them. I thought maybe she was dropped or over heated and this caused a neurological problem
She moves quite well. Nothing like the IBD snakes I've seen. She just tilts her head a bit. So i hope it's a trauma. Even tho it's really sad she had to go through that. But shell never have to again.

Over heating CAN cause permanent neurological problems.

Its interesting that that was mentioned. I have had a similar issue with our Caramel Albino male. We purchased him at the end of September from a friend at a show and he was perfect in every way, and a few months old. We moved across the country the next week. About a week after we moved in and every one was settled in I wanted to take pictures of him and took him out to handle. When he was cruising around I noticed his movement was strange, just like a spider's wobble. I was very worried he was sick, maybe with IBD. He was in QT thank god but didn't have ANY other symptoms and ate every week with gusto. After a while of him being perfectly healthy in every way I began to think he may have over heated during the move and had some neurological damage. Its been almost four months now and still he is perfectly healthy and eats great but his movement is still "off".

Glad to hear your girl is doing well and good luck with breeding! Keep us updated if it seems to be a genetic issue. That's good info to pass on.

Thanks for the story. In all reality I guess well never know. Both senarios could have happened. I rescued her from a school that had no idea about the proper care. Which astounded me bc they were teaching 10 years of children the exact opposite of how to keep balls. In fact I'm so surprised she made it from hatchling to 10 yr old adult with very little problem. Her locomotion seems to be fine beyond the tilt of the head. She will go all around her tub and position herself in these really odd ways tho but none of the stargazing or shaking she eats keeps down and constricts her food normally although sometimes she's a little off when striking. But on that rare occasion she misses it doesn't happen repeatedly. I hope it isn't genetic but we will wait and see.

I wonder if she may have been injured some how?



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Yes my main thought on her is trauma either due to an injury or now it seems like an overheat is a def possiblity. But I mean for an injury it would have to be a head trauma. Her eye is completly intact and there are no visible scars. There are no lumps or bumps on her head either. It's one big mystery. It really bugs me tho bc this came from a school so feel like They should have been doing everything absolutely correct for the purpose of education. And unless she was like thrown as a youngster I don't see a simple fall or drop as something that could have really done that much damage to her brain. And even so you'd think there'd be some vet record. There's two exotic vets in my whole state and They have no record of the school or the teacher. So that means they didn't go to the vet for whatever happened. That's really sad. I'd like to know what happened so I'm sure I'm providing for any special needs. But she's thriving so I assume I am.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

Yes my main thought on her is trauma either due to an injury or now it seems like an overheat is a def possiblity. But I mean for an injury it would have to be a head trauma. Her eye is completly intact and there are no visible scars. There are no lumps or bumps on her head either. It's one big mystery. It really bugs me tho bc this came from a school so feel like They should have been doing everything absolutely correct for the purpose of education. And unless she was like thrown as a youngster I don't see a simple fall or drop as something that could have really done that much damage to her brain. And even so you'd think there'd be some vet record. There's two exotic vets in my whole state and They have no record of the school or the teacher. So that means they didn't go to the vet for whatever happened. That's really sad. I'd like to know what happened so I'm sure I'm providing for any special needs. But she's thriving so I assume I am.

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Maybe the stress and poor treatment at the school caused the snake to have a minor stroke. This could explain the blindness and movement issues on the one side of the body. A stroke isnt all that rare in cases of abuse as well.

Another very interesting hypothesis. I'd never had the thought of a stroke. Thanks!
Morgan