The Condition on Some Morphs Known as "Wobble"

I was just wondering something. I have a Spider Ball Python I received and he has a slight "wobble" to him. He has no eating problems and IMO his wobble is not very severe so I am assuming this is normal in Spiders and some other morphs? Does it affect their lifespan? Just a few questions there, hope someone can answer them, thanks so much! :gj:

Also I was wondering what other morphs have this condition?

Yes it is normal for some morphs, spiders being the most popular. The condition itself does not effect their life span, but it could be severe enough to effect them from physically doing things to live. There only been a few claims of spiders having a wobble this severe out of tens of thousands of spiders. Here is a write up I did: http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Yes it is normal for some morphs, spiders being the most popular. The condition itself does not effect their life span, but it could be severe enough to effect them from physically doing things to live. There only been a few claims of spiders having a wobble this severe out of tens of thousands of spiders. Here is a write up I did: http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php

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Thanks soooo much! That makes me feel much better! :gj:

I also have a spider, and he has a very little wobble he had more when I first got him but not serious but he has less now(he is now 347 grams). But why I am replying to this thread is it seems he strikes very slow and misses a lot. I also have a normal ball a little older, little bigger he always Catches on first strike (btw I feed live). My spider can miss up to 2 times in a row before he finally gets a accurate strike.

I have 3 animals with the spider gene. Two dont wobble at all and only way they're "spidery" is because they just hold their heads a little bit odd sometimes. My spider het hypo girl has the "spider wobble" though. She corkscrews when i have her out. She eats f/t so its not a big deal for feeding her. She still has a nice personality, just corkscrews when she gets worked up. It effects any bp, multi or single gene, with the spider gene in it. It doesn't effect their lifespan directly, but what it prevents them from being able to do could effect their lifespan, if they were in the wild.

My spider boy is always making me laugh....(is that wrong?) He doesn't wobble, and it doesn't effect his quality of life, but I can't help but giggle at some of the weird positions he gets himself in. We call him our 'special' snake.

The wobble can be anything from a really mild head tilt to corkscrewing. All spiders wobble to some extent there is no exception to that at all.

For some reason, the wobble goes hand in hand with the spider trait. Outcrossing tends to minimize how much the trait expresses itself, but doesn't always take care of it.

Most spiders seem to have little or no wobble these days, although some with more severe cases are out there. As far as I know, the spider gene is the only one that so consistently has a problem with wobbles.

I personally think the spider gene is a great example of the community working together to eliminate a negative trait - by outcrossing and letting newbie keepers know about the trait, as a group it appears we have greatly minimized how severely and how often the trait is expressed. When spiders first came out, I seem to remember the wobble being a distinct thing with nearly every one.

In any case, the worst wobbling usually happens when the animal is stressed, and some animals that don't wobble at all may begin to wobble during extreme stress. My adult female wobbles only when she's been moved to a new cage; aside from that, there's no wobble to be seen at all.

-Jen

i dont think the wobble can be bred out. dominant morphs are typically the most outbred and outcrossed morphs, people combine it with anything and everything and have no motivation to do any inbreeding with this morph.

i think its just the gene, one gene that causes both: spider wobble and spider optics. if it would be two genes that are very close together, i think by now with the tens of thousands of spders produced, someone would already have lucked out and seperated the genes via a random chromosomal crossover.

champagne also has the wobble with quite a high consistency.

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Originally Posted by Anya

My spider boy is always making me laugh....(is that wrong?) He doesn't wobble, and it doesn't effect his quality of life, but I can't help but giggle at some of the weird positions he gets himself in. We call him our 'special' snake.

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Awwww.... I feel sorry for the special guy! Only kidding...I'm sure you are giving him a wonderful life, glad he brings joy into your life. Thats what our pets do best!

I have a bumblebee boy (spider + pastel), and I really notice no wobble in him. He used to get it just a tad at feeding time when he got over excited, and he had problem landing strikes, but he's just fine now- though he does take his time waiting for "the right moment". He does do derpy things though- like he's the one to eat his food backwards, or slither off the bed, get stuck somewhere, etc, etc. The man calls him "our little retard", but he's basically both of our favorites (well, I don't have favorites, but whatever) because of how "special" he is. ;) Maybe I say this cos I've never seen a "bad" wobble, but I love the spider gene and I think they make for amazing morphs / breeders / pets.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Yes it is normal for some morphs, spiders being the most popular. The condition itself does not effect their life span, but it could be severe enough to effect them from physically doing things to live. There only been a few claims of spiders having a wobble this severe out of tens of thousands of spiders. Here is a write up I did: http://www.owalreptiles.com/issues.php

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This +

spiders have only been in the market for 12 years or so it's hard to say for sure, but as it stands it doesn't look like the wobble has any affect on lifespan. The wobble is speculated to be a neurological condition associated primarily with the spider gene. Not sure if other morphs have this condition as well...

Spider, Woma, Hidden Gene Woma,Champagne, Super Sable, Powerball all have been reported to have a wobble to some degree, some more some less than the spider.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Two dont wobble at all and only way they're "spidery" is because they just hold their heads a little bit odd sometimes.

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That's still a "wobble" and they will probably show it more with stress.
All spiders do and will wobble at some point.
Anything from a slight head tilt to a full on corkscrew is still a wobble.

I have a Female Spider and she doesn't wobble at all, but I had a Male Bumblebee at one time that wobbled really bad.

Stop getting your snakes drunk.

All Spiders wobble, some are just better at pretending to be sober.

I have a male bumblebee we call Homer. He's definately our special little guy, lol. He'll loop around your arms, hold his head funny, etc. He has horrible aim when feeding time comes, he gets twitchy and misses a lot. Managed to miss the rat and nail me the other day, he was so excited. I've also cought him laying in positions that gave me a heart attack thinking he was dead, only to pull him out and have him be fine.
Now my female spider on the other hand seems almost perfectly normal most of the time. But once in a while she will wobble a bit during feeding, and I've cought her at the wierd sleeping position thing too. Found her coiled up with her head layed back resting on her coils, upside-down. Made for a funny picture.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Spider, Woma, Hidden Gene Woma,Champagne, Super Sable, Powerball all have been reported to have a wobble to some degree, some more some less than the spider.

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I know a couple people that won't deal with spiders, or anything spider, because of the wobble. Though I have a normal who does some weird things every now and then. There are times he'll be in his cage and look like hes bobbing his head to music. His head will sway back and forth just slightly, but he does it for about thirty seconds to a minute at a time when it happens. Doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

I've also cought him laying in positions that gave me a heart attack thinking he was dead, only to pull him out and have him be fine.

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Ugh, Yellow Dude does this about once a month, and it scares the daylights out of me every dang time!

Back to the OP's question, yes all spiders seem to have some degree of motor impairment that comes with being a spider. Some express it as wobbling of the head, some spin in corkscrews, and some just tilt their heads to the side. I have 3 spider combos in my collection at the moment, and have managed to hit all three variations. My big male Yellow Dude corkscrews like crazy when he smells rats, but as soon as you drop one in the tub he immediately flattens out and nails it, I've never seen him miss. I also have two of his daughters that got the spider gene, one has a mild wobble like she's slightly drunk, and the other just has a sideways head tilt (most obvious when she's preparing to strike at my hand the little weasel). My point is that the expression of the neurological issue varies in each individual, corkscrewers can produce wobblers and vice versa.