Can a Recessive Spider Gene Make a Snake Dingy?

My ball python, Hurly, has always been rather different. I have a picture of him hanging on to my son's wrist upside down, for example. And if he is hanging on to something and decides he wants to go somewhere else, he just lets go and falls. We've learned to keep one hand on him at all times because it's inevitable he's going to let go and fall sooner or later. Someone told me he might have a recessive spider gene that causes him to be so not all there. Is this possible? If so, what is this going to mean for him? Are there any health risks associated with this? He doesn't have a head wobble and the pet store sold him as a normal.

Spiders are dominant not recessive. And he may be acting dingy due to being dropped, depending on how long it took you to learn not to let that happen, what kind of surface he was dropped on, the height he was dropped from, etc...

Find someone else other than the person that said recessive spider. SMH

Is your snake a BEL or one of those multi gene monsters that got so much going on you can't see anything? Because those are the only situations I see where a DOMINANT gene like spider wouldn't be visually expressed.

recessive spider gene? world's first! :salute:

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Is your snake a BEL or one of those multi gene monsters that got so much going on you can't see anything? Because those are the only situations I see where a DOMINANT gene like spider wouldn't be visually expressed.

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normal...."and the pet store sold him as a normal."

Ball pythons are not concidered arboreal or even semi arboreal for a reason. It's not being dingy at all.

Basically, it might not be a good idea to be hanging your ball python upside down hanging from a wrist for long enough for him to fall, because they are just not very good at hanging to begin with. :s They're terrestrial snakes.

We had to take all branches out of his cage. He really likes to climb, but doesn't do too well at it. And in four years he's only been dropped five times, from about the height of our neck or waist to the ground. Most of those times he was a baby. One of those times, we were supervising him and we thought a one inch clearance from the edge was enough to keep him on, but he rolled off. Seriously, he rolled off! What snake rolls off? Now we keep one hand on him at all times holding on to his tail. We shake his tail as a signal and he knows to tighten down most times now but we still keep a hand on him. But he has problems eating-mostly because he's stubborn and wants to do what he wants to do. He'll insist on eating the rat backwards or sideways, then thrash around because he can't eat it like that. We are working on calling him "original" rather than "dingy" but we've never had these kind of problems with our other snakes. He is smart. He can get out of a cage with snap-on cage locks, push the screen out, and do all sorts of things to escape before we finally found a way to put a stop to that. I'm afraid I don't know much about genetics (obviously) but I was just hoping there was something I could do about his originality. You just never know what wild hair he's going to get and when. Is anybody else's snake like this?

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Originally Posted by marya1962

We had to take all branches out of his cage. He really likes to climb, but doesn't do too well at it. And in four years he's only been dropped five times, from about the height of our neck or waist to the ground. Most of those times he was a baby. One of those times, we were supervising him and we thought a one inch clearance from the edge was enough to keep him on, but he rolled off. Seriously, he rolled off! What snake rolls off? Now we keep one hand on him at all times holding on to his tail. We shake his tail as a signal and he knows to tighten down most times now but we still keep a hand on him. But he has problems eating-mostly because he's stubborn and wants to do what he wants to do. He'll insist on eating the rat backwards or sideways, then thrash around because he can't eat it like that. We are working on calling him "original" rather than "dingy" but we've never had these kind of problems with our other snakes. He is smart. He can get out of a cage with snap-on cage locks, push the screen out, and do all sorts of things to escape before we finally found a way to put a stop to that. I'm afraid I don't know much about genetics (obviously) but I was just hoping there was something I could do about his originality. You just never know what wild hair he's going to get and when. Is anybody else's snake like this?

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5 times in any amount of years sounds like too much. Shouldn't drip your snake at all. Once accidentally ok it happens but you should've learned the first time. You're lucky there isn't a bigger problem here.

Smh

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Hey, it may be that he sustained a head injury during one or more of the falls he's taken. Do you ever recall him being motionless after a fall or having a shaking ( seizure ) episode after any of his previous falls? Sorry but falls from heights are a potentially serious and crippling type of injury for any animal. I think you should take his incoordination as a possible result from repeated falls at significant heights as serious. Maybe he suffered a concussion that went undetected for years and now he's presenting with suspicious lack of coordination secondary to head trauma? :confusd:

Everything you have described so far is what I would call normal for a ball pythons, nothing dingy or original about it. They run on instinct more than anything that could be called intelligent, pushing on something is not intelligence it's something most animals do when they feel trapped. I know no one here wants to hear this, I do love the snakes but ball pythons are very stupid animals, we all know it but no one wants to say it lol. So don't think you snake won't go cliff diving or won't let go because it is not natural for them so it's right in the realm of possibility that they will. Doesn't mean they all will, but most will. Supervise your snake in elevated areas just like you would a child, the child is much smarter than the snake.

He always plops on his tummy. He's never landed on his head or had a seizure, thank goodness. He's never been still after a fall, like he'd been stunned. He would have went straight to the vet if he had. Ok, I accept he's a normal ball python, which means he's a little not there. Thanks, everyone.


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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Is your snake a BEL or one of those multi gene monsters that got so much going on you can't see anything? Because those are the only situations I see where a DOMINANT gene like spider wouldn't be visually expressed.

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My snake is a lesser mojo ghi. You can tell under the black light. It's amazing.

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Originally Posted by powerhouseballs

My snake is a lesser mojo ghi. You can tell under the black light. It's amazing.

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You can not just say things like that not provide awesome pics bro, come on :O