Question about my boa

Hi, I took Athena out of her cage last night and she seems a little sluggish I guess. When I held her the back about half of her just kind of flopped to one side and dangled there. She'd move and it would flop to the other side and dangle again. This is something I haven't seen in my other snakes, I am just wondering if anyone has experienced this, or has any insight on what may be happening.

vet immediately.

Sounds to me like she was cooked.


What are you doing for heat?

Same as my other boas, UTH and a RHP keep the cool side right around 80F

You are using a UTH and a RHP???


What is the hot side temp?

What T-stat are you using?

I live in NH, need the extra heat during the winter, hot side stay right around 90-94F

and I use a Ranco setup

You have both the UTH and the RHP on the T-stat?

yes they are both on the T-stat

Still sounds like she got cooked.

94 is on the verge of being hot anyways. Any sort of spike above 94, could do some damage

I made an appointment for her at the vet tomorrow, and when I get home tonight I will give my heating system a good check over for anything that might have gone wrong. I will also pay closer attention to the warm side of her cage.

Thanx for your insight Pat

if something did go wrong is damage permanent or can she recover?

If infact she does have damage from overheating (not saying thats what it is, it just sounds like that) I have never seen one recover. Once the damage is done, there really is no "un-doing" it.


Hope for the best at the vet..keep us posted

Depends on the severity of the injury as to whether she'll fully recover or not. You will know more after your visit to the vet. Hopefully she is not injured too badly.