I know this is a ridiculous question, but...

[Addiesmom2012]

Can ball pythons have mental retardation? One of my boys is just, well, odd. He is a killer queen bee, and has the dreaded wobble, so I understand his jerky movements and lack of balance is covered under that. For example, he is always active during the day, resting at night. He is ALL over his cage. However, what really gets me is when he poops, he insists on crawling through it, soiling his entire cage.

None of my current or precious ball pythons have displayed such behavior. I just started wondering if the wobble, obviously caused by a neurological disorder, may also have some negative effect on his cognitive ability.

I have looked this up, with little luck. I love him to death, and just wonder if he's slightly handicapped.

[dr del]

I have a few who will play "Poocaso" on occasion.

I love them dearly but it's hard to say any BP will end up on the genius side of the scale.

[BCS]

Actually, my spider and woma also make terrible messes of their cages. I thought of this too but it may have something to do with their balancing issues. I do have a queenbee as well but she poops in a corner and her cage stays relatively clean. I do believe that every creature on the planet Earth can have some type of mental retardation but I don't think running through feces is one of them.

[Addiesmom2012]

Thank you. There are other odd things he does, but I will just sum it up to, he's unique.

[StupidZombie]

My Mojave spider, who happens to be on my arm right now, is a severe wobble case.
He hangs upside down. He eats perfectly, sheds great, but he'll rise his head as if he's periscoping, but then he'll flip his head upside down to watch stuff, rather than keep it upright.

As for his deposits, he tends to do it in his water and then dunk his head in with it. Other than that, he's handled regularly but still acts as if he's just seeing me for the first time every time and hides his head for a few minutes before remembering who i am.

[SmoothScales]

Gotta love the spider morphs. They're such derpy herps. I've got a spinner blast with a few quirks, but at least he doesn't smear his waste around! One thing he does consistently is sleep with his head on its side. Although, I'm not certain that's a spider thing because I caught my mojave sable doing it a few times, too. He also is a master at spilling his water all over his tub. This kind of baffles me because it's a pretty heavy ceramic bowl and he's never tipped it over completely, but he still manages to get water every where. Fortunately, his wobble isn't bad at all, and really only noticeable when he's excited (Rat!), or stressed (Rat!).

[Eric Alan]

Being a "Poocaso" is hardly a Spider thing. I've got my fair share of artists in the collection and, oddly enough, the Spider morphs aren't the ones that I typically worry about. Gotta love BPs!

[treaux]

I'm realizing now that maybe I'm lucky that none of my BPs seem to be into poop play.

[redshepherd]

I also feel lucky now that all my BP's avoid poop like the plague...

Unless they pooped over the weekend while I'm back home, so that the poop is in their tub for 2 full days. Then when I come back, they have poo all over themselves.

[SmoothScales]

I also feel lucky now that all my BP's avoid poop like the plague...

Unless they pooped over the weekend while I'm back home, so that the poop is in their tub for 2 full days. Then when I come back, they have poo all over themselves.

Blackout actually escaped her old tub 2 weeks ago in the middle of the night! I can only conclude she did it to get away from the waste she left in it. XD (She was found a few minutes after her escape was discovered 2 shelves up from her tub chillin.)

Our BEL will cling to the lip of her water bowl if she messes her tub so that she doesn't have to touch the mess. Makes me think she's going HALP! HALP!

/end thread highjack