We’ve got ourselves a big problem

[Bogertophis]

Wow, those poor snakes, have to wonder what they've been through...

[Armiyana]

Poor babies.
If I had to venture a guess, I would think chemical or pesticide exposure. Especially given the weird injuries she had when you got her. Just strange that the symptoms are worsening now that you have them in a safe and controlled environment.
Maybe meningitis?

Either way... I hope the vet can get something figured out and at least test her on an antibiotic and antiparasitic.

[bcr229]

I think even improper exposure to PAM for mites can leave neurological damage (if it's not fatal), so yes, there's other possibilities, & no way we can do more than just guess here. And totally hope it's something treatable!

100% correct and it's why you need to ensure the PAM or whatever permethrin-based spray you are using is completely dry before you put the snake back into its enclosure.

I'd have to find the post but a lady on Facebook posted a video of her boa acting similarly; I think it was in Boa Constrictor Keepers a week or so ago. After taking to the vet and having a lot of tests done, they determined that the snake was in renal failure due to kidney disease, and all tests for IBD came back negative.

[ladywhipple02]

Neuro can also present from overheating. Scale rot can be caused by burns... If the animal had direct access to a heating element with no thermostat control, it could've caused a lot of these problems.

[Mislytherin]

My Herp vet is out of town, it must be vacation season because the backup is on vacation too. I found a vet with an opening tomorrow afternoon. I’ll keep you all posted as to the diagnosis.

I’ll reach out to the previous owner and see if he had ever used provent a mite or other pesticide, and see what heating setup he had. I suspect that to be the cause but we will get to the bottom of it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mislytherin]

He just got back to me I asked about pesticides, temperature, and behavior

“No the aquarium was brand new, the thermostat was typically set between 75 and 80°, she never seemed funny to me. “

So she was cold... but it really seems like she was too hot... hopefully we get some answers tomorrow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sonny1318]

I watched the video, I read through the thread. I only once experienced an overheated snake, and it wasn’t pretty at all. I’m not even gonna guess what that little guy of yours subject to, I’m just curious did you ever see him thrashing about wildly? You could try maybe cooling him down a bit, like low eighties. Like I said just wondering, hopefully a good vet will be of help.

[bcr229]

“No the aquarium was brand new, the thermostat was typically set between 75 and 80°, she never seemed funny to me. “

This would concern me, as many people don't understand the difference between a thermometer and thermostat. Once a thermostat is set there's really no reason to change it, especially that much, unless you're temp-cycling for breeding (which I'd guess he wasn't).

Now, if he meant the thermometer was changing that much, and he was using one of those inaccurate analog stick-on things, then there's no telling what the temps in the tank really were.

[ladywhipple02]

This would concern me, as many people don't understand the difference between a thermometer and thermostat. Once a thermostat is set there's really no reason to change it, especially that much, unless you're temp-cycling for breeding (which I'd guess he wasn't).

Now, if he meant the thermometer was changing that much, and he was using one of those inaccurate analog stick-on things, then there's no telling what the temps in the tank really were.

And it probably means his heating elements were regulated at all. The tank could've been 75 degrees ambient with a UTH running at 140 degrees against glass.

[SMTHook]

And it probably means his heating elements were regulated at all. The tank could've been 75 degrees ambient with a UTH running at 140 degrees against glass.

Bingo. Most likely. Hopefully he had no heating elements at all. If you're not going to care hopefully he didn't care all the way. It could easily be an ambient of 80 and a spot of 140. Crazy.