Repticon tampa

[Cforlizzo]

Hello all. I wanted to share my Repticon experience from Sunday. Before I do though, THANK GOD for all of the things I have learned in the forum. I went to Repticon Tampa in search of a carpet python. I was surprised to find that there were only about 15-20 total left by Sunday, but the variety was good and so was the price range. They were between $150-$600. I know you get what you pay for but I do have a budget so the beautiful animals from the top breeders were just not an option. I found a gorgeous carpet from small breeder and made the deal for $200, made sure to find out what it was eating and when, and did a thorough inspection of the animal prior to purchase. As I walked around looking for a few odd and ends I kept getting this nagging desire to take the snake out which is out of character for me. Normally I just wait until I get home to look again. Well I'm glad I took her out. There was no issue for about 20 minutes and then I started to notice some strange movements that were not there while initially inspecting the animal. Now there were some odd twitches and wobbles that quickly turned into what looked very much like a spider ball python. As I stopped and watched my son looked at the snake and became very concerned as well. We both agreed that it appears that the snake has a neurological disorder. So we walked back to the seller and showed it to her. Her response was as follows " I never saw anything like that at the shop, but as long as it is eating it's no biggie and she eats like a camp." I said I was not comfortable with the animal and asked for refund or exchange. We spent about an hour with the second snake and all is well and we were able to bring home a beautiful snake.

I bring this up as I am curious to see if any of you have experienced anything similar and how you handled it. I certainly learned a lot from this experience and again, I am so thankful for the knowledge I have gained in this forum.

[Charles8088]

My response is not from personal experience, or some definitive knowledge that I have.

I just did some Googling, and it seems like the Jaguer Gene on carpets have similar wobbles like spiders. Maybe that was it?

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Neurological issue can have various causes, over heating, chemical exposure, jaguar mutation as mentioned above etc.

If it is a jag it is possible that the animal never had issue before and that stress or temperature or combination of both exacerbated the issue.

That's why before buying an animal you do serious research and know what to expect (just like if you get a dog some are prone to issues that others are not prone to), it's the future owner's job to educate themselves and not just impulse buy because the price is right.

Would I return a Jag (if jag with a severe neurological issue)? Yes I would but chances are I would have noticed it before buying it.