Convulsing Ball Python?

[Leda]

First, I must say, I am here for information upon my snakes health, not to hear a bunch of people complain. Give me advice/information, no elitist junk.




My male ball python is about 2 1/2 years old. Tonight he randomly began having what almost looked like a sort of seizure. I'm not trying to be gross but he kind of tensed up and squirmed around while he continued to open his mouth and splatter poo on the glass (It was loud, kind of like a bunch of farting?). I read a post about something similar on another forum and somebody mentioned that it could be a respiratory infection, which I know is not the case, because I purchased my other ball python from a pet shop and she already had an RI from there, so I know what those symptoms look like. - He is breathing fine, his vents are clean, there are no "bubbles", he seems perfectly alright.

Any suggestive diagnosis would be appreciated.

[2kdime]

Ever had them tested for internal parasites?

Heavy parasitic loads can cause splattered poo.

If your aware of the symptoms of RI, and he's not showing any, then I would rule that out.

Id test for parasites, and look at what I was cleaning my cages with to rule out any kind of toxic shock type reaction. Again, this is just what I would do.

HTH

[disabled.101]

As stated above. Your snake is already quarantined correct?
Not to sound elitist. Seeing as your worried about the health of your snake and that doesn't sound very good I would take him/her to a herp vet.

[Kaorte]

To the vet!

[Kysenia]

Vet would be my rec Hope all goes well.........

[wolfy-hound]

It could have been him passing the gas and poo and not a 'seizure'. But that sort of poo is not normal, and you might get a fecal sample to have tested at your vet.
Sorry you think you'll get a bunch of "elitest junk" here. I've always seen folks try to help.

[kc261]

I've seen similar descriptions of snakes that are just having a runny poo due to something they ate, such as if their owner fed them a chick instead of a rodent one feeding.

I've also seen similar descriptions of snakes that are expelling some sort of parasite such as a tape worm.

Assuming you have not done anything different with his diet, I would be very concerned and take him to the vet. Even if you did do something such as feeding a chick, I'd take him to the vet just to be sure. If you can collect some of the runny poo and bring it with you, that can help the vet diagnose the problem. Seal it in a ziploc bag and store it in the fridge until you go to the vet's office.

You'll need to have your boyfriend's female (or is it yours? ownership changed from one thread to the next) checked out as well, since they were together and the parasites could have been passed from one to the other.

How is the female anyway? Did you ever get a weight on her? Is she showing more signs of being gravid? Do you have your incubator ready to go?

[Leda]

As for the female snake, we bought all of the supplies for incubating the eggs, for the egg box, the whole 'deal, and she just didn't show any more signs. So I'm not sure what's going on there.

And as for the male snake, when he did his little gas passing convulsion thing, he barely poo'd. It was like a small splat.

Hmm.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

take a trip to the vet.