Pied with Wobble

[Mislytherin]

Hey guys!
I picked up a few snakes locally after their owner got a new job and realized he didn’t have time. These babes are set up in quarantine with a heat lamp and thermostated belly heat. It’s only been a week but they were in rough shape, underfed, and dehydrated. The female pied had a red patch on her back that I attributed to live feeding, after she had settled I realized it was scale rot. All three snakes are eating f/t mice, and accept food readily.

What concerns me is that the pied has a wobble. Looks to me like a full on spider wobble, exacerbated when excited (I.e. during her treatment for scale rot).

When not excited she moves and acts fine. When excited or stressed she’s all over the place.


She is eating and otherwise acting normal, and when left un agitated she moves with a slight wobble (no corkscrews). With her coming from an unknown pairing is it safe to assume her wobble is genetic or would you be concerned?

She just soaked and had treatment for the scale rot, as you can see in the photos.


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[Mislytherin]

I also wanted to mention that the brown chunks you see on the substrate are simply bark pieces, I had them on bark when they arrived and quickly switched to paper towel when I spotted the scale rot.


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[MD_Pythons]

Hopefully other members can chime in, but I'm thinking this could be damage caused by exposure to overly high temperatures or chemicals possibly.

[Mislytherin]

Hopefully other members can chime in, but I'm thinking this could be damage caused by exposure to overly high temperatures or chemicals possibly.

That is very possible, she was very very dry when I picked her up he said it was a bad shed... but it was just how dry her scales were. It’s likely her conditions may have been too hot.


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[midg8290]

Or she has a bit of spider passed down from her parents/grandparents/great grandparents etc. How is her behavior towards you and is she adventurous etc like a normal royal that hasn't been mistreated??



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[Devenco]

Or she has a bit of spider passed down from her parents/grandparents/great grandparents etc. How is her behavior towards you and is she adventurous etc like a normal royal that hasn't been mistreated??



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it is not possible to "pass a bit of spider". The animal either has spider, or it has not.

Ball python in general can sometimes be silly, but in this case i think it is just stress + maybe some damage due to wrong conditions.
See how she is after a while when she is settled in, maybe give her a hide if you have not already.

[Lord Sorril]

Or she has a bit of spider passed down from her parents/grandparents/great grandparents etc.

I agree, this could be a genetic recombination that separated a linkage that ditched the Spider gene, but, kept the Wobble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_linkage

If it was: Maybe you can prove it out-and instead of calling it 'Wobble' you can make it more appealing and call it the 'Dancing gene' and charge $30K for it. Just think---then you could make a Scaleless Dancing ball python...a much needed addition to the morph list...

[zina10]

Are you sure that is blister disease ?

How does the belly look? I don't see blisters per se..

Does she have mites? I know the brown pieces are substrate, but I also see black round tiny dots on her. Burns can look like blister disease. I think that snake has been over heated and/or around chemicals or disease.

If there are mites, I would maintain the strictest and most absolute quarantine. Diseases are carried by mites, and every time you handle those snakes, the mites might travel on you to your collection.

If they have mites they may have been subjected to some "home brew" mite treatment. The wobble is simply neurological damage. Where it comes from, hard to say. Not genetic I don't think, there are no morphs in there that carry the so called spider wobble.

Time and good care will tell whether that is a temporary problem. Given they came from such rough conditions and unknown where they were purchased, quarantine is of utmost importance.

[Mislytherin]

Are you sure that is blister disease ?

How does the belly look? I don't see blisters per se..

Does she have mites? I know the brown pieces are substrate, but I also see black round tiny dots on her. Burns can look like blister disease. I think that snake has been over heated and/or around chemicals or disease.

If there are mites, I would maintain the strictest and most absolute quarantine. Diseases are carried by mites, and every time you handle those snakes, the mites might travel on you to your collection.

If they have mites they may have been subjected to some "home brew" mite treatment. The wobble is simply neurological damage. Where it comes from, hard to say. Not genetic I don't think, there are no morphs in there that carry the so called spider wobble.

Time and good care will tell whether that is a temporary problem. Given they came from such rough conditions and unknown where they were purchased, quarantine is of utmost importance.

I agree 100%. I keep them on another level and wash with chlorihexadine after being near them. Dedicated tweezers, watering pitcher etc. I am very strict, as my other snake is a pet. Many many years ago I learned my lesson with bad quarantine practice.

She has one inflamed scale on her belly, so it doesn’t present like a typical scale rot. The other two snakes that I picked up with her, have small spots of the same blisters. She fed this afternoon on a frozen thawed mouse. No trouble with her feeding, or feed response. She gets excited, and starts wobbling more. But that is all.

With the spider Gene, I agree. They either are, or they are not, that is why I included photos of her side, and pattern. It looks like the stereo typical spider wobble but I have never seen normals from a spider cross exhibit the wobble. Any number of factors might be affecting her, especially without knowing her history.

No mites, that is what I suspected immediately, sometimes mites can get up under the scales in the pits and cause a little shake as the snakes are agitated. During our Soaks I see nothing floating to the surface, and nothing on her scales besides pattern, she does have a few isolated black pigmented scales. I am most familiar with the larger snake mites. But I also did not see any other parasites, either floating, or on my white paper towel as I put salve on her scales. With the treatment, her red spots seem to be improving.

I wondered the same thing, whether she would act like a normal snake when not stressed or agitated. I placed her in my bathtub and she moved around like a normal sticky snake LOL she was sticky from the salve, but she moved fine.

Thank you all for the input, I appreciate the sound advice, and well thought out responses.

As far as genes go, people will pay for what they put value on. If someone wants to spend $30 K on a scale less snake awesome. It’s not for me haha. This little girl will likely only be a pet. My daughter has her eye on her for to be her snake. Time will tell.

Here is a photo at her previous owners, you can see evidence of the blisters, I am comfortable treating sick snakes, and had to get them out of there.




Here is her stomach, and her motions seem much more appropriate today. I’m hopeful we are out of the woods.

Because most of the blisters are on her back I suspect a physical burn as well.

Again I appreciate the input


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[zina10]

All I can say, those snakes won the lottery when you took them home !!

Since they are eating well, they will shed for you soon. I bet you after that shed or another one after that, those snakes will be gorgeous and just brim with good look and health !!

The wobble might subside in time and with the snake getting healthier. I still believe it was probably due to husbandry, either over heating or chemical treatment. As long as she eats and thrives, it won't really affect her much.