So i just found out...

[Melissuhhh]

...that my new spider baby has the 'wobbles'. I was checking her out, and handling her and i noticed some weird movement. When she was in her tub she was up right and her head was going every which way, and also whenever something would touch her head she would freak out into a weird position i never seen before. I thought it might have been ibd at first but symptoms aren't that severe.

So i did some research and found out that spiders carry a common issue of the wobbles. It sucks and i was sort of upset with the breeder who sold her to me, but i already love her. People who have spiders with this problem say its not too much of a issue but still, i feel like somethings wrong or shes not healthy.

So to those who want a spider, do your research...i wish i did.
I don't really know how to feel about this? or what i should do to make it better. Maybe i'm just thinking about it too much.

...because of all this, i now choose to call her Wubbles.

[Melissuhhh]

Do any of you out there share this problem? How are your snakes coming along?

[SinisterSerpents]

Well I hate to hear that about Wubbles! The good thing is that I think they can sometimes grow out of having the wobbles. I've never had a spider with the wobbles (and I'm thankful for that), but I do belive SOMETIMES its gets better with age. Probably not 100% though. Good luck. Your a good snake mommy!!

[MustBeSatan]

As long as she can eat, it's not a problem. Nothing you can do about it, but it doesn't seem to stop them from leading a normal, snakey life. My Spider has it very mildly so far, and I know how you feel, but it's definately a condition that they can live with.

[Danounet]

Well... ALL spiders have the wobble. It comes with the spider gene. Every single spider is affected at different degrees. The ones that dont realy show as babies could become worse as they age, and the ones that are realy bad as babies could grow out of it some what.

As long as it can eat by it self and carry a normal, healthy life, it is nothing to worry about. From another perspective, spiders are said to be the best feeders and breeders.

[unspecified42]

I'm confused...what is wrong with your snake and why are you upset? Spiders wobble. It's not a big deal and there's nothing to be done about it.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Try not to worry too bad. Alot of the time if they show it early on like that they may get better with age. Like the last post said, as long as she can eat ok then its just something else you can love about her. Its a spider thing. They all have it. My bumblebee has a very mild head bob once in awhile when its feeding time and she gets excited. I held a male spider last year that I almost bought but I decided not to because he had the most sever case I had ever seen. I almost couldnt hold him at all. He flipped, flailed, twisted, corkscrewed, constantly. It was like he was trying to throw his self out of my hands. He couldnt keep his head or upper body upright at all. It was very bad. Yours sounds typical and not so bad so dont worry too much. It could be much worse.

[BPelizabeth]

My bee had a wobble...still does occasionally. Bee...part spider. Anyways....he has grown out of it mostly. It only happens when he is nervous. As they get stronger it seems to get less and less....at least with mine. It is what it is...they wobble.....some less some more. There are TONS of debates on here in regards to it. Not a biggie....adds to their personality.

[Freakie_frog]

Try not to look at it like a "problem" its more of a quirk that the morph carries. Aslo there are things that can set the wobble off, things like: stress, feeding, shipping, handeling to much, changes in their enviroment ect. So with that said the breeder may not have seen any wobble and then in the process of moving homes and adjusting it got triggered.. I've seen them grow out of it and I've seen shipping set it off so their is no predicting it..

[mason]

I'm confused...what is wrong with your snake and why are you upset? Spiders wobble. It's not a big deal and there's nothing to be done about it.

she has every right to be upset, it sounds like it was (as usual) kept 'hush-hush' to a newbie until a sale was made.


Basically spiders have this neurological problem, it is upto you to decide weather you think it's "fine" like everyone says.

We personally chose not to work with (ie reproduce) the spider gene because of this flaw. It has however become commonly accepted because people think spiders are pretty and (like they have all said) spiders seem to manage ok (eat, poo, breed etc)

To say it is not a big deal is wrong, I imagine it IS a big deal when you drop hundreds of dollars on your first ever ball morph only to find out about a well known neurological issue AFTER the purchase. You only say it's normal/accpetable because the breeders that are trying to sell these snakes say it is. Personally, just because they eat and shed (etc), it's no reason to class is as normal or acceptable for a ball python. Would you be happy with a normal that behaved like that?

The "spider wobble" is judged acceptable simply because it doesn't kill them, and because lots of breeders who invested $20-30 GRAND on their first spiders back in the late 90s wanted it to be a non issue and make their investments back.

If people bred mammals with such obvious defects they would be slated.

To just gloss it over to someone new to the hobby as "normal" and basically tell them to stop being upset is a little closed minded IMO.

I would also suggest that someone with an attitude like this has never seen a spider with a real bad case of wither the wobbles or 'corkscrewing'. The worst ones are truly heartbreaking.

What will become "normal" and "acceptable" next? Will the up and coming breeders of ball morphs be telling people it's ok to breed kinked caramels and caramel combos? That it's ok to breed a super cinnamon males with a duck billed face and a kink in it's spine like a golf club?

If the spider gene was discovered in the wild NOW with how the hobby is instead of being found right "back in the day" when the ball morph market was nuts would people still ignore this flaw? or would they say "we have so many other amazing looking morphs we'd prefer not to buy one that can't even tell which way is the correct way up". IMO if the spider gene was WC NOW, today, any responsible breeder would say "well this thing looks great, and it's genetic but if I can't fix this issue with new blood or outbreeding i'll leave it alone."