Help! Wobbly Snake

[mfkelly]

Hi I am glad to see that your boy is doing better. I just wanted to tell you about our Buddy. Buddy's head was crushed as a baby by an a@@hole who bought him from the store I deal with. My daughter and I rescued him, his head was so flat that his eyes were pointing skyward. He had ate for us in the store, so we took him home. He had bad neurological problems, if he lifted his head too high he would flip over backwards, striking, at food, could be an issue at times. Bottom line is that he is now 5 yrs old 1700 grams and does homework with my daughter. All his problems have improved to the point of not being noticeable, and he is on f/t food so all is good. Snakes are incredibly resilient and he will be fine. Keep us posted.
Mike Kelly
PS you can see Buddy on my iHerp under mfkelly

[pliskin]

that's a great looking snake , I wish my pastel had yellows that bright. hope he continues to improve.

[Lolo76]

Good to hear he's doing better! I have a spider with a slight wobble, and it hasn't affected him at all. He eats live mice like there's no tomorrow, easily 3-4 in one feeding if I let him... also doesn't have corkscrewing or flipping over issues, and is sweet as can be. So even if your snake retains some of the wobble, he can still lead a full and happy life.

P.S. Your pastel is probably het ghost, which would explain how his sister was a ghost... if you decide to breed him, I'd suggest a ghost or het female.

[Lolo76]

I'm just so glad to have him back. If need be I'll make him a little helmet

OMG, that image just cracked me up! Did you see the entry in this month's BPOM, where the snake is wearing a Monopoly top hat? You could do something like that, LOLOL.

[Aiion]

Poor buddy... He is lucky to have you! Glad he pulled through.

Soku is feeling a little under the weather today. He shows no signs of RI but he is in shed... I think I am going to start calling shed time "his time of the month". Yesterday he just moped around and I didn't take a video. He is going to shed any day. My mother in law is working on the helmet. We are going to try to wait and feed him until after his shed. Once I fed him and he shed within 12 hours, made it a little difficult for him.

Here is the latest video taken day before yesterday. His head control on the ground or on a surface is much much better. In the air...not so much.

YouTube - Soku Day 6

[mpkeelee]

oh no! im so sorry, he is a lil cute guy tho. as long as he has u he should do fine. im just worried about how he will deal with it over time, cuz spiders are born with it and dont know anything else. this guy was fine and then it just appeared. as long as he is eating and gaining weight then nothing to worry about. he appears to be happy. let us know how the feed goes. good luck, thanks for the update.

[Aiion]

He sticks close by us now, even though he is good at getting around once his head is on the ground. He used to be quite the adventurer, which is what got him into this whole mess in the first place. He was a great climber and loved to practice his balance. Now he practices balance while not going anywhere.

It was between day 3 and 4. You could literally see him working out his movements, and it was when he figured out that if he keeps his head down he has greater control.

[Vypyrz]

I'm just wondering something here, and if I am wrong, maybe some of the breeders can correct me. But, is it possible, that the ghost the pet store identified as his sibling actually came from the same supplier, just a different clutch, and your pastel was the result of a Pastel X Spider pairing. As I understand it, the percentages of that pairing would be 25% Bee, 25% Pastel, 25% Spider, and 25% Normal. If that is the case then your Pastel would still have the spider genes, and also as I understand it, the wobbles are not always apparent in young snakes and can appear and diminish at different times. Just a thought I had...

[Kaorte]

I'm just wondering something here, and if I am wrong, maybe some of the breeders can correct me. But, is it possible, that the ghost the pet store identified as his sibling actually came from the same supplier, just a different clutch, and your pastel was the result of a Pastel X Spider pairing. As I understand it, the percentages of that pairing would be 25% Bee, 25% Pastel, 25% Spider, and 25% Normal. If that is the case then your Pastel would still have the spider genes, and also as I understand it, the wobbles are not always apparent in young snakes and can appear and diminish at different times. Just a thought I had...

It the snake had the spider gene, you would see it visually. If it isn't present, it won't show up visually. There is no non-visual version of the spider gene (or het).

[Aiion]

I am very happy to report that Soku's symptoms have improved an incredible amount. He is still putting his head upside down but much less frequently and he is able to right himself immediately. His wobble is much less and he was able to strike at 2 mice, get them turned around the right direction and eat them without problem. He will shed any day now and I will have a new video at that time.