Odd Blood Python Behavior, Help the newbie!

[crapwhereaminow]

Hey everyone, I'm a first time blood owner with a little problem.

My new snake arrived thursday. He was very very cold and lethargic when I pulled him out of the box, but he seemed to move around ok when I warmed him up. When he arrived he was deep in shed.

I put him in a 15 qt. rubbermaid and left him alone for a couple days. I pulled him out this afternoon and he was really lethargic again. He didn't move much and didn't react to me at all. He also wasn't pulling his tongue all the way back in. He's let his tongue just hang out and maybe flicker it a bit. The "fork" in his tongue was stuck together as well.

This evening I checked on him and he's still acting weird. He's very active, moving and rubbing along everything in his cage. He did his very best to bite me as well.
I'm assuming he's trying to shed, but he's also flipping over on his back and getting his head into odd angles. Sometimes when I look in there he'll have his head and neck upside down, or he'll be looking straight up and just stay like that for a couple seconds. But at least his tongue is acting normal now, and it seems to be back in it's normal shape.

His warm side is ~88, cool side ~78. Humidity never drops below 60% in the room he's kept in. Right now it's ~80% because he's shedding. He's got a water dish with fresh water, and two hides.

Is this normal behavior for bloods and I'm just being paranoid, or do you think something's wrong?

[kristan]

I'd be worried about him flipping over and having his head at odd angles and upside down, which sounds like a neurological problem. I've never seen my bloods do this while shedding, even during a bad shed. I think I would make sure that he is well away from all of my other snakes, wait until after he sheds, and see if the behavior continues....if it does then I would definitely take him to a vet.

[mrmertz]

I'm assuming he's trying to shed, but he's also flipping over on his back and getting his head into odd angles. Sometimes when I look in there he'll have his head and neck upside down, or he'll be looking straight up and just stay like that for a couple seconds. But at least his tongue is acting normal now, and it seems to be back in it's normal shape.

His warm side is ~88, cool side ~78. Humidity never drops below 60% in the room he's kept in. Right now it's ~80% because he's shedding. He's got a water dish with fresh water, and two hides.

Is this normal behavior for bloods and I'm just being paranoid, or do you think something's wrong?

Can someone else chime in? I don't want to jump the gun at something here and be wrong. Even when in shed, I just never experienced any of the behavior mentioned in the first paragraph with any of our boys. This doesn't sound right...

[mrmertz]

Okay...before I head off to work I've decided to "jump the gun" here.

1. Regardless, he's under quarantine, right? Away from other snakes as in another room? I don't know your herp experience so don't take it personally if he already is.

2. As I mentioned before I've never experienced any of our snakes even when in shed flipping over on their backs. This coupled with holding it's head at odd angles and what sounds like 'star gazing' sounds suspiciously like IBD.

Now before I get crucified here and at the same time send you into a panic I said "possibly". I'm not a vet and I haven't witnessed the animal myself, just going by descriptions. But at minimums regardless of the outcome here I ALWAYS quarantine any new animals coming in as they may not exhibit sysmptoms of any disorder or problem for quite a while until after you have 'em.

I'll check back to see what is going on here but I would make a trip to the vet and then based on the outcome contact the breeder. Oh yeah, that's another SOP here. New snakes always get an initial vet checkup just to be on the safe side with our very favorite Dr. Jarchow, regardless of how they appear. (BTW - Highly recommend him if you live in the Tucson area! Another shameless plug...sorry!)

Good luck!

[2kdime]

Contact the seller and make them aware of this

Sounds like IBD

If you turn him upside down, can he right himself?

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

I dont have much experience with bloods but this is very unsettling behaviour. I agree with 2kdime about telling the breeder about this. The things your snake is doing all seem like signs of an illness. The 3 things that come to mind are CSS (cold shock syndrome), IBD (an incurable viral disease), and an RI. If it is CSS it will get better every day and there will be no symptoms like clicking noises, mucous or other symptoms of RI. If it is an RI it will require vet treatment. If it is IBD then I do hope it is no where near your other snakes. That would put all your snakes at risk. I would take it to the vet if it has not improved since your last post. Wash your hands well and dont handle that snake or touch anything in its enclosure until after you have done whatever needs to be done with any other snakes.

[twan]

WOW man sorry to here this. Im about to be a first blood owner my self so its not to much i can tell you hope all goes well.

[crapwhereaminow]

Thanks for the support everyone!!! To answer everyone's fist question, YES, he is away from my other herps. I handle him last and always wash my hands. I'll be using a different set of feeding tongs with him too.

He can right himself when he's fliped over ( I flipped him over several times and he got right-side-up no problem). I've looked up cases of IBD online and I don't think it's that bad. He's not spiraling like the snakes in the videos do.

When I looked in on him this afternoon he'd taken a gargantuan poo, and is just chilling in his box. When I pulled him out to clean his box and flip him over a few times he tried his very best to eat my face. In the process he fell off the bed and when he struck he got his tooth stuck in my gym shorts.

I'm not going to panic until he sheds. When I talked to the breeder he said bloods do all sorts of weird things when they're in shed. He seems a lot better today, his tongue is acting normal, and he's moving completely normal. I got him from a small time breeder who seems like a really nice guy.

Have some pictures (I don't know if you can see anything wrong), his name is Oskar and he looks terrible now because he's in shed.







And after he fell off my bed.

[crapwhereaminow]

I did a bit of reading on IBD and CSS and I'm thinking (Hoping) it's CSS. Like I said, he was very cold on delivery. He was also picked up very late 4:30pm instead of 10:30am like he was supposed to be. (Not anyone's fault except fedex for being unclear/overly difficult). The bag he was in was wet (his own fault) and there was no heat pad. Also, the odd head movements isn't nearly as pronounced as I've seen in IBD. From what I've read CSS can affect their movement as well.
It may be my fault, I think I warmed him up too quick.

I didn't look in on him for most of the weekend, but he's definitely better today than he was yesterday (his aim is getting better too I may get bit soon).

Just my thoughts, anyone else care to chime in?

[mrmertz]

Well glad Oskar seems to be doin' better! Gee, wonder if he'll go through all those motions everytime he sheds? Sounds like quite a show. But no, I have never seen that type of behavior during a shed even with our Blood. Odd to say the least.