Hello everyone! This is my first post on this forum and it concerns the abnormal behavior of my female juvenile Spider Ball Python. I will try to give as much detail on her to help diagnose the problem.

I purchased her from my local Petco and I do understand the risks in doing so. That being said, before I purchased her I came every week and held her to see in what condition she was living and her health in general. As far as I could tell they were taking decent care of their reptiles, besides from housing them in groups. While observing her I took the time to give a good look at the other snakes as well who were also alright, though one of the Normal Ball Pythons looked as though it had a hole on the top of its head but that could have possibly been from rubbing it against the hides.

Bringing her home for the first time I became very stressed because of her abnormal behavior. It had started with sneezing, and although she doesn't do it anymore and it may been have dust or the paper towels I used as substrate, it frightened me because I have never heard of snakes sneezing. I used paper towels to monitor for mites, which she didn't have but she was constantly sticking her face in her water dish and blowing bubbles, which was my next concern. She still does this every night when she comes out to take a drink. I actually had to decrease the amount of water I put in her bowl because she would stick her face in her water and stay there for a very very long time and I feared she might drown herself. Something I noticed a little while ago is that she often rests her head upside down. Her wobble isn't bad but when I'm holding her she does wobble a bit, and sometimes she will put her head backwards and lay her head on whatever may be behind her.

Another concern is her constant yawning. Every time I hold her she yawns at least once. I had her out for about a half hour yesterday while I was on the computer and she yawned three times. And when she yawns, she will open her mouth wide and then she will do this thing where she looks like she's chewing on something. That will last a few seconds. This yawning is not after she eats.

My final concern is the abnormal scalation on her head. There are two spots where the scales almost looked pinched and are very small, and expose a tiny bit skin. I tried to take a close up picture of it.

https://38.media.tumblr.com/112a5e7c...nw8o1_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/fb4a2333...nw8o7_1280.jpg

I have taken her to the vet, in which she got a perfect report card except for her being a tad bit underweight which is being fixed. This is the most recommended reptile vet in my area. If suggested, I am willing to take her to a vet out of state. I live in New Jersey.

She doesn't have any physical symptoms of an RI or mouth rot.

She is always very eager to eat, and she gets a f/t fuzzy mouse every 4 days (I haven't offered the last time because she is in shed. I am thinking of moving her up a size after she sheds.)

She is temporarily in a 10 gallon tank with Coconut Husk Fiber for substrate. She has two hide boxes and a large water bowl that she could curl up into if she wanted. Currently I am heating the cage with Day and Night heat lamps and the cage has an ambient temperature of 85F with a 90F hot spot. Humidity is always between 55 and 70%.

She is currently in the 180 gram weight area, but I do not know her hatch date.


If anyone knows anything about these behaviors it would put my mind at ease if you could share! Apologies for long post! ;_;

- very worried snake mom