Super Mojave Wobble?

[Melodys]

I acquired what was sold to me as a 2015 Super Mojave about two weeks ago. We noticed on the first day that the snake had a slight head tremor when excited. I have never observed this in any of my other balls. I at first chalked this up to the snake being “nervous”. He has fed twice. Both times he shook a lot before striking and missed the first strike. He shed in one piece last week and shows no signs of infection. My husband is telling me that he acts like he has the spider gene. We do not have any spiders in our collection so we do not have much firsthand experience with wobble. Last night when we checked him in our isolation rack he was doing a full on “spider dance” just like the videos on you tube, corkscrewing the first third of his body in the air. We tried to get it on video but he stopped before we captured anything. We got him out and got in some really good light to look at the pattern and we believe from what we can see that there is a very good possibility he is spider. It is just very hard to tell with BELs. It just doesn’t make any sense that we would have been sold a Super Mojave that was really a Super Mojave Spider. Has anyone ever heard of a Super Mojave demonstrating wobble?

[TheSnakeEye]

Only seen that when there's another gene at play (Spider)... It's very possible you received a snake that has another gene there that the breeder wasn't able to confirm. Try putting it under a black light.

[dr del]

Hi,

There are a few things that can result in similar movements - mainly overheating and toxic chemicals but some parasites also cause it.

What are your temps in the areas the snake spends his time in?

Are you using any fresh pine ( not kiln dried ) or cedar or treating for mites etc?

Black lights are good for seeing any pattern on BELS so if you can take pictures of his pattern under one of those that should clarify the spider gene question.

[Melodys]

Thank you for the replies. Temps and humidity are good. We keep our entire collection on paper towels. No insecticides have been used and there are no signs of mites. We are going to get a black light and take some pictures tonight. Hopefully someone that is more knowledgeable about the spider morphs can help us out after we take the pics.
This was supposed to be the daddy for some purple passions and super mojaves when he matured, however if he turns out to be spider I am not quite sure what should be done with him. We had not intended to have or breed spiders. I am guessing that if he is spider he is worth a little more than he was sold to us for. Should he be bred?

[SmoothScales]

http://www.owalreptiles.com/spider.php

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[Melodys]

Thank you for the link on the spider gene.
I have uploaded some pics of the super mojave under a black light. Does it look like it has the spider gene?

[redshepherd]

I also have a BEL (Super Lesser) who also acts loopy and what's similar to the spider wobble, but without the spider gene. My husbandry is on point, and never was introduced to chemicals. I concluded that it might just be neurological issues caused by issues during incubation with the breeder.

But I'll be following this thread to see if there are any other possibilities.. :o

[Galaxygirl]

Thank you for the replies. Temps and humidity are good. We keep our entire collection on paper towels. No insecticides have been used and there are no signs of mites. We are going to get a black light and take some pictures tonight. Hopefully someone that is more knowledgeable about the spider morphs can help us out after we take the pics.
This was supposed to be the daddy for some purple passions and super mojaves when he matured, however if he turns out to be spider I am not quite sure what should be done with him. We had not intended to have or breed spiders. I am guessing that if he is spider he is worth a little more than he was sold to us for. Should he be bred?

Don't see why you wouldn't want to breed him, it's just an added gene that also looks very nice when put with those combos. Every spider has a wobble of varying degree, and it isn't much to worry about.

[Naraku]

My Orange Ghost also has a wobble and it can occur in any setting/outside cage.

[JodanOrNoDan]

This is getting interesting. I am pretty new to ball python genetics but not to animal breeding in general. Could we be breeding too "hot"? I think it would be pretty hard to miss the spider gene in an Orange Ghost. I am going to breed primarily just as a hobby, but my four year plan targets multi-super animals as well as Cherry Bombs. It would be good to know how close I can breed before I start having issues. I watched a Pearl last night on youtube, which I assume was an unintended result, that acted like something out of the Exorcist because the neurological issues were so bad. Is there anyone out there with better eyes than mine that can tell if the OP's animal is a spider? Is anyone else out there experiencing "wobble" in an animal that is not related to known "wobblers" and cannot be attributed to insecticide or other external issues?

To be clear, I am not attempting to have a debate on whether spiders should or should not be bred, just whether there could be a line breeding issue also.