Boa Health Declining Quickly- Advice Needed

[Bogertophis]

Thank you for your responses. I'm going to call the vet on Monday first thing. I hope I will be able to get him in quickly.

I dont have any other reptiles, so unless he has something that could pass to dogs or cats, I think that there shouldn't be an issue.

I have looked at his poop but never seen anything too concerning in it, but I will save his next poop to get it tested.

He has never overheated to my knowledge. I have always had his cage on thermostats, one for each heating element with the probes directly above the heating pads on the bottom of the PVC cage, secured with thermal tape. The CHE is for ambient temperatures more than it is a basking area, but I do monitor the area directly below it and the branch next to it to make sure they're not getting too hot. Where I live it can get very cold in the winters, which is why i invested in a PVC cage so early.

He has never eaten live rodents to my knowledge, and I have always fed him f/t rodents. He might have as a hatchling though.

I fed him today. He has gotten worse since the last I fed him. He curled into a tight ball like a curly fry at first and was striking somewhat everywhere. He bit and dropped the rodent twice, I wasnt sure he was going to take it. When he did finally start to eat it after I helped a little, he kept spinning around while doing so and started bobbing up and down afterwards, before going to his favourite digesting branch. I have seen him lying on his back while eating before, and he has never been the most accurate, but this was much worse than I have seen before. It will be at least two days before the vet opens and I may not get into the vet that day either though I hope that I will.

The vet you're planning to see does have plenty of experience with snakes & other reptiles, right? (I know some vets will see anything just to help out, but reptile medicine is quite different, so hopefully yours is listed with ARAV.)

The stool has to be fresh (same day, preferably much less than full day) for the vet to see much. They do a fecal float & use magnification (microscope) to check- not likely you'd see anything.

It sounds like you've given him very good care (though I agree w/ previous post that the highest temps. could be a couple- 2-3- degrees lower). I kept a BCI for many years, btw.

His symptoms (loss of coordination) seem to be neurological & serious, I'm sorry to say. I'm very glad this is your only reptile right now, so you don't have to worry about contagion to others. And no, it's very unlikely to be anything that dogs or cats could catch- that's one big difference with our cold-blooded pals. They can't pass much to us either.

Any chance he's been exposed to some sort of toxic chemical? That's another possible explanation for this sort of thing.

I hope the vet can help with whatever this is- & I hope you'll update us here too.