New BP, suddenly lethargic

[maggotparade]

Hi, I got my BP only about a week ago, she is only 4 months old, and has been very active, ate with no problems, has been switching between her hides, until today. She ate 4 days ago, and has been perfectly fine, stayed in her hide, and then was fairly active again. Then today, I went to check on her, and she coiled up a bit as usual, but didn't seem as energetic. I picked her up, and all her muscles seemed very slack. She still watched me, looked around, tensed if I put my hand near her head, but other than that, it almost seems as if she doesn't even have the energy to coil around my hand.

I thought maybe she way dehydrated, and couldnt find the water, so i put her head near the water and she started drinking, before slinking back to her hide.

I checked, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my husbandry. Humidity is 65-70%, ambient temp is 24 celcius, and the warm side is at 32 celcius.

There is no mucus around her nose/mouth, her scales are all in perfect condition, i don't know what's wrong with her, but I'm extremly worried.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Very active, is not normal for a ball python.
Limp is not normal for a ball python.
Is this a spider morph?

Please take a picture of your animal and your setup.
Turn the animal over on its back and observe how long it takes to right itself.
See if it can hang and support itself with the last third of its body.
Does the head shake?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

IF an animal is lethargic a vet appointment should be made immediately there is a difference between a normal hiding behavior and lethargy and no one on a forum can fix that.

[maggotparade]

Very active, is not normal for a ball python.
Limp is not normal for a ball python.
Is this a spider morph?

Please take a picture of your animal and your setup.
Turn the animal over on its back and observe how long it takes to right itself.
See if it can hang and support itself with the last third of its body.
Does the head shake?

By active I just meant when I pick her up, she'd coil up, relax after a few minutes, and then explore, coil around my hands etc. She spends 90% of her time in her hides, doesn't seem to be restless at all. She does seem to prefer her cool hide though.

No, she's a fire morph. She can turn over without too much of a problem, but is a little slow. She doesn't coil around my hand, just seems to hand from it now, but she still looks around, reacts to movement, flicks her tongue etc.
She doesn't shake her head, no.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I have to go guys. Can someone please help this young lady. Deb may be right it may have to go to the vet if it is just hanging.

[Craiga 01453]

In the picture the snake appears to be just relaxed, but it's hard to tell.

If that is tape on the INSIDE of the tub, please remove it ASAP. Tape should never be used inside a snake enclosure. It can get stuck to the snake and be very dangerous.

As for whether a vet appointment is required, I am definitely not qualified to make that call, and certainly not through the computer.

[maggotparade]

I picked her up again, and she seems a lot stronger now, nowhere near as lethargic as she was just half an hour ago. Is it possible I may have caught her when she was sleeping, so she was a little out of it? Because she seems much better now. Of course I'll still keep a very close eyes on her. It's possible I'm being just overly paranoid.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, I'll remove it! Thank you.

[Craiga 01453]

It sounds like it may have been a possible over reaction, but better safe than sorry. I'm glad you reached out for help.

Keep an eye on her and keep us posted.

[crosskira]

Is there any way she could be going into shed? My snake started doing the same thing, staying in his hide and being much more slow. I got worried for a second since it was out of character but then I realized it could be that he's in shed! And he is, it took a few days for his eyes to turn blue. I that doesn't happen soon then hopefully it's nothing bad

[Ashtray]

This happened once to one of my snakes, but when I got to the vet she was okay. Still have no idea what it was. Best of luck to the both of ya