"First off Ill say Im going to try and find a reptile vet in my area, but Im in the middle of nowhere so that might be tough to do. I have an anery het albino newborn that is acting sick. I noticed that when she is moving around her cage it looks almost like she has trouble keeping her balance, rocking back and forth. She is kind of twitching a little also."

OK, so your boa is acting a bit different. That doesn't always mean they're sick. Now when she's doing this rocking thing. How much of her body is off the cage floor. Is it just her head or more like 1/4 of her body and is she sort of "searching" around? How old is this baby boa?? Is this boa in shed? Now the tiwtching thing. Sometimes when a boa is startled they'll suddenly jerk. Much like you would if someone popped a ballon behind you and you didn't see it comming. If you're observing your boa from a distance and it's still doing that "twitch" thing.... Actually I've never seen a boa twitch. I've seen one jerk from being startled, but never a twitch. Even a boa with a neurological problem doesn't "twitch". So...... From the first part of your post, and without more info, I don't see much of a problem. BTW not all baby boas lay coiled up. Some are more curious than others. Some search around the cage for hours and are very active. These very active boas will lay around the cage rather than coiled up. They constantly search their cage from top to bottom. Depending on how much of their body is off the ground they might "appear" to rock.

Now if your boa is rocking really badly and flipping over you might have a problem.


"Today I noticed her mouth was slightly cracked open on one side."

Sometimes snakes "yawn". They don't always close their mouths back perfectly. Sometimes they'll fix it right away and sometimes it will be a few hours. Most of the time they fix it right away. If her mouth is a bit open and fluid or bubbles are present then you might have an RI going. RI's can be caused by dirty cages, exposure to another snake that's got an RI, extremely cold temps for a long period of time. Normally it takes 7 days of cold temps in the lower 70's to High 60's to do it.

"I have several others in the same rack with the exact same temps and conditions, 89 on the warm end and mid to upper 70's on the cool end,none of them are showing any of this behavior."

Boas are individuals. They don't all act the same way to the same condidtions. Most will thrive in the conditions you have them set up in. Others need a bit more care. You might want to give that one snake a bit more attention, but definately "ISOLATE HER".

"She eats once every week and doesn't have any trouble defacating. If anyone has had any problems like this please let me know what I can do. thanks"

The #1 thing you look for in determining if a snake is sick is..... DOES IT EAT! If she's eating and defacating she's probably not sick. A sick boa normally doesn't eat. Of course, I'm sure there are exceptions to that rule. I'm sure those exceptions would be few and far between.

It's always a good idea to have a reliable Reptile Vet. Even if your snake is 100% healthy it's always a good idea to take it in for a checkup. With proper care a Boa will "never" get sick. The 2 main ways a boa gets sick is improper husbandry and exposure to a sick animal. Also some people believe that mites can cause illness. I don't know if mites can make your snakes sick, but they do make them unconfortable.

Since you are concerned about this one boa you should "TAKE HER TO THE VET" as soon as you're able. If she's actually sick they can treat her. If she's not...... Well, if she's not then it's worth the price of a vet trip for a little peace of mind for you.

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• RE: Sick boa, any advise would help out - PastelDream, Tue Aug 29 12:21:53 2006