Posted by:
s_adams
at Thu Aug 11 20:00:39 2011 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by s_adams ]
Hi,
About two years ago I took in an older (estimated age about 15 by now) Mexican black kingsnake of questionable background. Great temperament and demeanor, and visually Ok health, but clearly had not always received the best care from what I gathered from the guy who surrendered him. He went through an extended quarantine and passed all mite/parasite/illness tests: he was in perfect health, fully responsive, a pleasure to handle and happy to be left alone too. Kind of the ideal Kingsnake in a lot of ways. He's been a favorite of people who come by and are unfamiliar with handling snakes -- he's so calm and easy going he's the perfect "starter" so to speak.
And then a few days ago I found him laying upside down in his water dish. I thought he was dead -- I have never observed this behavior in a snake before. He wasn't dead, and was immediately responsive and aware of presence, and was moving -- but still upside down. The weather has been a bit strange here this season (but his temperatures haven't been greatly effected); he's never been one for soaking in his dish, so I figured he had a looming shed and just needed the extra help this time around. (He's always had clear, easy sheds.) I have been keeping my eye on him since then and it seemed to be an isolated thing, so I (perhaps naively) convinced myself that he'd just gotten himself in a funny position in the bowl.
He ate yesterday (normal sized meal, no problems at all -- he's always been an easy eater) and I just went in to check on him this afternoon. He was on his back again, not in the water this time. Again, instantly aware: he seemed in perfect health and totally normal... except ON HIS BACK. He moved in his typical kingsnakely way, except less effectively, being.. on his back.
I righted him and stayed present to observe for a while. No obvious problems with coordination, mobility, awareness. No signs of distress, discomfort, or pain. No stress, no fear or skittishness.
I will be bringing him to the vet very soon, but I want to go in with some knowledge. I've never encountered anything like this. What am I dealing with here? Is this a Kingsnake thing I don't know about? (I've read that one species of Kingsnake can "play dead" like the Hognose: is that what is happening?) No signs of external mites, injuries, swelling, etc.
Is he just getting old? I've never actually witnessed a snake start "showing his age". I know that Kingsnakes can live well beyond 15 years, but with a sketchy background, that can be shortened. (At one point his previous owner tried to breed him, for example, and he ate the female -- and survived. The previous owner just didn't know a whole lot about snake care at all, and demonstrate a complete disregard for concerns around heat/gradient, etc, and was feeding him on a "whenever" basis. I was amazed at how healthy he was when he came in, given those circumstances.)
Open to feedback, redirection, education, insight, etc. Please help in any way. As I said, vet is on my list, I just want to be able to offer some possible insights, as I don't actually know how specialized the vet around here is. I had a reptile/exotics vet until recently who relocated, and as I've never actually had to take any reptiles in other than basic check-ups, I've been stupidly lax in finding a replacement vet in a timely way.
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 Older Mexican Black Kingsnake on back? - s_adams, Thu Aug 11 20:00:39 2011
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