Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About two weeks ago my friend told me one of his snakes is sick. It regerged it's last meal and he said she was disoriented. Then I saw the snake this last sunday, she looks like she's tweekin on meth. When he picked her up she rolled her head and seemed to not be able to tell which way is up. She continued the alarming head movements when he placed her on the bed.
Now he's been telling me his heat pad shorted and she got heat stroke. I think this is BS and have been trying to get him to take his snake to the vet. Now she is a 2 year old high pink red tail, and he does have it housed with his 4 month old guyana. They have been housed since the first day he brought the guyana home. The guyana seems normal and is eating well, but the red tail hasn't eaten since it gerged 2 weeks ago.
And no this isn't me trying to use the "my friend" excuse, all 3 of my snakes are healthy He just "knows" more about snakes then I do, I'm new to the hobby but like to learn. So I need your help to convince him to do something besides nurse the thing.

A couple of questions first.

Are the two snakes that are kept in the same cage about the same size. If there has been an over heat problem the smaler snake will be effected before the larger one. The larger one has more mass. It will take longer to heat up.

Second question. If there has been no over heat issue there is a chance that the snake may have endo parasites (worms or coccidiosis). If the snake has worms there is a possiblity that the snake may be reacting to the toxcicity (sp) caused from having them. I would recommend that you take it to a vet to get a fecal sample read. If you don't want to take it to a vet go to your local feed store and get the shelf equivelant of Panacure. I believe it's called "Safe Guard". This is an oral medication designed for horses, but works pretty good as a broad spectrum worm all with snakes. Call your vet to get information on corrct dosage.

Good luck

Brian Gundy / For Goodness Snakes
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well,heat stroke could cause this but then again the guyana would be affected as well. IBD is another possibility, and if so the guyana could be a carrier with no symptoms. i would say that this kind of central nervous system problem (ie: head rolling, unable to right itself )would have nothing to do with the worms that panacur would take care of. i looked this up in the "the boa constrictor manual' by de Vosjoli and dr klingenberg, and it lists the following as causes : "meningitis,encephalitis,sometimes called "star gazing",also caused by excess heat,bacteria,viruses, tumors, trauma, and (rarely) by amoebic protozoans" sooooo........get it to a vet, and have him quarantine the other boa. snakes can be carriers of IBD for many months... so worst case scenario here would be snake has IBD and dies,your friend never takes it to vet to determine cause of death, guyana is a non symptomatic carrier, you handle snake and then handle yours, your collection gets IBD, or worse he sells that snake....encourage him to get the snake to a good reptile vet!! hope this helps, john yocum