Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a litter of normal boas in May. One of the babies was born a little premature, but held on alright.

She lacked complete development of her cranial region...she just looks like the top of her head has a little lump...i assumed that as she shed and aged that it would go away.

anyhow, she seemed to be doing fine, she shed and has been eating.

Just recently shes been showing neurolgoical distress problems, corking her head back, moving in weird directions sporadically, turning upside down without being able to right her self up, bitging herself....

I don't think she's going to make it. My question is, why did this happen if she seemed to be doing fine. One othe thing to note is that although she's had like 8 meals, she hasn't grown, her front end looks loose and thin, and she is very lethargic.

Is this normal with premies or do i have a whole other problem?

I've never heard of this, so I can't be much help. I would suggest quarantining the animal in question just in case its something else.
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0.1 Het Albino
1.0 DH-Sunglow
1.0 TH-Moonglow
0.1 Poss. Het Albino

OK, I'm just guessing here. I think there's a possibility that your preemie could be hydrocephalic. Basically he/she could have water on the brain. I've never actually seen it in a preemie boa, but I have seen it in preemie dogs and cats. What happens is, for some reason, they'll get a build up of fluids around the brain. This causes pressure on the brain. Sometimes the skull will swell a bit. It can swell quite a bit if the skull hasn't closed up all the way. A Vet can do surgery on a larger animal. They put in a drainage tube to releave the pressure. I don't think this can be done on a baby boa. Anyway you mentioned the abnormal cranial development. The bump you mentioned could be a sign of fluid build up. Of course, it could be just a bump too. Now, if it is Hydorcephalus the fluids would be crushing the brain. It would lead to siezures and neurological disfunction. You animal would become lethargic. Eventually it would cause death. Now, I'm not sure this is what is happening with your boa. I do know that it's usually a congenital condition, but not always. I've only seen this contition in preemie animals. I've never seen any Hydrycephalus animals that was caused by a congential condition.

I think the rest of your litter should be fine, but if your preemie doesn't make it you might want to have a necorpsy done. That way you'll know for sure what happened.

thanks for your insight..i am convinced that's it. I just don't see how it could be anything else.

At this point i don't think she'll make it but i'll keep you posted once i do a necorpcy.

Thanks.
J.C.

I am also not sure and a picture of the boa would help...but you say it was born with a lump on the head....I would suspect either a tumor or skull plates were deformed or even an abcess...if the lump was there during growth...further growing would cause pressure on the brain either from fluid as pasteldream said or (mass) pressure...Maybe a vet would know more...Take care, Andy
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