Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone I need some help on what to do. I just recieved a boa this morning that I had bought last week, and he doesn't look too well. His head will move side to side a little bit, almost like it is quivering. Also when he looks up his head will kind of flop over before he catches hisself. I'm afraid of what it might be,IBD. I called the person I bought him from but there was no answer, just an answering machine. Maybe they will get back to me later. I can't believe they sent a snake out like that. Any ideas?

just in case the snake is suffering from dehydration. Also, if the seller treated the snake for mites just prior to shipping to you, the snake could be suffering from chemical intoxication, in which case, the soaking will also help the snake to detoxify.

By all means keep trying to get a hold of the seller to advise of the situation. Make sure your temperatures are correct, 82-85 with a hot spot of 90-92.

If you haven't already, quarantine this snake away from the rest of your collection. I would not freak out and think that it has IBD just yet, it could be a lot of other things that a good vet can help you diagnose.

Get the snake over to a reptile vet, preferably someone who specializes in snakes, and have it examined. If the snake takes a poop, put the poop in a ziploc and get it over to the vet asap so they can do a fecal.

I hope this helps. Good Luck and I hope your snake gets better.

Alex

This poor fella is having a hard time. He can't seem to control his head and neck. If I tilt him to one side his head and neck falls over before he can catch himself. I'll get him to a vet as soon as possible (next week) but any more info would be great.

was shipped, you never know what he went through. He may have been exposed to extreme heat, kicked around, etc. Heat or other trauma may have caused the condition. Obviously to be safe, you need to keep him away from any other reptiles. There is no way to know at this point what is going on with the poor little guy. It is easy to accuse the shipper, and he may be at fault. The problem is that you never know. The shipping company may have done this.

Phil Goss

We are on our way to the vet now. I told her the symptoms and I hate to say it but she was not very optimistic. I'll post again when we get back. By the way the temps here last night was in the lower 60s. He was here at 9:30 am.

I cant believe the suggestions in this thread as a cure for a stressed snake.Compounding the issue even worse by human interaction is hardly "Gonna Fix" the problem.
If you cant get it to a Vet,put it in a cage under proper conditions and DONT MESS With it !!
Nice and dark and human free is a far better remedy/cure then some anal human with a book full of "assumptive cures" on a mission to "FIX IT"!!

M/
Nothing worse then piss-poor advise !

>>Hey everyone I need some help on what to do. I just recieved a boa this morning that I had bought last week, and he doesn't look too well. His head will move side to side a little bit, almost like it is quivering. Also when he looks up his head will kind of flop over before he catches hisself. I'm afraid of what it might be,IBD. I called the person I bought him from but there was no answer, just an answering machine. Maybe they will get back to me later. I can't believe they sent a snake out like that. Any ideas?