Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,
Never posted on this forum before, but i just aquired my first sand boa and have a question about something strange he is doing.

I got a juvi kenyan a few weeks ago. He eats fine and has shed normally. When I take him out, and occassionally when he crawls around his cage he does strange things with his head. He will arch it up over his body and sort of spin and twist over himself. In all of my experience with snakes I would think he has some sort of serious neurological problems. But I have never worked with sand boas and he appears otherwise healthy. I have read that when handled they may try to bury themsleves even with nothing to bury, resulting in strange uncoordinated motion. Is that what I am seeing? Is it normal for them to move like this?

thanks for any and all advice

Hi Zach,

What you are describing does not sound like the animal trying to burrow into a solid substrate. Unless I am misunderstanding what you are saying, it sounds like your snake is turning its head up then back and around on itself. When sand boas attempt to burrow into a solid surface (which they frequently do) they usually point their head straight down and push in an attempt to find an opening. Unfortunately, that does not help explain the behavior you are seeing. You did not mention whether or not the bevavior took place against the edge of the enclosure. If so, the snake may just be exploring and pushing up against the side of the enclosure until it falls over. If that is not the case, beyond the usual check of environmental factors, I would probably quarantine the animal and then consult a herp vet. Hope this is helpful.

Rob

I would reccomend seperating this snake from any others you may have. I had a young kenyan do the same thing to me. She eventually began to have respiritory problems. I took her to the vet and gave her a 2 week antibiotic injections 3 times a day, but she just got worse and worse. I would take it to the vet asap. FYI I ended up spending about $600 in vet and medication bills. Good luck. Let me know if I can help anymore.

Thanks for the info guys.

Has anyone here ever heard of sand boas getting inclusion body disease?

I know of a person that bred African Bush Vipers (Atheris sp.) and had to have a colony of his East African Sandboas put down. He sent off a couple of pairs to be euthanized and tested, all which indicated positive for IBD. He did house both species in the same facility. Supposedly; and don't quote me on this; Atheris sp. are sporadic(may or may not be infected) natural host(carriers) of the IBD virus.
Just a heads up.
Scott

i have a pair of sand boas and when my female was younger(hatchling) she would do some weird things like what you are saying and i too thougt that maybe it was a mental disorder. mine would stragaze and some times wrap herself up in a knot almost. almost as if she were constricting prey with no prey their. i quarentined her and she eventually stopped doing this and to this day she is a great snake. this was about 5 years ago so its been awhile.
if you are concerned i would quarentine it and if you feel it needs it i would put her down and just get another one. a 600 doller vet bill for a 60 doller snake ya just got is pointless to me.
now if it were one of my ltc then i would possibly think about it. but i put down animals as i see fit and sometimes it stinks but when it comes down to it just do what you feel is nescessary(sp)
adam

-----
hybrid breeders association
1.1 kenyan sand boas
1.1 mbk
1.5 ghost corns
0.1 striped albino corn
0.1 childrens python
0.1 albino nelsons
0.1 milksnake phase
0.1 anery motley
0.1 albino banded cal king
0.1. normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0 butter corns
1.0. snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0. amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
1.0 blizzard leo gecko
0.2 normal leo geckos
1.0 3 lined mud turtle