Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hate to be posting here but need some help. I have a 5 year old Columbian Boa, family pet until this years breeding season.
-I placed my Jungle male with her and no signs of breeding.
-She is kept in an Animal Plastics 4x2 with underbelly heat provided by a heat cable.
-Helix DB1000 keeps her hotside at 85 and cool side in the 70's depending on the air temps in the house.
-I live in Florida so our humidity is generally 60 to 90%
-She has been eating her jumbo rats weekly
-Yesterday I noticed that she kept her head elevated as if she was looking over something.
-I took her out today and she feels limp as if she cannot hold onto my arms.
-Her head and neck bend back toward her tail and she moves it left to right, almost a "Ray Charles" type of movement.
-Her gums are pale white, but no excessive mucous or saliva. I saw this once back in the early 90's with one of my first Albino Burms and the vet called it Stargazer, some Baytril and it cured up.
Any ideas guys? She is a gorgeous breeder and I want to save her.

Here is a pic from a few weeks ago, she was normal then.

How long have you had the jungle male in your collection, and have you added any other snakes to your collection in the last year?

Kelly

I bought the Jungle in Nov, and then a new Striped Boa just a few weeks ago, but the stripe has been segregated from the rest of my collection.

The Jungle "appears" healthy, no outward signs of disease, no mites, eats well. He is an 04'

Are you thnking that he may have something and gave it to her?

Whenever "stargazing" is brought up, there is concern of Boid Inclusion Body Disease. It is very possible that the jungle is a latent carrier of the disease, and your female is now succombing to it. If treatment fails and she dies, definately get her necrospied, and specifically ask to check for IBD. The results will be significant for the rest of your household. In the mean time, quarantine everything, seperate animals and the collection as a whole.

Now there is an equal chance that this is not stargazing and/or not IBD. Lets cross our fingers eh This would be the case as had happened with your burmese. Toxins, bacterial infections, encephalitis, and a few other things can cause these symptoms. It could also be something entirely out of the blue.

Either way, your snake is incoordinated, weak, and/or limp. It's vet time!

Good luck!

Ian

Will let everyone know the outcome....thanks for your help.

Your vet will probably tell you this first, but here is my input. if this is stargazing, then one of the following is most likely happening:
- vitamin B1 deficiency
- septicemia
- encephalitis
- toxicity
- parsite migration
also, this could be a loss of motor skills or coordination caused by parasites. I don't know if you have used a pest strip lately, but they can cause incoordination. I am intersted in what the vet tells you and what the test results show. Please post them.
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Passion, Enthusiasm, Conservation
ReptileGuy99

Turns out that he stated that she fell to toxicity. I have been racking my brain to figure it out, but not really sure at this point. None of my others are having this issue.

He flushed her out, and she is doing better. She is a little wobbly when you hold her but she can now move and appears to function normally. Time will tell.