Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
I have a yearling boa, and it seems like her muscle tone is going slightly downhill. She used to feel fairly solid virtually all of the time, but now she has a "cushy" layer that i can feel. It is kind of hard to exlain, except that it feels like a thin layer of fat that i havent felt before. When she is moving around on me and flexes it mostly goes away, but she definitely feels softer then she used to. She is on a normal feeding schedule (1 small appropriate sized rat a week), and does not look obese at all. The only thing i can think of that would cause this is that she is very inactive in her enclosure, generally not moving from her hide all day. I take her out daily and make sure she gets some exercise, so is this anything to worry about?
if this doesnt seem normal, what else can i do to help improve her muscle tone?
thanks in advance guys

Sounds like she may have some nasty bacteria in her system that is making her look like that...

I would suggest supplementing her food and water with Bene-Bac and/or Nutri-Bac while you take her to the Vet and get a thorough exam done.

Best wishes. -Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I'll definitely look into that, but from what I can tell it seems unlikely. She doesn't LOOK any different, she just feels a bit softer. I have honestly only held a handful of red tails before, so its hard for me to know exactly what should feel normal and what is a little off. She has never been to the vet so far though, so a trip there would be a good idea anyways. How exactly would a bacterial infection or something similar cause the the softness that I'm seeing?

PS. does anyone know of a good reptile vet in the Santa Cruz, California area? I dont have a car otherwise it would be easy to go to the bay area or berkeley, where i know they have a good reptile vet.

it kind of seems like the skin is softer, or looser, or almost floating...?

it's almost like when one becomes bloated from gas and upset stomach..
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

Yes the skin and a pretty thin layer of flesh beneath it feels both softer and a little looser. Its definitely not even super noticable, my non-informed friends cant really tell much of a difference. The softness will go away when she is flexing those muscles, but when relaxed she used to feel a bit more solid.
I hope that helps clear up what i am trying to explain.

Joe is right, anytime you take a boa to a boa expert vet or have him visit and skim over your collection the first thing they look for is muscle tone, that is the mother of all signs somethings not right with the animal. it cold be a bunch of things that each require specific meds. have your animal checked and tests ran on stools and bodily fluid flushes as soon as possible.