Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Saturday evening while checking on the herps, I noticed my male tranpecos at the back of his cage close to the heat tape that is mounted down the back of the rack with his belly up down the last two thirds or so of his body. When I saw him I was freaking out because he looked dead at first with that odd convoluted look. He was fine and when I went to pick him up he straightened out and tried to crawl away with no problem. I noticed him doing the same thing this evening. Once again he appears fine, but I have never seen him do this before until Saturday!! Has any one seen this type of behaviour in transpecos rats before?

I've always wondered if snakes in general do this from time to time to alleviate being on their bellies 24-7, 365 a year. Kind of like stretching, or just getting into a different position, maybe he was "cracking" his back! I've not seen it in my subocs, but have seen it in more than a few different species in my collection. like you say, when they are discovered, they recover quickly, like they were caught doing something, lol!
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Todd Hughes

LOL!! Well he refused his meal last night and I was a bit worried. However, his eyes were definitely cloudy this morning and apparently he is going into shed. Otherwise he appears just fine LOL!! Maybe stretching that old skin out abit in preparation of shedding.

Last night as he was feeding on two small, adult mice, he turned a good portion of his body upside down. He kept it that way as he "massaged" the food farther down his body.

At the time, it looked to me like he was just being very relaxed, or very lazy.

Plenty of rough textures and hide spots should give your snake plenty of exercise to prevent any muscular

Your snake is probably just fine, but you'll monitor it for awhile as a responsible precaution.

I would recommend you do the same with your texas rat, as he is a new acquistion, most likely WC, and may be harboring something you dont want the rest of your collection getting!!!

could it be he was trying to heat up ?...I guess you already thought that.....temps?...could they be bumped up a bit?....

just thoughts.....
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......JY