Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm having a weird issue with my male Crawl Cay Boa. I've only had him since September and he's been fine until yesterday.

He hasn't been eating for the past 3 weeks, and I went to try to feed him again tonight, left the mouse in with him a few moments (have only gotten him to eat live lately) and then I noticed he was upside down! I immediately took the mouse out as well as his water dish and put him in my quarantine room. When he's not moving, he looks perfectly normal, but when he goes to move, his head cranes off to one side and he spins it around upside down. His tail waves around in the air like he's trying to grab something. His tongue doesn't seem to be working well, sometimes it flicks out, other times it just sits out. He doesn't seem aware of much when that happens. He has not been regurgitating, has been shedding fine, no weight loss, and when placed on his back, he rights himself immediately. There are no pest strips in my room, or other chemicals-and all the other babies on the same rack as this one are fine. He made it through last night, but still does the twisting thing with his head. I last tried to feed him about 3 days ago, and he killed his mouse, but didn't eat it.

Unfortunately I can't make it to my vet today-we got 10 inches of snow dumped on us last night and they closed the roads.

Every other snake I own seems to be ok so far. This really sucks, as he's one of my more expensive snakes. His sibling, a female, is twice as large as he is, and seems to be fine.

-cat
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http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

Is there a chance he was overheated. What you are describing sounds alot like the symptoms. The only boa I have ever lost was overheated. It more or less fried his brain. I would look into this possibility before I freaked out about illness. Unfortunately if he was overheated the brain damage is irreversible. I have also heard of parasites causing similar behavior. Hope I could help.
Chris

WOW! This is the 3rd time these symptoms have been posted in less than a week,I wonder whats going on?I posted about what happened yesterday and said that I had a few theries.For the sake of time I did not post them all last night.But here is the one Im leaning towards.There does not seem to be a whole lot of peaple that know about these symptoms,I have been herping for about 18 years now and Ive never even seen them.Until now.
I have heard that small animals are more suceptible to this illness and that would explain why the 4 1/2ft. guyana that I housed wiyh my 2 1/2ft. albino has not died.Whenever the guyana was only a few months old she would twist her head and not seem to have good balance.But i think possibly she out grew the illness because she quit about a year ago and then a month after I put the albino with her he gets the same symptoms and dies a week later.
I just know this is very strange and troubleing.I do not Know if it is IBD or some other parasite?Maybe someone can post some sort of an answer.

http://www.kingsnake.com/ssi/php3/sponsor/redirect.php3?id=38&url=http://www.LLLReptile.comhttp://www.kingsnake.com/ssi/php3/sponsor/redirect.php3?id=38&url=http://www.LLLReptile.com>>WOW! This is the 3rd time these symptoms have been posted in less than a week,I wonder whats going on?I posted about what happened yesterday and said that I had a few theries.For the sake of time I did not post them all last night.But here is the one Im leaning towards.There does not seem to be a whole lot of peaple that know about these symptoms,I have been herping for about 18 years now and Ive never even seen them.Until now.
>> I have heard that small animals are more suceptible to this illness and that would explain why the 4 1/2ft. guyana that I housed wiyh my 2 1/2ft. albino has not died.Whenever the guyana was only a few months old she would twist her head and not seem to have good balance.But i think possibly she out grew the illness because she quit about a year ago and then a month after I put the albino with her he gets the same symptoms and dies a week later.
>> I just know this is very strange and troubleing.I do not Know if it is IBD or some other parasite?Maybe someone can post some sort of an answer.

I'm hoping someone knows.. This was totally sudden, there was no warning for my little crawl cay at all.

He's still alive, in quarantine. All he does is sit on his heat pad, I've had to hold his head in the water dish to get him to drink-otherwise, I have not seen him drink.

-cat
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http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

HI,I am so sorry about your snake.I have a regular colmbian that did about the same thing,I took hi to the vet cause I was so freaked out the did a blood workup and said it ws posssibley a parasite or virus thenever really knew but she gave him antibiotics and a couple of steroid injections and he is doing ok.He will never be the same and does have the nuerological symptoms is what I called the head going to the side.During that time his eyes weree not dialated the same and now the one that was not right is.Thank god they saved him.I was affraid maybe it was in the food?I don't now but she said it was'nt IBD as much as I thought it was.I guess he will always have he heead that kinda goes to one side but other than that he eeats and is fine so I'm happy.The otherr ones in the cagee with him were all fine but as soon as I noticed the symptoms I did quarrantein him,and now he is back with his brother & sister the vet said it was ok.Do you feed frozen?Where do you buy from?Just curious.I hope this helps even a little.Hope he gets better.I'd get to the vet as soon as you can still,good luck,SONDRA

HI,I am so sorry about your snake.I have a regular colmbian that did about the same thing,I took hi to the vet cause I was so freaked out the did a blood workup and said it ws posssibley a parasite or virus thenever really knew but she gave him antibiotics and a couple of steroid injections and he is doing ok.He will never be the same and does have the nuerological symptoms is what I called the head going to the side.During that time his eyes weree not dialated the same and now the one that was not right is.Thank god they saved him.I was affraid maybe it was in the food?I don't now but she said it was'nt IBD as much as I thought it was.I guess he will always have he heead that kinda goes to one side but other than that he eeats and is fine so I'm happy.The otherr ones in the cagee with him were all fine but as soon as I noticed the symptoms I did quarrantein him,and now he is back with his brother & sister the vet said it was ok.Do you feed frozen?Where do you buy from?Just curious.I hope this helps even a little.Hope he gets better.I'd get to the vet as soon as you can still,good luck,SONDRA

I don't think his food had anything to do with it. The last ones he ate were live fuzzies from a local mouse breeder. The female has always eaten f/t with a few times of live from the same mouse breeder with no problems.

I just fed the last of my snakes today-and all the others are eating fine.

-cat
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

I have had 2 snakes with this in the last 2 years. One was an adult Honduran Firebelly( 18 mos ago) and the other a Triv rosy (3 wks ago). Both died. The general veterinay opinion around here seems to be a viral infection similar to menengitis which attacks the nuerological system.. Once you notice the symptoms it is usually too late to treat it and death occurs within a day or two. As soon as you notice it....remove effected snake to separate room and disinfect the area around where it was kept. My snakes were not over heated and had been eating great. The rosy was in brumation and not on heat at all. I dont think it was anything i did or didnt do......that is the odd thing...how do you know how to prevent something that you dont know what caused it? Good luck with your snake, but dont be surprized if it doesnt make it. Sad....... susan

>>I have had 2 snakes with this in the last 2 years. One was an adult Honduran Firebelly( 18 mos ago) and the other a Triv rosy (3 wks ago). Both died. The general veterinay opinion around here seems to be a viral infection similar to menengitis which attacks the nuerological system.. Once you notice the symptoms it is usually too late to treat it and death occurs within a day or two. As soon as you notice it....remove effected snake to separate room and disinfect the area around where it was kept. My snakes were not over heated and had been eating great. The rosy was in brumation and not on heat at all. I dont think it was anything i did or didnt do......that is the odd thing...how do you know how to prevent something that you dont know what caused it? Good luck with your snake, but dont be surprized if it doesnt make it. Sad....... susan

I'm not going to be surprised, unfortunately. Having been around people with neurological problems most my life, there's a general understanding that 90% do not recover.

He was kept in his own shoebox in a rack. The other snakes next to him in the rack appear to have no symptoms so far. When I noticed the problem, I immediately moved him, and his box, to quarantine.

I noticed one more thing this morning when looking in on him. He appears to have a skin problem-2" down from his head, the skin is puckered, looks burnt-but I never use a heat lamp with my herps and his heat pad only gets to 95. What could cause this?

-cat
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

This sounds like dehydration. If it is so uncoordinated, then it porbably cant drink either. Not looking good. You could try subcu sterile fluids from your vet, but actually this sounds pretty hopeless. Gosh i am so sorry! susan

>>This sounds like dehydration. If it is so uncoordinated, then it porbably cant drink either. Not looking good. You could try subcu sterile fluids from your vet, but actually this sounds pretty hopeless. Gosh i am so sorry! susan

I've been trying to give him fluids, just giving him little amounts for now via tube-but its something. I have not seen him drink on his own since his symptoms showed up.

-cat
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

Ya,my albino's scales were also a little odd.I don't know about burnt but kind of sticking out.I think your rite about the dehydration. Do any of you guys that have seen these symptoms house any pythons around your boas?

>>Ya,my albino's scales were also a little odd.I don't know about burnt but kind of sticking out.I think your rite about the dehydration. Do any of you guys that have seen these symptoms house any pythons around your boas?

I have pythons in the same room, but not in the same cage. None of them have shown any "odd" behavior.

-cat
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

The reason I ask about the pythons is that my vet showed me an article that said that some species can simply harbor the disease and not show signs but pass the illness on to other reptiles.And that could explain my albino getting it because he was housed with a guyana that came from someone who had alot of pythons in the same room with the boas.

>>The reason I ask about the pythons is that my vet showed me an article that said that some species can simply harbor the disease and not show signs but pass the illness on to other reptiles.And that could explain my albino getting it because he was housed with a guyana that came from someone who had alot of pythons in the same room with the boas.

From what I've been told, Pythons show symptoms WAY before a boa will. Boas can harbor IBD and not show symptoms for years-and yes, still pass it on.

None of the pythons I have in my room are showing signs of illness *yet* but I am keeping them under close watch. VERY close watch.

-cat
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

http://www.vetmed.ufl.edu/sacs/wildlife/IBDINFO.html