Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got a pair of adopted 13 year old Hogg Islands today. The female is massive in my opinion. She's over 6 feet and very good weight. But she acts like she has IBD. That's the best way to describe it. The previous owners said she has exhibited the same behavior in the more than a year that they had her. So it's obviously not that or she'd be dead by now. Their vet didn't know what could cause it but a friend of mine that is a vet and also has his own Hoggs said it could be an equilibrium problem. So my question is, has anyone else ever seen this in snakes, particularly boas?

She twists and turns constantly with her neck and she hasn't stopped moving since she got here 14 hours ago. I've never seen a snake this active or contort itself like this. She makes moves with her neck like roller coaster loops. Bangs her head off of everything. My friend also suggested that a strong antibiotic could possibly cure it. He's going to look at her tomorrow. Any comments are appreciated. I think this is pretty interesting. Just wondering if it's as uncommon as I think it is. I guess I should mention that other than being a schizo, she's in perfect health and the male is also fine except for the end stages of a respiratory infection. I'd really like to get them both up to perfect health. They seem to be really nice animals.

I hope you didn't bring these animals home and place them in an established collection. Please, if you did, quarantine them in another room now.

Other things that I can think of other than environmental factors or trauma that will cause these symptoms are amoebic encephalitis and bacterial meningitis. Both are probably treatable with antimicrobials or antibiotics.

You should also understand that it is not unreasonable or unusual for a boa to take over a year to succumb to Inclusion Body Disease. Pythons normally go down much faster, usually within a few months.