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I feel awful. My newest corn is about 4 months old. I try to handle her everyday because she's quite shy. Well, last night when I went to transfer her to her feeding container, just as I lifted her up, she started wriggling around like crazy!! She's never done this before. Before I could react to what she was doing, I heard and felt a very slight *snap*. I put her into the container to closely inspect her and I didn't attempt to move her for 30 minutes. As I looked her over I noticed a small lump on the top of her spine. I'm really worried, although she seems to be moving about and seems like her usual self. I was stressed out enough trying to nurse another corn(regurgitator) back to normal health and now this! I am very concerned! Could she have broken a bone from moving about so violently? What is the small lump on her spine? I would have rushed her to the vet first thing this morning but the vet is out of town till monday!
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Emily

"His will was set, and only death would break it."

Emily,
I have never heard of a corn snake snapping its own vertebrate before unless its fallen from the top of its enclosure or had a lid closed on top of it. I would make sure its cage is safe and secure. Otherwise, it could be a couple of other things. 1) a possible calcium deficiency (which still wouldn't cause its spine to snap), an internal parasitic infection (I have seen some that look as if its a bone about to protrude from the inside out...not pleasant), OR maybe it was a birth defect that you did not notice until now (born with a kink in its spine would be more common and probable than it spontaneously snapping its spine from moving around crazy. Otherwise, when it was moving around, did you use any force or pressure to try and hold her in place so she wouldn't dart off? I'm not saying you caused it or anything, its just that I've never heard of that happening before (but that doesn't necessarily mean it has never happened). If it is a kink or a spinal injury, I'm not sure there is much a vet could do to help you. If your other corn is regurgitating, are they kept together? I might be more inclined to say it could be a parasite, but that you would need a vet to get help with. Let us know what happens.
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>>OR maybe it was a birth defect that you did not notice until now

This is very possible, I may not have looked her over before as closely as I have now knowing there may be an injury. You mentioned spinal injuries can be related from falling inside the enclosure, this is also possible because she does do laps at night around the lip on the top of the tank.

>>Otherwise, when it was moving around, did you use any force or pressure to try and hold her in place so she wouldn't dart off?

As she started squirming I did grasp her so she wouldn't fall out of my hand and onto the floor. I wouldn't say it was forceful but enough to keep a flailing snake in my hand till I reached the feeding container about 4 feet away.

>>If it is a kink or a spinal injury, I'm not sure there is much a vet could do to help you.

I suspected this. But she is moving about fine in the evenings as she usually does. It hasn't affected her as far as I can tell, I lightly touched the lump and she didn't respond as if it were painful. What's getting me is the small snap or pop that I heard when it happened, definately strange.

>>If your other corn is regurgitating, are they kept together? I might be more inclined to say it could be a parasite, but that you would need a vet to get help with.

No, I house them individually. The regurge was due to a meal being too large. Otherwise I have never had any problems with them or noticed anything out of the ordinary before. Regardless, I will set up a time to get her to the vet just incase.
Thanks for the input, it took a little bit of the load off.
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Emily

"His will was set, and only death would break it."