Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everybody,
Today I went in this morning to check my yearling female yellow ratsnake's cage to make sure it was clean and found her coiled up and twitching. She had mites and had got over them a week and a half ago after I treated her cage with Black Knight and soaked her often to drown mites on her body. She immediately went into a shed after the mites were controlled and two days ago had a flawless shed. I fed her that day (Sun) and today she is twitching badly. The food couldn't be the problem. I fed three other snakes fuzzies from the same bag of frozen I had delivered on the 2nd of June. The rodents all arrived frozen and went straight into my freezer.
Her shakes are pretty weird. Her head will shake a bit with the convulsions. She can move, but will occasionally have involuntary spasms down her body. They are similar to shivers that make it difficult for her to climb onto my arm. She'll climb and then have a spasm and have trouble with her grip. She won't fall off, but it affects her movement. Any ideas on what this could be. She's been isolated from my collection since the mites, so I hope if it's a infection she won't spread it to my other snakes. I plan to take her to a vet ASAP, but was hoping someone may know what this could be so I can get some sort of idea what’s wrong with the poor dear. It worries me to see her like this. Thanks for any input.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel

Aaron:
I'm sorry to say that probably what you are seeing is the result of exposure to the pesticide in Black Knight. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago with a different brand. Pyrethroids can cause neurological damage when snakes are exposed to high levels in the air they breath. The snake may make a full recovery but there is also the chance that some paralysis can be permanent. Make sure that no buildup (no wetness) from the Black Knight exists in the cage.

Good Luck
John

I treated my entire collection with Black Knight a while back after noticing mites on a newly aquired snake that was quarantined (I was kinda paranoid).
All my snakes were fine after treatment with the exception of one of my western hognose (which was displaying the exact symptoms you're describing). He was in such poor shape the night I noticed it that I just assumed he was surely going to die. By the next day, he was much better and the following day he was 100% better and has never had a problem since. Hopefully you will have the same luck with your snake. I pulled all the water bowls before treating and all the snakes were treated the same so I'm not sure why one snake was sensitive to the treatment. I would move the snake into a cage that has not been treated and keep your vet appt.
I hope everything turns out ok!
Chris