Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i found my ball motionless one morning 4 months ago, with his mouth opened and body all soft. i suspected respitory disease and increased the heat. after a few hours it started moving. however, he lost his sense of balance. he can't turn himself the right way up(this symptom has already disappeared) and can't constrict his food(i've been feeding him frozen rodentd since he came). but his appetite is still very good. pounding 2 hamsters weekly. but the problem till today is that the bottom third of his body is very soft, there isn't any muscle control at all. his tail is also curved upwards.
i suspect it has something to do with his nervous system. any one knows? the reason i did not take him to the vet is because he's doing fine- good weight, eating well, shedding well, etc...

The symptoms could be IBD. I really don't hope it is. Check this link for info about it. Then you can see if the symptoms are the same.

Good luck!
IBD

May I suggest you find one competent with herps and take the snake in. It could be disease, it could be injury. IF you found your dog in this condition would you just let it lay around and no do anything?
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Sonya

...considering the snake continues to do well otherwise it doesn't appear to be IBD. It definitely sounds like neuromuscular disease such as multiple sclerosis but this isn't well documented yet in snakes. There's nothing therapeutic to be done at this point that isn't experimental, such as trying Neostigmine (used in Myasthenia gravis in humans). Keep us posted! Scott J. Michaels DVM

thanks for the reply, it has been months since my ball started showing signs.. the symptoms are different from what the link says. my ball is eating well, gaining weight, no regurgitations, shedding well and all. the only problem is the soft bottom part of his body.
thanks again for the replies.

and also.. from where i come from(thailand), the herp industry isn't very big(if it's big, it's filled with WC) and there aren't any vets that treat herps. from past experiences, i've given up hope of bringing my herps to unqualified "so called" herp vets. i brought my leo gecko and carpet cham to the vet for protozon and respitory infection respectively and it didn't work(they died). they don't even know what they're suffering from and administered the wrong treatments.
so all i can do now is seach the net for symptoms(like from this forum) and know the diseases and treat it myself. i've treated my other gecko for protozon infections by using flagyl ordered from bean farm.
that's the reason why i only buy CBB herps which have a lesser chance of getting diseases if kept in proper conditions.