Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,
I have a boa that is dying and i need help. after school i came home and went to the boas cage only to find it lieing there, motionless. I picked him up and still, he didnt move, so i went into thekingsnake chat room and asked what to do. they said to move him in a tub of shallow water. i did, its a little more active but seems brain damaged. ive seen it flicker its tounge once, its opening and closing its mouth a lot and when i flip him over, belly up, he fliped back over.
can you pleas help?
thanks,
Craig Condon
here is a video of the sick snake

A soak can help, but only if its dehydrated. Was it exposed to a high heat or chemicals? Has it been sick in the past? Has it been listless for several days? You shouldn't give up on him, but I don't want to color up the situation either... this is grave.
Good luck, and sorry-
Matt

ok,
hes doing a bit better, he is flickering his tail a bit more, and he is not limp when i pick him up. He is moving his head a lot side to side though. what does that meen?
craig condon

i meen flickering his tounge more. I have a scheduled apointment for the vet at 5:00
craig

Sounds like a neurological disorder to me. I.B.D.???
I'm no expert in this field, so maybe someone else with more experience will chime in.
Best of luck to you and your little boa.
- E

Makes me sick. A lot of a pet/owner relationship is about daily care and catching sickness immediately, not waiting up to the last second and THEN getting help. If you just bought this boa(Rainbow?), take it back to where you got it from and demand a refund. If this boa has been in your care for a period of time, reptiles are obviously not for you. Keep the rats in the background as pets or just skip pets altogether.
Later-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula
2100 Stephens #116
Missoula, Montana 59801
406 541 9929

the snake is dong MUCH better, he was dehydrated. He was
healthy enough that i put him back in his cage. this is not my first reptile, if it was, id probably get a corn snake. I have a vield chameleon, leopard gecko, 12 baby snapping turtles, a hose gecko, anole, and a garter snake. 16 tarantulas, 12 mantids, 2 giant millipedes, 12 phasmids, and a timneh parrot.
I think I know how to take care of a pet
craig condon

Aren't you the kid that keeps the 12 snapping turtles in a tiny, poorly-filtered, tub full of metal and mud? Your posts in the snapping turtle forum made me wince and now this business with your boa only seems to confirm my worst fears about the wellbeing of the animals in your home. You need to seriously reconsider your husbandry methods and your ability to keep a pet. Being able to possess something is not the same as taking care of it.
-----

1.1 Womas, 1.0 Australian Water Python, 1.0 Australian Olive Python, 1.0 Cape York Spotted Python,1.0 Albino Green Burmese, 1.1 Loxocemus bicolor (New World "Pythons" ), 1.1 Hog Island Boas,1.0 Peruvian Red-Tail Boa, 0.1 Belem Brazilian Red- Tail Boa, 0.0.1 North American Wood Turtle, 0.0.2 European Pond Turtles, 1.0 Leucistic Alligator Snapper, 0.0.1 FL Red Belly, 0.0.1 Concentric Diamondback Terrapin, 0.0.1 Marine Toad, 0.2 "Flame" Crested Geckos, 1.0 Yellow Ackie

lol,
i always thought that the cage was a good size for a period of time, perhaps a month or two after they have hatched. I did not want to keep them in that tub all winter long, ill probably move them into a tub the size of my veild cham cage. (175 G)
that pumb actually does a good jog filtering the water. i take PH tests every week or so and its always good.
craig condon

If the water was swinging in to the low 6's or into the 8's, you might have a problem. But the only good way to guage water quality is by doing a test for ammonia, a by-product of the waste the turtles produce.
Matt

ill check that, if the amonia lefel is too high, I wil move them into a cleaner environment, or, get a better filter.
craig condon

oh, and i DID get help imediatly, I first went to the kingsnake chat room, then i made a post here. I called the vet immediatly after and they scheduled an apointment for 4:30. after i saw that the snake was doing MUCH better, i canceled it.
craig

shouldnt you still take it ? i think you should dude .. if you really cared about the snake you wouldnt be skimping on expence now.. but whatever .. to each his own .. imo it cant be "THAT" much better that it shouldnt be taken to a vet man .. do the right thing for the snake ..peace
-----
NO BEAUTY LIKE THE BEAUTY OF A TRUE REDTAIL !!

Ok your first post was at Wed Sep 29 14:46:26 2004
your post was the snake is DYING . You then post at wed Sep 29 18:58:24 2004 that he is doing much better and that you cancelled the appointment with a vet after only talkin in a chat room and a few post here that pointed towards poor husbandry ( thin emaciated snake) dehydration as possible reason and from the video the snake looked like he waiting on the death wagon.And now in just over 4 hrs he is doing

MUCH BETTER

Why would you do that ? finances ? scared to have a vet say its in poor health? cant afford medicines ?

i have NEVER seen a snake in that condition makesuch a miraculous turn around and to do so in 4 hrs ?
would you care to comment on the condition IE: temps , setup , feeding schedule, you know the basic husbandry of this snake ... ohh and maybe do another video of the miracle turn around that this snake has made .Personally i think from the comments you received you decided to make the snakes do this major round about to appear he is ok . we or I would like to see more pics of this snake thats doing do much better now .
respectively
Alan
-----
Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

nm

It seems someone is feeding their snake slugs, mantis posted another version under a different story in the general boas catagory and according to that all the symptoms are the same and the temps are 75-77* and feeding a "bit of a slug" this is sickening and afraid it's an animal hoarder and we will make ourselves sick with worry for each story that comes up on this. That goes for the 12 snapping turtles in the tub of mud. This needs to stop. Go research yourselves.
-----
My roomates are2 boas, 4 corns,Rotti,3cats and snake food AKA the food chain.

No offense, but you are wasting your time asking people on this forum if your snake has gotten to this point. Asking the forum for advice will not help your snake, and without any of us being able to see the snake in person, there is no way for any of us to help you. Take it to the vet...

Good luck, Chris O

>>hey,
>>I have a boa that is dying and i need help. after school i came home and went to the boas cage only to find it lieing there, motionless. I picked him up and still, he didnt move, so i went into thekingsnake chat room and asked what to do. they said to move him in a tub of shallow water. i did, its a little more active but seems brain damaged. ive seen it flicker its tounge once, its opening and closing its mouth a lot and when i flip him over, belly up, he fliped back over.
>>can you pleas help?
>>thanks,
>>Craig Condon
>>here is a video of the sick snake
-----
"Snakes are icky."

That video looks really bad. Does the animal have proper temps? And it is quite thin. Hopefully the vet visit can salvage the animal from death, but with its appearance from the video I would be surprised if it makes it.
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

1st of all from the looks of it , its the thinnest ive ever seen a boa .. its definately dehydrated, and to top it off it looks like it has ibd..(i really hope not) i had a snake 10 years ago with those same actions as yours is showing (my snake wasnt skinny like that tho ) but acted exactly like that .. when i took it to the vet it was positive for ibd good luck with it tho man ..

btw .. is it cold in there ? are the temps good ? cause the gaping mouth also can be from a RI .. if its that you might as well kisss that snake good bye cause its wayyyyyyy too far into it probably 2 save .. JMO , KOKY
-----
NO BEAUTY LIKE THE BEAUTY OF A TRUE REDTAIL !!

I'm very sorry about your snake, but I think the guy has been living in very poor conditions for a while. It really is by far the skinniest snake I've ever seen, and I've seen some sad ones before. I hope it pulls through.

This didnt just happen over night,nor did it happen with in the last week or two weeks for that matter.
Emaciated condition such as this points directly at the keeper.
The snake is prolly better off self terminating to prevent further abuse.

>>I'm very sorry about your snake, but I think the guy has been living in very poor conditions for a while. It really is by far the skinniest snake I've ever seen, and I've seen some sad ones before. I hope it pulls through.
-----
T/
Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

i got him a week ago, I didnt relize how un-healthy he is. i thought he was as healthy as any other boa. what do you guys think? send it back to the breeder?
also, do you guys think i should bring the boa to a vet to tomorrow? to see if it has any of those diseases you guys listed?
craig condon

the vet is a "MUST" !!!!!
-----
NO BEAUTY LIKE THE BEAUTY OF A TRUE REDTAIL !!

If not then you absolutely need to take the animal to the vet tomorrow.. That is if it is still alive then.
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

If I thought the snake actually had a snowballs chance in hell of surviving shipping(which it wouldnt) I would send your the cash to ship it here where it would properly cared for.
Dont try and blame the breeder for your lack of skills.
A living animal in your possession DEPENDS entirely on those skills.Its time to pony up and post some more pics/video of this alledged recovery as well as the basics of your set up for this snake.
Cage ?
Substrate ?
Heat Source ?
Humidity Source ?
Monitoring Device(s) ?
Feed Data ?
Shed Data ?

:standingby:

>>i got him a week ago, I didnt relize how un-healthy he is. i thought he was as healthy as any other boa. what do you guys think? send it back to the breeder?
>>also, do you guys think i should bring the boa to a vet to tomorrow? to see if it has any of those diseases you guys listed?
>>craig condon
-----
T/
Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

hey,
here is another video of the boa, how skinny he is, and how active he is. if anyone does think he needs to go to a vet, let me know.
craig condon
snake

wrong one
snake

To not take the animal to the vet is a disservice to the animal, and I strongly suggest finding someone who can provide proper husbandry for it before it dies...
-----
Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

first i need to take it to a vet, and if there is a problem with it, then i will find a new home for him.

I think you are either very brave or very stupid to even offer a video like that on this particular forum. I have Rainbows and they are not difficult to keep. If that snake hadn't eaten in so long....Why didn't you get help sooner? It is obviously in extremely poor condition. Most of the time a husbandry issue is the cause of a BRB not eating. Did you forget to see what it required? It looks to me like the poor thing has basically starved to near death, or a serious medical problem did not receive proper medical attention.

The big things with BRB's is not too fry 'em or dry 'em. I certainly hop this isn't one of my offspring.

Linda
-----
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer

Why exactly are you so willing to spend all this time capturing video of that poor snake and waffling back and forth about taking it to the vet? If you JUST got the snake and it was like that, wouldn't you IMMEDIATELY contact the breeder or whoever you got it from, since you JUST spent money on an animal that should be healthy, especially after "one week"?

If you really did only get the snake a week ago, did the "breeder" even tell you what size mice they eat etc? From your responses to the posts I have to agree with the general feeling everyone else is getting - that you've had this snake for a while and kept it in bad conditions, and at the last resort want to get some attention/sympathy or a miracle cure on these message boards. If you are really concerned about the snake, WHY isn't it at the vet? If you just got the snake, you would be able to easily prove what's wrong with it by taking it to the vet, take that info to the seller/breeder and get your money back etc.

You may have other pets, but
"a vield chameleon, leopard gecko, 12 baby snapping turtles, a hose gecko, anole, and a garter snake. 16 tarantulas, 12 mantids, 2 giant millipedes, 12 phasmids, and a timneh parrot"
... are NOT boas. None of these animals are vaguely like a rainbow boa in care requirements. To be so cocky to say that you "think you know how to take care of pets" just because you OWN others is pretty ignorant.

I have two cats and a dog, and when I was thinking of buying a snake would NEVER have assumed that my experiences with my cats and dog would make me a good snake keeper, and researched my BUTT off before buying one.

What, did you get this snake for free, keep it for awhile and now that it's dying, you don't want to spend money on a vet? Too bad more people aren't more educated about what healthy snakes requirements are and what they look/behave like - I'm sure if you had a dehydrated, starved cat, some of your buddies or whoever would comment to you about it.

So, if you're still sticking to your story of "i just got it a week ago" - please do enlighten us with the name of the store/business/breeder you obtained the snake from so that we can all avoid doing business with them.

Or just post another morbid video. And ask AGAIN if we all would tell you if we think it should still go to the vet. And go out to the roadside and poke some roadkill with a stick while you're at it.

I agree. if this kid did indeed get the snake a week ago, then he should let us know where he got it from. that snake has suffered from extreme negligence, and if it is the fault of a breeder than we should be warned of it.

mantisman, where did you get this snake and how long ago did you get it? if you've neglected this snake fess up to it, and find a responsible and knowledgable person to take it off your hands.

heres your chance Craig,read it twice,three times if you have to,If you didnt,then who did ?

>>I agree. if this kid did indeed get the snake a week ago, then he should let us know where he got it from. that snake has suffered from extreme negligence, and if it is the fault of a breeder than we should be warned of it.
>>
>>mantisman, where did you get this snake and how long ago did you get it? if you've neglected this snake fess up to it, and find a responsible and knowledgable person to take it off your hands.
-----
T/
Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

i do not want you guys bombarding this man with 30 emails.
the snake he sent is as healthy as it is now, and there is nothing wrong with it. it eats, and gets around like any other snake. the answer is no, I will not give you his email, mainly for how you treated me in this forum.

Did we ask for his email? No. A name. That's all. I don't want to contact this person, just know WHO it is so that I will never purchase anything from him. It's up to YOU to contact him since the boa is sick. I just never want to do business from someone who would sell a boa in that condition.

Since you won't give a name, that just makes me believe further that the snake's condition is a result of your lack of care for it. If you've only had it a week, and it "eats and is fine" - what have you fed it? That thing is so skinny, if you fed it within the last week, it would have a mousy little bulge in it. I didn't see one. What have you fed it, insects? Dude, you need to read up about boas. They don't eat insects.