Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Need some urgent advise - feeding time last night- my nicaraguan (with the kinked back) was nearly dead - it was lying in some sort of slimey fluid and had done a green crap. It has always had a kinked back since I got him.

It missed a feed last week but never thaught anything of it- when cleaned out a few days back he was sound.

For a while he has been getting more kinked and looked like his vertibrate have been fusing?! He had gone stupidly thin like he had sh1t out his insides - I mean you could feel the ribs!! This has all just happened very very suddenly. Instead of his usaul stiking and hissing he was just limp - oh and rolled onto back a couple of times!!!!! Had to force feed as I knew he was on way out with no food - he than just lay there with it in his throught. Obviously seperated them! Hes in isolation and regurged his food last night.

He is on his last legs - Im going to the vets tonight - is there anything else I can do? What is wrong with him - have I done anything wrong - should I be worried about my other snakes????

Any help greatly appritiated!!

Cheers

Sam

If I understand you right you have a boa that has gotten very thin in just a short time, has symptoms of a neurological disorder, has trouble moving correctly and is passing abnormal fluids and wastes?

I have heard about a genetic spinal disorder that can look like a lump or a series of lumps when the boa is small but worsens as the animal grows. The boa eventually dies in horrible contortions (that's why we do not keep anything with a lump for breeding, no matter how slight is the defect. they are adopted out to kids).

But what you are describing is symptomatic of a virulent viral or bacterial infection. Good luck and yes, isolate it and all it's caging completey, take it to a vet or a university that will tell you what the boa has (or dies of).

Let us know what happens with that!
-----
Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

I'm unfamiliar with your boa (I didn't see any of your previous posts), but cryptosporidium in boas often causes a swelling in the lower third of the GI tract that may have been mixed up with a spinal problem. This is superbly contagious so keep things CLEAN! Your vet will help you through this and needs to be seen asap.

In the mean time, stop feeding your boa! Keep the temps on the upper half of the spectrum, and no food or water. Very sickly boas need fluids and/or glucose and electrolytes via injection/catheter. Oral supplementation often makes things worse.

It takes time to lose muscle mass, and the secretive nature of snakes often allows weight loss to go unnoticed. If you could have improved on anything, it would be to regularly weigh your animals (something most of use probably should be doing more often). Often weight loss is the first sign that something is wrong.

Good luck at the vet's in the morning, and hopefully you don't get your answers via a necropsy

Ian