Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The little sand boa with the lump is still doing quite well, but has developed another strange symptom. Her skin is baggy, almost like its a size too big for her. It feels nice and healthy, and I have no reason to believe she's dehydrated. At any rate, she doesn't drink when dunked in the water dish. Neither of the other two sandboas we went through the same non-eating rigamarole with and which have had the exact same feeding schedule have the same thing. She's gaining weight pretty much as expected. We noticed this when we first brought her to the vet and now it's just more pronounced. I can post a pic if necessary. Any advice?

Is the "loose skin" only on the last 1/3 of her body or is it pretty much all over?

Pretty much all over. Today it seemed particularly bad around her neck region, but it folds up wherever she bends. It's not sitting in folds all the time, though, you only see the folds at the curves. I know a badly stuck shed can make the skin look wrinkly, but this is definately different.

Yeah, that's why I was asking. Sand boas are tough to tell sometimes when they are stuck in shed, especially babies. For a desert dwelling snake they will dehydrate fairly easily.

My sand boas all drink every time I put them in water. I just use a deli cup and put just enough water in it to cover the bottom about 1/8" deep. Then I put the sand boa in and watch it drink for about 5 minutes. I do that about once a week.

She's got a little tiny water dish that I try to keep full all the time. The folds seem very firm and dont' hold shape when you pinch them or anything. Pretty wierd, I've never seen anything like it.