Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just a quick background. I have 1.1 diamond adults and 0.1 3/4 diamond. The male is approx. 10 years old. I've had him for 8 years. I live in southern AZ where it gets hot. After having a child, I enclosed the back porch, installed reflective tint, shades and run a fan in addition to a portable swamp cooler in the enclosed patio. All three are housed in individual large reptariums. Windows are cracked about 6 inches in order to maintain airflow. Airflow and humidity are good. Hi's have reached 92-93 this summer in the enclosed porch. No direct sunlight reaches the animals. Both females have maintained an appetite all summer and I noticed active breeding attempts in April and May when the male was introduced to each. In June the male had issues with shedding, I think humidity was too low. He had back to back sheds after breeding attempts. Upon the introduction of the usual rodentpro rats in May, both females began feeding as normal. Male showed no interest. I attempted numerous feedings in May and June and began to notice sluggishness with the male and upon handling him, noted that there appeared to be some neurological issues, hiding head under coils, unable to immediately right himself when turned upside down, tensing up and a seeming inability to crawl effectively, he has muscular issues of some sort it seems. I immediately thought of Stargazers since he exhibited a few of the symptoms. In July, I ran him into the local exotic vet in Tucson, James Jarkow, highly respected in southern AZ w/ herps. A battery of tests (fecal,blood, and liver I believe), showed no issues other than lack of food. I brought him in for a subsequent tube feeding and received back a clean bill of health. The snake is alert, tongue is constantly probing and he shows an interest when presented food, but there are obvious issues here that I believe may be heat related, but I cannot find anything when researching this except Stargazers that resembles what I am seeing. This is a 10 year old 8 foot male that is(was) healthy and ate like a horse. Any ideas? I'm beside myself watching this animal deteriorate before my eyes.

I just wanted to say Im sorry for you its always tough when you have an animal with mysterious symptoms. Anyone who is in this hobby long enough will experience it at some point. I wonder if its not just old age setting in. Ive heard that elderly males will sometimes get stuck upside down and go catatonic as well as go off feeding. Your temps seem reasonable. I just hope it isnt something crazy like lyme disease or spotted fever. Our native american environment can be pretty rough on exotic reptiles. Good luck.
Jason
GPZO

Thank you, this particular diamond is my favorite and has been a joy to keep. Has always eaten like a horse, has been healthy as one also and been extremely friendly. I keep thinking that the more I research this and look at youtube videos that I may be looking at IBD. I hope not, but I fear the result here will be the same.

Brad

HI Brad,

I have had the same symptoms in ball pythons that got severely heat stressed for several hours. They showed typical IBDish stargazing symptoms, but continued to eat (with assistance at first), shed and grow. Over time, the symptoms lessened or went away entirely, and the animals grew up normally. It sounds as if you may have possibly had a temperature spike at some point and his neuro system might have gotten frazzled. I'm not attempting to make a medical diagnosis here, just maybe a possibility to consider. Good luck.

Will

Thanks for the promising "diagnosis" Will. I remembered that happened to a 10ft burm my buddy left in the car a little too long also. It snapped right back. I have since moved him inside to 78 degree temps and a heatpad if he wants it. I still see that initial feeding response when he is presented with something, but he will then withdraw. I made an attempt to assist feed him this weekend hoping he would snap into the routine, but to no avail (try that with an 8 ft. diamond)! Your experience is encouraging to say the least because everything in my research has turned up 100% mortality rates it seems. Temps have dropped here also. I bring him outside on the weekends for the day to tool around the backyard. He is still drinking loads of water though, which is promising I guess. All I have to go on at this point are the negative tests from the vet and his behavior now I guess.

you may have to go all out and force feed. I never had to do it with a big snake but for the most part its not hard. you can find alot of great informative videos on youtube. the trick is to wrap the body in a blanket or place it in a tube. better yet get a helper or two. you will have enough trouble wrestling with the head. oddly enough the only snake i had to force feed was a diamond, albeit a tiny baby. good luck and keep us posted!!!

Crazy thing is, this diamond is named Mikey, cause he USED to eat everything. He has always had a tremendous appetite during feeding season. Never missed a meal, unless he still had the ladies on his mind during breeding season. Guess I'll gear up to assist feed him I guess, should be fun!