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Diamond with neurological issue??

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Posted by: bradh at Fri Aug 27 00:41:35 2010  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by bradh ]  
   

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.


   

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