female Hogg Island Boa

[iloveboas]

Ihave had a male/female pair of Hogg Island Boas for almost two years, and all is good with the male, but the female; I can't say the same about her. She seems to have something neurologically wrong with her. When I take her out of the cage, she appears to have no equalibrium. She ends up upside down, and almost in knots when she is on me, or on the floor. She also has strange eating habbits. HELP!

[kasper22]

I don't know what she has but I think that sound like something that you should take to a vet.

[Doug]

HI,
 I hope this isn't a farily recent development, it sounds alot like a neuro problem, the most common is IBD.
Snakes must have some type of device that helps them tell which end is up , it could have a mild infection or parasitic problem in that organ. Many animals (dolphin/whales) have parasites that cause them to get vertigo thats why many Dolphins and whales beach them selves they are so dissoriented by vertigo s19.gif s19.gif they can't stand it .I ve had vertigo after a diving accident it aint fun.

  Talk to a good herp vet, it may be something that can be treated infection bacterial or parasitic.
 If your not sure about your vet, here's a web page dedicated to finding good vets for reptiles
 http://www.herpvetconnection.com/
 I would isolate tha snake until you know the cause of her illness. Be sure your ambients are at least 82 deg if your using a glass tank you can bet one side is to hot and the other to cold.. Snakes immune systems donot work correctly if the animal is to cold.Antibiotics will not work unless you raise the ambients a couple deg, My vet told me this after starting one of my snakes on a course of batril for a couple weeks, I got real good at giving shots.. tricky though.. hehehe
     cwm24.gif DOn't sound good,
  are you feeding thawed rodents, has she had a bad case of mites the past year, how long have you had her?
has she seen a vet since you bought her?Has her stool been checked??
 Good luck  DOug

[iloveboas]

I do feed her frozen / thawed rodents, and she has never had a mite infestation. I have had her for almost two years, and onlyover this summer has she acted this strange. I will take her to a vet...I have a good one in Denver, CO that I have used before.

Is there anything else that I need to get checked other than her stool? Also, I do house her in a Vision herp cage. I'm pretty sure the temp is ok, but I'll check it when I get home. Thanks for all the help.

Kevin

I would take her to the vet becuase if it is IBD then it can spead like wild fire thourhg out your collection. This happend to me just recently I had to put down 6 boas because they all cought it :( The thing with IBD is that is doesn't show it self right away they could have it and act normal for months then all of a sunnden they start to show sinptoms.

[cb76]

strict quarentine (sp??) is a must!
you dont wanna hurt your male!

vet check is good, but remember there is no way to to do a test for IBD. it is only properly diagnosed thru necropsy

[iloveboas]

I took her to the vet, and she said some of the symptoms looked like IBD, but she did say that much of the time, IBD in boas is usually correlated with regurgitation.  She doesn't do that.  She said that the neurological signs are usually a python thing.  
I am starting her on a 10 day treatment of antibiotics.  The Doc said liver and kidney function are all good.  The total white count is normal, but the heterophils (associated with acute infections) were significantly low.  She wants to try this before we take any further measures.  
Thank you all for your input.  Keep it coming if you have any more advice.  

Thats good news, I hope she gets better soon.