My damn snake is broken.

[RedSidedSPR]

Really small female. I went to feed her when I noticed she has like 5 little kinks along her back. she got under something heavy I guess.


She was fine until today. Fed her every day this week (or tried) and she was fine. She acts fine now, tongue flicking and everything, even moves and climbs around some but obviously not normally.




Most of its near her tail. She keeps it curled until she moves somewhere.
http://i.imgur.com/jyPA5Pvl.jpg


The biggest/worst kink is on the upper third of her back. Can't straighten that part out completely.
http://i.imgur.com/1LlCHSOl.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/pNglV9Gl.jpg


I have no idea what happened or if there's there anything I should or even can do?

[d_virginiana]

Idk how bad the damage is, but I'd put her in a separate enclosure (or a rubbermaid tub if you don't have a spare tank or anything) with nothing heavy or for climbing for awhile. That way you can keep her from crawling under/falling off anything while her mobility is impaired and making it worse. Also it would keep any other snakes from stressing her out and making her move more than she otherwise would. Other than making sure she's as undisturbed as possible I don't really think there's much you can do for that.

I'm not suggesting that permanently, just for a few weeks since this injury just happened.

[guidofatherof5]

I have a couple adult female T. s. concinnus that do that twist thing.

[RedSidedSPR]

I already put her in a separate enclosure with newspaper. I'll pimp it out later.


I have a couple adult female T. s. concinnus that do that twist thing.

Shes not twisting anymore. Acts really normal. Drinks a lot. Moves around but slowly and she has trouble holding herself up.

[GarterGuy17]

My jade does this as well. I thought it was a vitamin deficiency that made her bones weak or something.

[RedSidedSPR]

My jade does this as well. I thought it was a vitamin deficiency that made her bones weak or something.

what do you mean 'does this'? The twisting or the actual kinks?

[d_virginiana]

My oldest snake has a couple kinks/bumps in his spine that I'm pretty sure are arthritis-related. They don't cause his spine to twist off to the side like in those pictures though, just lumps. The way it looks like that one's spine is almost twisted looks injury-related IMO. idk though, I haven't seen any spine issues in younger snakes before.

[drumcrush]

My albino has a kink at the far end of her tail.

[RedSidedSPR]

What would a kink be if it wasn't an injury? Calcium related?


My oldest snake has a couple kinks/bumps in his spine that I'm pretty sure are arthritis-related. They don't cause his spine to twist off to the side like in those pictures though, just lumps. The way it looks like that one's spine is almost twisted looks injury-related IMO. idk though, I haven't seen any spine issues in younger snakes before.

It has to be an injury, it happened over night. I figured she got under something heavy the way she looked all crushed. She doesn't look like that now though.It's much better looking. She isn't twisted at all and seems much more comfortable. The kinks are there and he's really stiff but she seems much better.

[GarterGuy17]

what do you mean 'does this'? The twisting or the actual kinks?

I meant the twisting thing. I haven't seen any kinks but the movement is a bit off sometimes

[d_virginiana]

Didn't Steve have a wild one that looked like it had really severe spinal injuries but ended up living quite a while?

[guidofatherof5]

That was Crinkleback, he has scoliosis. Live to almost 2 years. Wasn't expected to live 1 year.

[chris-uk]

I'd expect kinks from an injury to have a bigger impact on the health of a snake than kinks caused by illness. An injury that causes a visible kink could be pressing on the spinal cord, whereas kinks that develop slowly (arthritic type illness, or calcium issues) will have developed gradually and less likely to cause trauma to the cord.
I've got two older marcianus that had bad kinks when they were rescued. They can move damn fast when they want to, so I'd say that the kinks have no impact on their lives. Yours sounds more serious.

[RedSidedSPR]

She can move fast when she wants. She can do pretty much anything it's just sometimes labored.

[guidofatherof5]

Might just be a birth defect that is only now becoming more visible.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Agreed!
might just be a birth defect that is only now becoming more visible.

[CrazyHedgehog]

I sold a Canadian plains a couple of months ago, guy brought it back today (we have been talking over last few months as it stopped eating) and it was the same as this, very twisty and several sharpish kinks. Weird. Offered full refund or swap immediately as he had continued feeding what I was feeding mine and I couldn't rule out genetics etc. but others seem fine. I wondered if it was a genetic thing not allowing it to absorb nutrients or minerals or something? as it was eating at first then seemed to deteriorate.

[RedSidedSPR]

Might just be a birth defect that is only now becoming more visible.


Agreed!



that a good thing or a bad thing..

[RedSidedSPR]

I sold a Canadian plains a couple of months ago, guy brought it back today (we have been talking over last few months as it stopped eating) and it was the same as this, very twisty and several sharpish kinks. Weird. Offered full refund or swap immediately as he had continued feeding what I was feeding mine and I couldn't rule out genetics etc. but others seem fine. I wondered if it was a genetic thing not allowing it to absorb nutrients or minerals or something? as it was eating at first then seemed to deteriorate.

She hasn't been eating near as much as she used to for the last month or so. She'll eat like one or two items, skip the next feeding, and then one or two the feeding after. Didn't think it was a big deal since said feedings are almost daily.. she was eating enough, just not very much at a time or very often.

She isnt eating at all now.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Sounds like the same sort of scenario,
:(

[-MARWOLAETH-]

or maybe shes not eating because its winter

[CrazyHedgehog]

or maybe shes not eating because its winter I thought that at first, but that wouldn't explain the onset of deformities...

[RedSidedSPR]

Sounds like the same sort of scenario,
:(

****.


or maybe shes not eating because its winter

no but that's why I wasn't worried at first. all my snakes eat less in the winter.

[d_virginiana]

Whether it's an injury or a birth defect becoming more visible, it seems like it's causing her more problems than normal pretty suddenly. If she's uncomfortable that may be why she's not eating. Hopefully any issues will have time to settle. Once she gets used to the discomfort she may start eating again?

[RedSidedSPR]

Whether it's an injury or a birth defect becoming more visible, it seems like it's causing her more problems than normal pretty suddenly. If she's uncomfortable that may be why she's not eating.

It's definitely sudden and it's definitely why she's not eating.


Hopefully any issues will have time to settle. Once she gets used to the discomfort she may start eating again?

that's what I'm expecting. It seems like she's getting used to it.

[RedSidedSPR]

She shed yesterday.. got it all off fairly easily except for her eyecaps..

How should I go about this without hurting her

[guidofatherof5]

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/12794-when-tape-acceptable.html

(http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/12794-when-tape-acceptable.html)http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husbandry/11703-retained-shed-indentication-treatment.html

[d_virginiana]

My super-skittish albino had a retained eyecap last time around. It took about fifteen minutes since I didn't want to freak him out, but a moist Q-tip worked for me. He had a facial scale still attached to the eyecap that made it easier to get off though.

[RedSidedSPR]

I've done it with tape lots of times, I just don't want to hurt her.

She ate last night. So that's cool.

[guidofatherof5]

My super-skittish albino had a retained eyecap last time around. It took about fifteen minutes since I didn't want to freak him out, but a moist Q-tip worked for me. He had a facial scale still attached to the eyecap that made it easier to get off though.

Give the tape a try. Usually takes a couple of seconds to do the job. Much less stress.