Possible spinal problem

[guidofatherof5]

This was a great snake and I miss him. My Krinkleback.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/gene...young-one.html

[chris-uk]

Thanks for the link Steve, I know you feel each and every one of your snakes. Sounds like Krinkleback had as good a life as he could with arthritis. Reading your thread gives me some encouragement that Bethan may live longer than I initially thought she would.

[EasternGirl]

Chris...Sammy did not live long after I found him...only two days. But he was also very cold when I found him as he had been in my freezing cold basement in November. Being that he was wild, it is impossible to know how long he was alive before I found him, how he came to be like he was (whether he was injured or sick) and what exactly caused his death. I really hope that Bethan can stabilize and live a long and happy life....my prayers are with you for that.

Steve...I remember seeing the link for krinkleback...cute little guy he was...had the best home .

[kibakiba]

I guess the best thing you can do is just shower the little one with love and treats. A happy snake is the best kind of snake.

[ConcinusMan]

she is getting some calcium from the water.

I might add that calcium alone does nothing. It must be ingested along with phosphorus and D3 in proper proportions or it will not be absorbed. It's even possible to oversupplement certain nutrients, causing calcium absorption to be blocked. That's right. Supplementing can actually cause deficiencies, if not done properly. It's important when supplementing calcium, to use a supplement specifically formulated for reptiles. Even better to skip the supplement altogether and feed them foods rich in calcium, such as whole rodents. It's just not good to get reliant on supplements. Ideally, their diet should be complete enough so that they don't need supplements at all.

[EasternGirl]

How is she doing these days Chris?

[d_virginiana]

That's so strange.. Hopefully she'll start to improve and you can have her with you for awhile longer. Working with special-needs animals can be really rewarding. With all the extra time you have to put in, you end up learning so much more about them than you otherwise would.

[chris-uk]

The calcium supplement is a liquid one designed for reptiles so has D3 to enable absorption. I use it every other water change. I can't skip the water supplement - she isn't getting a lot of nutrition from food because she doesn't eat well, and won't touch pinky pieces. In the last month she's eaten 2 small pieces of salmon, at the end of Oct it looked like she was going to start eating well when she ate a small amount in 3 consecutive feeds but that has gone by the wayside for the last month. So yes Richard, in an ideal world I'd drop the supplements but she needs to be eating pinkies before I do that (the other snakes get powder supplements every 4 feeds, bit they all eat normally and eat pinkies).

We don't see her out of her hides much unless I wake her up to check on her (and I look in on her viv every hour or so to see if she is out). Yesterday she was out of her own accord, it looked like she was having a drink when I came in. I take that as positive, so we'll see if she will eat today.

[chris-uk]

I think my earlier post may have been a little optimistic. I've tried shifting her feed time to earlier in the day and when I moved her to the feedbox I noticed that she has folds of skin that make me think she's dehydrated and therefore not drinking. Her skin feels incredibly dry, she doesn't feel anything like her sisters.

I've dropped a few photos on Picasa as I haven't seen any pics of snakes where anyone has said "Yep, that's what dehydrated folds of skin look like". The forum won't embed images from Picasa (maybe something to do with Picasa insisting on an HTTPS link), but I've uploaded the same images to the forum:
IMG_2046.jpg
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
IMG_2041.jpg
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
IMG_2040.jpg
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sqRdpLCgXpPMyPmIM4u8HM09XtP8c_dxF6arpDgKV7c?feat=d irectlink

Can someone with experience of dehydrated snakes tell me if this is what the "folds of skin" look like when you talk about dehydration causing folds of skin?

[guidofatherof5]

Looks like it a retained shed. Get her in a shed box ASAP.
You may need to manually shed her after the shed box.
Hold her under warm running water and get the shed started anywhere.
The running water will help you by getting under the retained shed.
Keep us posted on this situation.