Head Twitch

[d_virginiana]

How long ago did she stop eating the minnows? If it's been a while, would there still be a deficiency since she's been getting a good diet?

I don't have any experience with snakes that have neuro disorders, but my frog has something like froggy narcolepsy, and she was fine after I figured it out and switched up her care a little.

[Light of Dae]

How long ago did she stop eating the minnows? If it's been a while, would there still be a deficiency since she's been getting a good diet?

Well I got her on Oct.4.
So it has been 24 days in my care and the lady said it had been two or threes days since she was fed n finished her minnows.

That is a good question. How long would the deficiency last?

[ConcinusMan]

A single thiaminase enzyme molecule is capable of destroying a huge number of thiamine molecules. (perhaps hundreds of thousands) Adding thiamine to the diet, even in huge amounts or injections usually doesn't do any good because the thiaminase still present in the body just continues to destroy it. I'm not sure how long this keeps going on though, or how long thiaminase remains in the body.

[Light of Dae]

Could it help to add the supplement? Or could it hurt?

At least it's not full on seizures and it seems very minor so far. Just hope it doesn't get worse.

[ConcinusMan]

Could it help to add the supplement? Or could it hurt?

Probably not, and yes, it could. That's the problem with supplements anyway, and why I don't even use them. It's a slippery slope. Overdosing on certain vitamins or not having a proper ratio of certain vitamins can actually cause what you're trying to prevent. It can cause deficiencies and overdosing can be far more harmful than a mild deficiency. You don't know how much thiamine to give a snake, particularly when thiaminase containing fish are part of the diet. Lets be clear, you don't even know if there is a deficiency at this point, or how severe it is. Overloading with vitamins at this point can do more harm than good. I would just stop feeding thiaminase containing fish and load the snake up with plenty of whole, safe fish and rodents, skipping the supplement altogether.

I've seen snakes gradually get better by just doing that. If it's so bad that the snake can't recover doing that, then there's probably very little that supplements can do anyway.

Correction: I was wrong. Apparently thiamine (B1) is water soluable and difficult to overdose on. Now, if you were to feed your snake B1 by itself with no other vitamins, sprinkled on it's food then there's a good chance the snake will recover.

http://www.gartersnake.info/articles...thiaminase.php

[Light of Dae]

Okay, So I'll just continue on with a strict diet of Worms n Pinkie Mice with a treat of Silversides every now n then.

Never any minnows or any live fish on my snakes dinner plates.
Not worth the risk.

[ConcinusMan]

Check the ingredients. The silversides might be supplemented already. But it probably won't hurt to get some B1 (thiamine) and use that without other vitamins.

[Rober10169]

Hello, just want to add my 2 cents about vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are the fat soluble vitamins. You have to be careful with these as you can overdose on as little as 10 times the daily recommended amount (assuming very little for a small creature). All the other vitamins are water soluble so the body uses what it needs and excretes the rest. However, you can overdose on water soluble vitamins as well but to a much higher dosage, if you exceed 100 times the daily recommended amounts (again who knows what the amounts are for such small creatures). Now don't confuse minerals, micro and macro with vitamins as they are their own entity.

[Light of Dae]

She just did it again. This time though she was stretched out not curled up in her skull. Her head twitched to the side as one spot on her side seemed to pinch together, it was a quick 1 2 3 then back to exploring.

Going after work today to a friends health store to get some Vitamin B1 capsules hopefully. Will add to her food.

[guidofatherof5]

This is good stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-Reptil...ep-Cal+Calcium