Sudden and horrible kinking

[Dracorex5]

One of my 15 babies within the last 24 hours has developed over five nasty kinks in his spine. I dont know how it happened! He has a slight jaw issue, but is one of my best feeders and it didnt seem to bother him. None of the banies had kinks until today. What should i do? Its very severe, but he tries to move around normally despite it and ate today. None of the other babies are kinked, so i dont want to blame diet. Could it be an injury? And from what?

[kibakiba]

It could be that he has arthritis.. Maybe? Steve had a couple that had kinks. I'm not really sure what it is, though.... He's the one that would know a bit more about it.
Poor baby.

[Dracorex5]

Its simply dreadful looking.... He flops over when he moves and everything.... But ive never heard of so many kinks developing so quickly! Just two days ago i tossed a worm chunk to him and he happily did laps around it, now he can barely wiggle!

[chris-uk]

This sounds like one of the checkered babies I had last year. Bethan lived for six or seven months, but as she grew the kinks started affecting her movement more, and she stopped eating.
There's a thread here which may help:
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husb...l-problem.html

When she died I needed to know whether it was the shape of the spine or growths on the spine. I've not posted pictures of the PM, but what I found was that the spine had grown with several sharp kinks.

I hope you have a less severe case than I saw last year.

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like a bad situation. You might consider euthanizing him. If it is as severe as you say then the quality of life for him is grim.
Obviously, you have another choice and that is to see what happens in the future for him. I've never heard of kinks developing after birth. Usually they appear immediately. Any chance we can see a photo?

[-MARWOLAETH-]

One thing it could be is metabolic bone disease Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) in Reptiles

[Stefan-A]

I've never heard of kinks developing after birth. Usually they appear immediately.

I have. One cause is either bacterial or viral, I forget which, another is calcium-deficient diet and a third is linked to too high incubation temperatures (yes, kinks appeared after hatching).

[EasternGirl]

I was going to say that it sounded much like Chris's situation with Bethan. I think he would be a good person to talk to about this. I guess the decision is now...to euthanize or try to keep the baby as comfortable as you can. It all depends on whether or not you think he is in pain. Do you have a herp vet?

[chris-uk]

I persevered with Bethan until I found her flipped over one morning and unable to move, it was clear that she was in pain and from the way she had been declining that I didn't have a choice.
As I mentioned though, Bethan was able to move and eat for several months, if you're only just noticing a problem there may be time to decide what to do. I think it depends on the number, location and severity of the kinks as others have kept kinked snakes to a fair age.

[Dracorex5]

I currently have him isolated. Id agree with MBD, but i have enriched every feeding with calcium, and he ate more than most other babies yet no others are showing these horrid symptoms. Ill try and lay him out for some pictures, and ill keep an eye on him for a bit. If it gets to bad ill do what i have to do... Id just Really like him ti shape back up, and fast