# Can snakes break ribs from falling?



## Choco (Oct 9, 2008)

I think one of my jungle has add or just a slow learner. Each night we hear a few thuds where she falls off her branch. It's like she forgets to hang on. It's not as though she's a hatchie, she's just over 18 months old.

I recently read a post/article about a person who bought 2 snakes and 1 died shortly after. An exray showed numerous broken ribs. It was assumed they were broken from feeding. She had the other snake exrayed and it showed weak bone structure. This got me thinking could my jungle falling from about 1-2 foot be injuring herself. It doesn't seem to phase her when it happens she is pretty quick to be on her way again.

I would assume weak bones is just a result from poor diet but does anyone know weather this is damaging?

Thanks


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## MatE (Oct 9, 2008)

Pythons are pretty tough,ive personally seen one that was brought into a wires carer which had been run over with a car.He had massive injures,but with care came good. Falling 1-2 feet freeks them out a bit but thats all i reckon.
My diamond female used to fall of her log at night aswel. used to wake me up she was over 6ft so made a bit of noise,she had never climbed before that as the guy i bought her from only had her in a low box with no climbing perches at all..
After a while she got the hang of it and never did it again.


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## Zoltag (Oct 10, 2008)

My male used to fall off the branches all the time and even now falls off occassionally (he's about 3 years old). The enclosure is four feet high and he has never appeared to injure himself (beyond tearing some skin off immediately prior to a shed - After shedding the remainder, he was fine)...


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## Noongato (Oct 10, 2008)

My BHP loves to climb, unfortunately he is pretty crap with his balencing skills. He always falls off, and numerous times i have freaked out cos he belts his head on the ground on the way down. 

He is getting better now, hasnt been climbing much lately...I think he gave up on the idea.


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## MMAnne (Oct 10, 2008)

My Stimmy is fine on branches, it's oddly enough when hes on a table or such - it's like he doesn't realize that, yes, Stimpy, there is an edge! Silly snake


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## mrillusion (Oct 10, 2008)

i got a 9 month old coastal in a 4 ft high by 2 ft arcoss by 2 ft deep he has only fallen down once or twice hes been ok and snakes have very flexible and strong bones thats how there rib cage flexes to get food down to their stomach


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## MissJane (Oct 10, 2008)

Doesn't seem to hurt them too much: remember, they're solid little strings of muscle. Their bones are delicate but reasonably well protected, and they knit bones pretty fast too.

My diamonds used to fairly regularly fall off things. Worst thing it ever did was make one snake's jaw a little wonky for a little while, but it got over it within a few weeks and was back to doing the same thing...


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## Tanith (Oct 10, 2008)

Not too long ago we lost a yearling ball python from falling inside his tank. He had fallen just right with his back end landing on his hide and ended up with kidney damage. I think as a general rule, though, they are pretty resiliant to falls. This was one of those "one in a million" instances.


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## sssimon (Oct 10, 2008)

my jungle fell off the back of the couch once. About a 4 ft drop onto tiles. I freaked out a bit but it didnt seem to bother her at all. Lucky


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## Armand (Oct 11, 2008)

MatE said:


> Pythons are pretty tough,ive personally seen one that was brought into a wires carer which had been run over with a car.He had massive injures,but with care came good. Falling 1-2 feet freeks them out a bit but thats all i reckon.
> My diamond female used to fall of her log at night aswel. used to wake me up she was over 6ft so made a bit of noise,she had never climbed before that as the guy i bought her from only had her in a low box with no climbing perches at all..
> After a while she got the hang of it and never did it again.




yeh thats the same with my male diamond. He was brought up in a low and long enclosure so he was a bit rusty with climbing and he always fell off and always woke me up but now he's fine and he loves climbing trees too although he is very easy to get out as he doesnt use his tail much mostly the bottom half of his body. On the other hand my female diamond was brought up perfectly and she loves climbing and never falls. She can climb even vertical poles (depending how thick of course) and loves curling around my neck and climbing on my head, reaching for objects. Your snake should be fine, 1-2ft drops will only scare them a little but shouldnt do any harm..


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## redbellybite (Oct 11, 2008)

half the problem in set ups for snakes is , everyone is concerned about getting rid of the rough bits and sanding back and smoothing out the climbing branches or logs and using lac on it as well to seal it ,making easy to clean ,which i understand , but its made the pythons climbing skills alot harder to deal with ,like us trying to walk on ice can be done ,but takes alot to get use to and we fall down...maybe you could after you sand back and almost ready to lac put abit of sand in your lac then paint on gives a bit of a co**** grip ,like with birds your advised not to use perfectly round rods as it isnt good for your birds feet , just a suggestion .....


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## cockney red (Oct 11, 2008)

Cant believe that potty mouth RBB.:lol:


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## redbellybite (Oct 11, 2008)

lmao C.O.A.R.S.E GRIP ......really need to fix that mods .....


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## Choco (Oct 11, 2008)

Armand said:


> yeh thats the same with my male diamond. He was brought up in a low and long enclosure so he was a bit rusty with climbing and he always fell off and always woke me up but now he's fine and he loves climbing trees too although he is very easy to get out as he doesnt use his tail much mostly the bottom half of his body. On the other hand my female diamond was brought up perfectly and she loves climbing and never falls. She can climb even vertical poles (depending how thick of course) and loves curling around my neck and climbing on my head, reaching for objects. Your snake should be fine, 1-2ft drops will only scare them a little but shouldnt do any harm..


 
All mine have been brought up in climbing cages and like yours one hangs on really well whereas she has never really been one to hang on . Even when she's out you can notice she hardly hangs on to your arm. It never seems to bother her but it does make you look each time you here the thudd.


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