Sick Stimsons Python

[Ellie2525]

Hi,
I have a 5 year old Stimmy, she is unwell and I have had trouble finding a vet that can have a look at her that is familiar with pythons.
Our local vet has taken radiographs and they don't show anything wrong.
She is paralysed from 2/3 down her body. Her head and first 1/3 is trying to move and pulling the rest of her along. Her lower 2/3 is often belly up. She seems bright as usual but she can't coil and looks awkward.

 

[CarlosTheSnake]

where are you located? I don't know a lot about sickness and vets with pythons but you will definately need a reptile specialist vet, or have it euthanised

 

[Ellie2525]

where are you located? I don't know a lot about sickness and vets with pythons but you will definately need a reptile specialist vet, or have it euthanised

Thanks for your reply, I am in Wollongong, NSW. I have an appointment in Sydney at SASH but not till Monday afternoon next week.

Sick Stimson

 

[Reptile_Animal]

I hope sh is okay
xxxx
keep us posted

 

[Colin41]

All the best with your Stimmie. I hope that the vet is able to give you some positive advice for its recovery. let us know how it does.

 

[user 41856]

Looking at your pictures, I had this recently with one of my Stimson Pythons, also a female. I went to vets who were all Wrong and cost me a lot. It turned out to be she was Pregnant even though she has not been with a male.

Her symptoms: Puffy back end. Lies upside down (last half). Not eating. She wouldn't be using the back half because it was full of eggs.

The vets gave me Antibiotics which I injected as instructed, she didn't get better and I got more worried. They told me she has a heart murmur which caused her puffiness.

A couple of weeks later, my girl presented me with 13 eggs. I took her to be X-rayed to make sure she had passed all the eggs, they said Nope No More Eggs, the following day...... one more egg.

Almost immediately, she got hungry and has now resumed normal eating and has filled out back to her normal self.

If you go to a Vet, Make sure they scan her for Eggs. This happens from time to time because a high protein diet can stimulate their Egg follicles and lay dead eggs. The thing to be sure is to make sure all the eggs have come out or a stuck egg can go bad and kill the animal.

 

[Kpeters2801]

Take your noodle to a exotic vet asap

 

[Ellie2525]

Thanks everyone for you thoughts and input.
After seeing a couple of vets she was diagnosed with a virus called Bornavirus. Sadly there is no treatment or cure for this.
We made the very sad decision to say good bye to her.
The advice we got was very thorough. We needed to clean everything with F10 and then leave the enclosure for 2 weeks being able to introduce another python. We took extra precautions and threw out all her hides, water bowls and branches.
This is becoming more common in pythons in captivity, there are able 6 different virus’s that they can get.

 

[Culebra]

Thanks everyone for you thoughts and input.
After seeing a couple of vets she was diagnosed with a virus called Bornavirus. Sadly there is no treatment or cure for this.
We made the very sad decision to say good bye to her.
The advice we got was very thorough. We needed to clean everything with F10 and then leave the enclosure for 2 weeks being able to introduce another python. We took extra precautions and threw out all her hides, water bowls and branches.
This is becoming more common in pythons in captivity, there are able 6 different virus’s that they can get.

Im sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing that info with us

 

[Herpetology]

SASH is the vets that told us our dog's eye would be ok If they inject it with a needle and release the pressure, $2,000 - 2 weeks later, it was worse than it was before and they took another $5,000 to remove it. we suggested they removed it at the beginning because it would provide instant relief, and he would adapt very quickly (which he did)

 

[-Adam-]

So sorry to hear about your snake. Interesting regarding these viruses. I wonder how they are caught if the snakes remain in captivity and don't interact with any others.

 

[Herpetology]

So sorry to hear about your snake. Interesting regarding these viruses. I wonder how they are caught if the snakes remain in captivity and don't interact with any others.

90%+ of all snakes tested are coming back positive to the main viruses in captivity

 

[Ellie2525]

She was a snake breed in captivity, it’s a good question. I have been told that sadly it is very common. Thankfully it hasn’t seemed to cross over into the wild population.

We could have been more vigilant with our cleaning, especially when introducing new branches, bowls etc. I did clean in boiling water and bake new branches in the oven but that isn’t always enough for these viruses.

We now have F10 to clean anything new and we clean water bowls with it regularly as well.
A tough way to learn but our husbandry skills have improved.

90%+ of all snakes tested are coming back positive to the main viruses in captivity

I would be keen to hear more about this.

 

[Pokitren]

Looking at your pictures, I had this recently with one of my Stimson Pythons, also a female. I went to vets who were all Wrong and cost me a lot. It turned out to be she was Pregnant even though she has not been with a male.

Her symptoms: Puffy back end. Lies upside down (last half). Not eating. She wouldn't be using the back half because it was full of eggs.

The vets gave me Antibiotics which I injected as instructed, she didn't get better and I got more worried. They told me she has a heart murmur which caused her puffiness.

A couple of weeks later, my girl presented me with 13 eggs. I took her to be X-rayed to make sure she had passed all the eggs, they said Nope No More Eggs, the following day...... one more egg.

Almost immediately, she got hungry and has now resumed normal eating and has filled out back to her normal self.

If you go to a Vet, Make sure they scan her for Eggs. This happens from time to time because a high protein diet can stimulate their Egg follicles and lay dead eggs. The thing to be sure is to make sure all the eggs have come out or a stuck egg can go bad and kill the animal. On top of everything else, I want to take this opportunity to recommend an interesting site that does reviews of Australian casinos - https://betpokies.com There is a lot of useful information for gamblers, read it!

Do I understand correctly that the eggs can even be without a male? This is surprising to me, I have never heard of it. I don't quite understand why this is the case...

 

[nick_75]

Further reading for anyone interested.

 

[user 41856]

Do I understand correctly that the eggs can even be without a male? This is surprising to me, I have never heard of it. I don't quite understand why this is the case...

It happens from time to time, it never occurred to me that she could be gravid because I didn't put her with a male. It was a lesson learned for me.