Sick snake?

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Striker94

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Hey all have a stimsons i fed it thisarvo and it ate fine but ive noticed it doing this really weird thing with its body like its twisting and flattening itself out weirdly. Any help im really worried!
 

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Your Stimson has a bit where it is flat/crushed, and generally we call them kinks. I would assume that would have something to do with it
 
Oh yes when it curls itself into a pretzel it 'kinks' in that same spot but then it goes back to normal for a bit. Could it be just a bad pinky rat I fed it or could it actually be sick.
 
We have a list somewhere, lemme dig it up.

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Qld-Brisbane

Joshua Llinas from Greencross at Jindalee is my vet and he is very good. He works closely with Shane Simpson in Melbourne.
http://www.greencrossvet.com.au/Clinic-9/Jindalee.aspx
Credit to [MENTION=34534]andynic07[/MENTION] from the post in the reptile vets thread. Hope this helps. And yeah, I'd say a kink, get it checked asap. Best of luck, keep us updated.
 
Let us know how it goes please. I have been told that they can develop a kink and can grow out of it, but nobody here is a Vet. I would imagine that if it is feeding it should survive and probably grow out of it. I really hope things work out with the vet.
 
The kink could stop it doing other things. Even if it can feed, it isn't out of the woods. Depending on severity it could prevent breeding. US keepers have reported it occurring from "popping" (The act of making the hemipenes visible for sexual identification) snakes too early or dropping something on the snake. It can otherwise be present from birth.
 
Thank kink isnt permanent it does that to itself while its twisting itself over like a pretzel
 
Looks fine to me, the "kink" looks to be where its using its abdominal muscles to push the food into the stomach rather than anything to worry about. Is it still doing it at the moment or has it settled down?
 
I'm no vet, but it looks more like a localised muscle spasm or contraction to me, rather than skeletal. Some snakes do have spinal or muscle problems which can show up like this from hatch, and they live quite normal lives. If you haven't seen it before, it may be a reaction to pain (something may have triggered it when it fed).

In the photos, the head is correctly oriented, which may be a good sign. If the animal was fully disoriented and the head is difficult to maintain on a normal plane, it could point to a more serious neurological problem, but my best guess is that this isn't the problem.

Although this is a localised abnormality, Stimmies are able to flatten themselves out more than most pythons - they squeeze into narrow rock crevices and under rock slabs. This characteristic makes them great escape artists, they often work at getting between sliding glass panels in their enclosure.

Jamie
 
What and when did you feed it? Temps?

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I think that food item is on its way up. What is the substrate? Do you feed it in there?
 
Allan from pics it appears to be aspen or wood shavings of some other sort. Could that really trigger regurgitation?
 
I'd never feed a snake directly on a substrate like that, and especially if the food item was wet. Problems with ingested substrate are rare, but I would always feed on newspaper if a snake is on loose substrate.

Jamie
 
It could be a feeding quirk or it could be pain related. More often than not I wouldn't say take it to the vet but I doubt it will do any harm as long as you take it to someone knowledgeable about reptiles who may not be as quick to prescribe something for the sake of doing something.

If it's pain related you definitely owe it to the animal to take it to the vet, if its a quirk or a birth defect there is no harm done other than to your pocket. Even if a reptile vet wants to rule out all options at the end of the day you know why it's doing what it's doing.
 
Did this start straight after a feed by any chance?
There have been some recent discussions on fb that bear some similarity. It was considered to possibly be from food stock. I never followed the post to its conclusion but might be worth considering. I'm not saying it is food related but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck......?
 
Okay guys ive been to the vet.
Xrays done and he belives that it is a pain reaction and confirmed that in the xrays showing verry weak bone structure and a few spinal issuses and possible spine deterioration. Apparently quite common in stimmies at a small size because u cant feed hen anything with a real bone content. Have anti inflamitry injections and antibiotics to see if that helps. Virus not fully ruled out but more than likely not the problem.
 
That is some good but not great news, I hope it all works out for you and the stimmy!
 
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