Spider Ball Python Wobbles
Like 3 Dislike 0 Published on 4 Aug 2015
4 minute cut of an 11 minute trial to feed my ball python (python regius). She is a spider ball morph which just means that she has a particular patterning that is different from the "normal" ball python coloration. This particular morph comes with some neurological malfunctioning that causes "wobbles" which I have captured in this video. It is a trait found in any spider ball python and related morphs. The degree of wobbles can vary from slight shakes to full corkscrewing. The degree of the wobbles isn't genetic and instead varies throughout the snake's lifetime. Jazmine (this snake), often has slight wobbling when she goes about her daily life and it is not uncommon for her to hold herself upside down when she pauses. The severity of her wobbles increases when she gets excited as seen here when offered food. It hinders her ability to discern where her food is but this is one of many reason that she is fed frozen-thawed rats.
Some other short facts:
-Wobbles do not hurt the snake
-The first morph was found in the wild as a healthy adult male
-Spider ball pythons are known to have the best appetites out of other ball pythons (who are notoriously picky)
p.s I did refill her water dish. Didn't see that she had sucked it dry recently. Also she does have a properly sized hide it's just all the way to the left of the tank where the camera doesn't pan to.
Edit 10/18
This has gotten quite a lot of views and concerned comments, so here's an update to my own commentary.
Yes, she's still alive and quite healthy (and about 7 years old now). For the most part nowadays, with a few exceptions, she doesn't take more than a minute to grab her food and has even been grabbing it within a matter of seconds. As noted above, the severity varies, and that particular feeding was about the most difficult ones to date.
Her disability continues to perplex anyone whom I talk to about her. For those leery of snakes it's disarmed them enough to allow me to educate them more about snakes. Neat, huh?
But worry not folks, she's doing fine, though I appreciate the concern. Don't be sad--she's doing well despite not always knowing which way is up. :) That being said, I'm glad this video has been educational to many. I didn't actually know much about wobbles when I bought her, though the breeder did forewarn me about it. It really hasn't required anything more from me to care for her aside from a little patience when she's having difficulty feeding.
edit 2/19
I think I've said all I can say about her, and mostly I repeat myself in the comments. This is meant to be a neutral showcase, and I've gotten some increasingly concerned folk that kinda make me sad with word choice. Yes, the wobbles are not normal, yes, it can seem sad. I only mean to posit that it looks a lot worse than she is/she's not in pain or otherwise unhealthy. I do care for her, and I've grown as a snake handler since recording this video. So, chill guys, she's doing just fine. And no, she'd not been bred and will not ever be bred. Anyways, I'll be disabling comments but the video will remain up for educational purposes.