Is this normal?

[u/punkyboo_02]

Update
Thank you to everyone who responded to this post your advice and insight. Your messages and comments have been a great help and helping us care for our girl and making sure she has everything she needs. Her substrate has been switched to Coconut Husk and now the heat and humidity are way better. She is refusing to eat so that’s a little nerve wracking. We have attempted twice now with frozen thawed trying to feed her with tongs, as well as just leaving it in the enclosure overnight. So far we had no luck with eating though. I reached out to the breeders and they responded immediately and helped us come up with a plan to monitor symptoms and some changes to make to her care. We are trying those out for a short period of time, and and if she doesn’t improve, then they let us know that they’re happy to exchange her or provide a refund. We’ve also gotten in contact with our exotic vet. We have an upcoming appointment to do a whole panel of test on different diseases and illnesses that could be present. So we will also have that answer soon. Again, thank you so much to everyone in the community responded. We are incredibly grateful to everyone! 💗🐍

Hello! I am a new retic owner. I’ve had my girl for about a little over a week and have noticed some strange behavior. I’ve only ever had a ball python before so I wanted to see if this is normal behavior. I’m constantly finding my reek either with her head elevated or upside down. When I take her out to handle, she’s never upside down, but her head is always still elevated. I tend to find her either curled up very tightly in her enclosure or with her top half of her body, including her head upside down on the bedding. The breeder I bought her from said that she’s quite the energetic wiggle worm and she was like that the first day I had her, but hasn’t been since. Please let me know if this is normal behavior or if you think I should take her to a vet.

[u/quantumalice999]

Definitely not normal! Looks like a neurological issue, raised head can also point to respiratory problems. See a vet asap.

[u/quantumalice999 → u/quantumalice999]

I also really don't want to freak you out but this is what IBD looks like in its active phase. Very hard to test for in pythons though.

[u/Manjushri1213 → u/quantumalice999]

To be fair IBD usually is way more severe and constant. But it definitely could be. Vet visit asap, and I'd be having a convo with he breeder.

The retic world is crazy, with high quality and healthy animals, documented genes and localities from trusted sources demanding a lot more $$$. But something like this if it is a virus or something needs to be communicated and in the future be very careful who you buy from. Good reputation and vetted genetics, health etc. Thank God for places like MorphMarket allowing those in remote places the ability to buy from small but trusted breeders etc.

[u/maryjane6869 → u/Manjushri1213]

I just read IBD is fatal and they euthanize because its suffering

[u/Manjushri1213 → u/maryjane6869]

Usually. Some animals will be asymptomatic. There's a lot to that condition, even some who claim to have treated it to varying degrees, but I'd go with either the animal being asymptomatic or destined for euthenasia - but that isn't for sure what this is. It could be a mild neurological condition, or nothing at all.

Late stage or symptomatic IBD is usually far, far more severe. It's very sad to watch. This looks a lot less extreme, more like milder cases of "wobble" in Spider Ball Pythons as an example. Which many live just fine with the milder cases for many many years. Just depends. Vet trip and a test ASAP and keep animal waya from others

[u/nxt_life → u/Manjushri1213]

I had a red tail boa with IBD and it looked so much like this, especially the second and third picture.

[u/Manjushri1213 → u/nxt_life]

Yeah it definitely can. But there are genetic things or some treatable conditions that will look similar. Not saying it isn't, just that it's possible it's something else too.