"Weak" lower body, odd positions, slow movement

Ok... I'm not really sure what's going on with my little girl. I apologize for this being a long post, but I figure the more details I add, the more maybe someone will know what's going on with her. I take her out daily (except for when she's in blue or 48 hrs after eating) so I know her personality pretty well. I'm getting concerned about her because last night and today she has not been acting normal.

Last night when I went to take her out, she was jumpy, which is weird because she is NEVER jumpy. I wasn't too concerned though because I figured maybe I just scared her by reaching in too fast or something. It didn't really bother me. I had her out for only a few minutes, but she was really squirmy and seemed agitated. That was really weird, because she is a very laid back snake, is always climbing on me, investigating nearby objects, etc. Last night she didn't want to be held and had no interest in any objects around her. I thought "Ok, this is weird, I guess she wants to be left alone" and I put her back in her viv because I didn't want to stress her.

Today, I took her out. She was again very jumpy when I reached in to get her. I don't know why. Always when I take her out, I set her in my palm and let her wrap herself however she wants. She usually will start wrapping and climbing on me immediately. Today, though, she didn't. Her upper half was in my palm, her lower half was just dangling off my hand... She didn't attempt to wrap her tail on me or anything. I gently poked her tail and she barely, slowly moved it. I kept holding her, thinking maybe she just needed to "warm up" a little to get moving (even though she had been on the hot side of her viv which was 84.6 when I took her out). She stayed with her tail dangling for probably 5-10minutes. Finally she wrapped herself around me, but then twisted her neck kind of into a weird shape (see photo below) and held that position for another 5minutes or so. She also kept climbing across my fingers very slowly and upside-down. I put her back in her viv and am going to refrain from holding her until I get any information. I don't want to stress her out by moving her too much.

I also want to add, that even when she did start slowly climbing on me, she didn't have much of a grip. Her body felt weak and like she wasn't really holding on. She was kind of "slack" for lack of a better word.

Ok, I know the position doesn't look that odd, but its VERY unlike her to hold any position for more than a few seconds. She is a very laid back snake, but this behaviour was very out of the ordinary for her. She honestly seemed very lethargic and disoriented. She was fine two days ago.

Thanks in advance! Hopefully I'm just overly worried. And especially thanks to any taking the time to read through all this and give me feedback! Here's the photo of the "weird" neck position she held for several minutes. It looks like a normal position, but keep in mind she stayed that way without moving. Its very unlike her.

Think I'd be worried too - hope we can help. Couple of basic checks to start with - what are the temperatures on the floor at the cool and warm ends? Could the temp have spiked at some point? Has anyone used any kind of chemical in the room - cleaning spray, fly killer, carpet/fabric refresher, cologne...?

Most of the symptoms could just be an extreme pre-shed behaviour, but I'm thinking with that odd sort of body position, it's possible that you may be looking at a neurological problem.

Thank you for replying!!!

what are the temperatures on the floor at the cool and warm ends?

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The warm end ranges from 83 to 86. I'm using a digital thermometer that is right on the surface of the viv, under the substrate, so its an accurate temp. The cool side ranges from about 70-75, which I know the low 70's is low, but she always has access to her warm side to thermoregulate.

Could the temp have spiked at some point?

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Not that I'm aware of. I have a rheostat connected to the uth so that it shouldn't spike at all. I never change the temp of my a/c in my house so really her viv should stay 83-86 on the warm side and 70-75 on the cool side.

Has anyone used any kind of chemical in the room - cleaning spray, fly killer, carpet/fabric refresher, cologne...?

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The only chemical would be when I mop the floor (diluted pinesol) BUT that NEVER comes into contact with her viv. Her viv is on a stand and sits about 3-4 feet off the floor. So the pinesol is never really anywhere near it. I wash my hands with dawn dish soap and rinse really well before handling her. I use hand sanitizer after handling her, but that's after she is already put back in her viv.

Most of the symptoms could just be an extreme pre-shed behaviour, but I'm thinking with that odd sort of body position, it's possible that you may be looking at a neurological problem.

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I'm really hoping its just extreme pre-shed behaviour! I'm amazed at how sudden her symptoms came on. I really hope she just pulls out of it and hope that its just weird behaviour, but nothing serious.

I do have an air freshener (beads in a jar) about 2-3 feet away from the viv that I put there last week. I thought it was far enough away that it wouldn't cause a problem, but maybe its stressing her out. I will go and move it to the other room right now.

Well the setup certainly sounds good. Moving the air freshener is definitely worth a try - I've been warned off using scented candles, joss sticks or plug-in air fresheners in the same room.

Good luck - let us know how it goes. Also if she gets worse or develops more symptoms which could give us more clues. Fingers crossed for you both. Hopefully someone else will be along with other ideas shortly.

What kind of bedding do you use in her cage? I've read that cedar and pine can cause neurological problems.

What kind of bedding do you use in her cage? I've read that cedar and pine can cause neurological problems.

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I use EcoEarth. It says that its compressed coconut husk; it looks like dirt.

I checked on her today and she looked fine, so I took her out to see if she was still weak or not. She wrapped on me fine and moved around like normal and flicked her tongue (which she didn't do yesterday). I'm going to guess that it was the air freshener stressing her out because that is the only thing I moved last night.

That being said though, I had her out for several minutes, she wasn't jumpy or anything like she had been. I set her down for a moment to let her explore since she seemed to be acting fine, but when I went to pick her back up, she struck at me. She missed, but I've had her for over 2 months now and she's never even tried to strike. So she is doing physically much much better (I'm so happy!) but her personality isn't quite what it was. I'm thinking she's either still stressed from the air freshener, or there is still something else going on. I will definitely limit handling and keep an eye on her the next few days. She is scheduled to eat tomorrow, so I will feed as scheduled and let her digest for 48 hrs.

Any advice on what to do if she strikes again? I hope she doesn't become aggressive. I kept holding her another minute or two just so that I wouldn't reinforce the striking behaviour by putting her immediately back in her viv. I definitely hope I find an underlying cause for this odd behaviour the last few days :uhoh::nope::uhoh:

Don't let her think you're afraid of her striking. Handle her like you normally would. She'll settle back down, I'm sure. It does sound like the air freshener was affecting her.

Thank you all for responding! I hope she calms down soon I'm glad she's ok! Its crazy that such a small thing caused such an odd behaviour response! I've learned my lesson about having air fresheners and pets haha

Corns and perfumed things can be a bit of an odd mix. 'CK One' has been identified in the past as containing a pheramone which invokes a kind of defence response in Corns i.e. it makes them really bitey and jumpy!

Yeah my corns go nuts if I handle them after washing my dishes with lemon dish soap. I also found that one of my cherry blossom body washes do the same. They really hate it. Even my calmest corn doesn't want anything to do with me.

Good to hear she does better now. I wonder if snakes do suffer TIA's or such? (problems in the brain due to lack of oxygene or bleeding). I really hope it was the air freshener of course!

Good to know I'm not the only one with a corn that seems to hate certain smells! When I took her out to put her in her feeding tank last night she was really squirmy and bitey. I almost dropped her because she practically lunged from out of my hand which is a first. I don't use lotions or anything and I didn't have perfume on yesterday. She ate last night with no problem so I'll let her digest and won't be handling her until tomorrow night. I'll admit, I'm sad she's behaving this way. Hopefully with some short handling sessions and starting from square one with her, she'll calm back down to how she used to be.

I wonder if snakes do suffer TIA's or such? (problems in the brain due to lack of oxygene or bleeding). I really hope it was the air freshener of course!

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I hope its nothing that serious! She does seem to have a complete opposite personality now, though, so I'm not sure if the air freshener did any brain damage or something. I certainly hope not! I'm going to keep working with handling her and hopefully calm her back down.

Just an update - Sonya is back to normal now. I took her out for a handling session. She didn't strike, she wasn't jumpy. She's back to her sweet self Thanks for all the help everyone provided! It definitely helped me through this knowing that there was a group of people online willing to help I love my little girl and this site so much more now haha

That's great news! It's not often we get a problem which can be that quickly identified and easily fixed. Thanks for the update.