• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

What is stargazing?

Teddy Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt

i loev cronsankes
There's a whole forum devoted to the subject on The Source, but no one really explains what it is or looks like. I gather it's a genetic defect, though.
 
Pepper said:
There's a whole forum devoted to the subject on The Source, but no one really explains what it is or looks like. I gather it's a genetic defect, though.
Click to expand...

If you do a better search there, you'll find photos. And yes, it is a genetic condition that causes the snake to not really know which way is up.
 
From some of my wildlife classes, I've been told it can be genetic, but it can also be a symptom of a viral or bacterial infection, among other things. From what I remember, don't know if this is correct, the virus that causes it in some colubrids is the paramyxovirus.[FONT=Arial, Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT]
 
I believe I came up with the name for the genetic stargazing defect, as it popped up in my sunkissed okeetees before being seen anywhere else, and I had to call it something. So I named it stargazing, after the symptoms seen in snakes with neurological damage, usually from viral or bacterial infections.

Stargazing actually refers to the behavior of not moving properly, and holding the head and neck at strange angles, kind of looking up, "star gazing". While breeders of other species might associate the name with a diseased snake, in corns, it has come to be known as the genetic defect that arose with sunkissed morphs.

When I first started calling them stargazers, I didn't know it was genetic - didn't know what it was. "Stargazer" was probably not a good name for the defect, since it can be confused with the damage caused by infections. But the name has stuck, and is not likely to be changed now.
 
Last edited:
Stargazer girl..

frieda11-12-09%284%29.jpg


frieda11-12-09%283%29.jpg
 
Here is a picture at rest ( same animal ), with very little stimulation...


frieda2-28-08%282%29.jpg


Kathy has definantly done a really excellent job at explaining how stargazing works, and it is very appreciated..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
Its thought to be a simple recessive gene... If you have two animals het for it, and they bred, the issue will show up... They do not develope it.. If they are Stargazers, it shows, if they are carrying the mutant genes, it can and will be passed on.. Essentially works the same as a morph gene..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top