| |
| Author |
Message |
Herphero
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 137
|
 Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject: Spider ball pythons and "wobbles" |
 |
Whats the information on the wobbles or spinners i hear about?
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
|
Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1358
Location: Midlothian, VA
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:08 pm Post subject: |
|
I have a spider ball with mild wobble head or "spins." I call spiders who wobble "wobblers," and my wobbler's name is Mr. Wibbles. Here is a blog I started about his life, but as his life has been fairly uneventful, I lost steam and haven't kept it up to date:
The Life and Times of Mr. Wibbles
The blog has some information in its earliest posts about the condition.
I have posted three videos of Mr. Wibbles on YouTube. They show a little bit of his wobbling, but none have captured him in all his wobbling glory. If I feel industrious one night soon, I'll take some more vids. He's a scream to feed.
Here are the YouTube posts:
Mr. Wibbles Eats Two Mice Apr-16th
Mr. Wibbles Wobbles Part 1
Mr. Wibbles Wobbles Part 2
I also posted about this recently on another forum, because someone had posted a link to my YouTube video to answer some questions for someone about the spins. Here is what I wrote:
| Quote: | It's like he has Parkinson's. Some days are worse than others, but none are what I would call "bad." He rarely performs for the camera, but then again, I'm not trying anymore. It's not the same for all spiders and some are consistently worse than others, but here's a description of how the defect manifests itself in Mr. Wibbles.
When feeding: About 30% of the time, Mr. Wibbles misses his mark by a good 90 degree angle. This will occasionally result in him slapping his head against the side of the tub. Sometimes he misses a second time. I think the striking action really takes it out of him, because the third strike has no force at all to it, no gusto at all, but I help him out by putting the rat practically right on his nose, and he just wraps it from there. He has a hardy appetite and has never passed up a meal.
When handling: Handling is when it shows up the most. Simply turning him upside down usually results in a slow recovery to upright position, and even then he doesn't exactly choose the path of least resistance. He'll twist his head around to upright and only later figure out the whole body needs to turn, so he flops his head back upside down and does it correctly the second go-round. When he explores his little head flops left and right, but he corrects it just fine. It's worst when he's excited (as with a feeding strike); once he settles down, you can't tell he's a wobbler at all.
When on his own in his tub: I'll put it this way: when I enter my reptile room, all I can hear is the white noise of the humidifiers. But as soon as it's dinner time, I occasionally hear tiny little bumping noises coming from the second slot from the top of my Jason's Jungle 5-slot adult rack.
My opinion? The wobble head defect does not appear to be a quality of life issue for Mr. Wibbles. He eats well, sheds perfectly, and handles nicely. He thermoregulates like all my other balls. He's growing like a weed. He's active at night and sleeps by day, just like any other BP. He does not appear to lead a tortured existence.
That being said, I would consider his case mild to moderate. I've seen pictures of more severe cases and it doesn't look good. Lots of loops and spirals and stuff, like the snakes are desperate for a visit to the chiropractor or something. Not Mr. Wibbles. He's handi-capable, and to be honest, it's somewhat endearing. He's a keeper.
|
Hope this helps.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1358
Location: Midlothian, VA
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Herphero
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 137
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:28 pm Post subject: |
|
Thanks Buck. Do you play guitar?
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PyMama
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 1646
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
|
Buck is our musician mod... he rocks...
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RonCrawford
Site Admin
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 2042
Location: Pottsville, PA (USA)
|
| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: |
|
| PyMama wrote: | Buck is our musician mod... he rocks...
|
 
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1358
Location: Midlothian, VA
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:42 am Post subject: |
|
I play electric bass.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Herphero
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 137
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: |
|
what style of music do u play? I play guitar, mostly metal with melodic and classical influence.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1358
Location: Midlothian, VA
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:45 am Post subject: |
|
| Herphero wrote: | | what style of music do u play? I play guitar, mostly metal with melodic and classical influence. |
Right now I'm in a rock band, but not hard rock. I'm pretty versatile, having played in the following types of bands:
- Blues
- Heavy metal
- Jazz
- Country
- Church folk music
- Hard rock
In one of the blues bands I was in we covered some 70's funk, R&B and Motown too. I have practiced Reggae but never been in a Reggae band. That would be sweet but I don't know any Jamaicans.
The thing about me is I started out learning jazz and blues, which gave me a foundation for understanding everything else, and I did most of my early practice in front of a television set, learning TV theme songs and advertising jingles. If you think about it, that's a quick way to hit just about every musical genre. I even picked up some pop, hip hop, and classical that way. So right now I'm in the band I'm in because I'm good friends with these guys, but I have no strong preference for the kind of music we're playing and can pretty much play any style, like a musical chameleon.
My tonal flexibility, on the other hand, has recently diminished due to the fact that I sold two bass guitars to cover snake purchases.
Are you in a band or bands right now?
.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Buck_99
Moderator
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1358
Location: Midlothian, VA
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: |
|
Um, back on topic...
...I was reading another thread, the one about where to place the thermometer probes, and A_green mentioned to put them a little under the substrate because the snakes like to burrow, and that reminded me of another thing about Mr. Wibbles: His substrate is always flat as a pancake, and he's always on top of it.
When I clean his water dish, I fluff up all the aspen again to give him the chance to burrow, but by the next morning he has flattened it again. Is it because of the wobble head? Is he incapable of burrowing? Or is this just his preference? My other ball pythons burrow in it or move it out of their way, but not Mr. Wibbles.
Something to think about.
.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Herphero
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
Posts: 137
|
| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:08 am Post subject: |
|
I am currently just jamming around with people.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Ball
Pythons for Sale
Ron's
Ball Python Blog
FAQ
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Search
Register
Log in