Today Mr. Wibbles weighed in at 89 grams. That's a 19 gram increase in 15 days, for a 27% increase in weight since we acquired him. That's good news!
Bad news: after I pulled him out of his container and put him on the scales, I noticed that he's in the middle of a shed. His eyes hadn't even gone blue yet, so I had no clue he was nearing shed. Worse, despite humidity levels consistently in the 70- 75% range since acquisition, his shed is coming off in broken pieces. I have no explanation for this because steady humidity in this range has always resulted in perfect, unbroken sheds in all my other snakes. My fear is that this is an early shed in response to mites that are now known to have come into the house with two new snakes, even though those two snakes are in a separate quarantine area and I have taken precautions with housing, bathing, clothing, etc.
I just double-checked his environment and see no evidence of mites. I'm treating his enclosure all the same. In the meantime, to help him with his shed, I'm giving him a bath. It turns out he's rather funny in the bath. I got a bit of video, but I didn't capture the beginning. When I put him in the water, he didn't move at all...he just floated for awhile, his body locked into position, as the water twirled him in lazy circles.
I will leave him in peace now to complete his shed.
5 comments:
Great recording of data... The best of luck to you! :)
Awesome blog! The clarity of the pictures is first rate. :)
I thought it was cute the way he let himself drift down the stream.
You are to be commended for taking on this project. It is a shame that so little is known about this defect.
My spiders do not display the "wobble"...but there is no telling if they will throw wobblers. If they do, I will more than likely hold them back.
Good luck with the research. :)
Love that phrase, "throw wobblers." Reminds me of the cat juggling film in "The Jerk" with Steve Martin.
Hehe, his bathtime behaviour is very much like my ball's! When I put her in her water dish she just curls into a big circle around the edge and floats there like a lil inner tube.... :P
looking forward to reading about mr. wibbles progress. this is going to be interesting, a special needs snake.
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