Strange behavior?

AndrewM1217 · 05-22-15, 11:42 PM

So I just watched my Spotted Python moving about his enclosure, when all of a sudden he began to make sudden and rapid movements with his head/neck. It's hard to describe, but it was almost like watching a dog that's spotted a fly and is trying to watch it buzz around. This is the first time he's done this, but it seemed to resolve itself pretty quickly. It looked a little more deliberate than some sort of muscle spasm. Still eating/pooping as normal. Any ideas? Maybe he was just spazzing out.

PatrickT · 05-23-15, 04:49 AM

could be star gazing

Stargazing Syndrome in Reptiles | petMD

AndrewM1217 · 05-23-15, 07:18 AM

I thought that too, and got worried that it might be IBD. But as of so far, it's been a one-time-only thing. However he's also taken to burrowing lately, something he doesn't usually do that often. So the combination of those two things strikes me as a bit strange.

PatrickT · 05-23-15, 08:23 AM

Well star gazing is only a symptom. I think you should bring him to a vet who can check him.

Cmwells90 · 05-24-15, 09:33 AM

Was it a side to side movement or up and down? Stargazing is when they look straight up, and may lead to them ending up upside down, if they do this, it's a bad sign. If it was a side to side movement it could just be him getting depth perception. Snakes will waive their head from side to side to get a better judge of distance, sometimes they do this at a fast rate and it can look scary but maybe he just saw something he thought he could bite at XP

Albert Clark · 05-24-15, 10:12 AM

Patrick, thanks for the reference on "stargazing". That was informative.