Spurs just don't look right?

whoaxmary · 07-26-11, 08:53 AM

Alriiightly.
Not sure who follows my threads but about a month ago I aqquired a new ball python named Mitch.
He's been settleing in for me great, has eatten (easily got him onto f/t), all his old shed is gone, retained eyelids and all. No redness around/in his mouth or nose, no mucus, nothing out of the ordinary that I've noticed.
Now, I haven't been handling him too much since he is quarantine, and when I do I keep it to a min. Today I did a full clean out and scrub on all my enclosures, and when moving Mitch back to his I noticed that his spurs hang out, a lot, and they sort of look funny to me. At first I thought it was a piece of bark stuck to him and was like - how the heck is that there-. It doesn't look red or infected or anthing; just not right. :S Mind you he is 8yrs old, and my other bp is still young and a female. I'm hoping I'm just not used to the difference? But like I said, it just doesn't seem to look right. I can't find my c amera right now but if I do I'll be sure to post some pictures. Until then, any ideas?/thoughts?

mykee · 07-26-11, 09:16 AM

Spurs are vestigial legs.
They come in different sizes. Males tend to have larger ones, but this is not a hard and fast rule.
Not something to worry about, save the worrying for the good stuff.

whoaxmary · 07-26-11, 09:54 AM

Thanks Mykee. ^_^ I think I'm just waiting for something to worry about because I haven't really had anythign to worry over in a while.

It isn't so much the size of the spurs that looked odd to me, it was the fact that they look almost greenish brown, where on Blue they are whitish.
But I know your more than likely right and the only reason it's on my mind is because I haen't personally seen something exactly like it so it just looked weird to me.
Thnaks for the reply.

Lankyrob · 07-26-11, 04:08 PM

Spurs never do look right, cant believe they got into the Champions League!!

TeaNinja · 07-26-11, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

Spurs never do look right, cant believe they got into the Champions League!!

lol...awesome

brylecc1989 · 07-26-11, 04:12 PM

I've never seen protruding spurs on a snake before. Interesting! Hope Mitch is A-ok!

stephanbakir · 07-26-11, 06:57 PM

If you feed them lots of veggies they grow into legs.

totheend · 07-26-11, 08:41 PM

Spurs can often have many, many layers of stuck shed. So this could be why they look like that.

whoaxmary · 07-27-11, 02:02 PM

That would make a lot of sense totheend, seeing as he was just covered in old shed from end to end when I got him. I just recently bumped his humidy back down to normal because I thought it was all removed, but maybe I should put it back up incase that's what's going on? :/

**Aaron_S** · 07-27-11, 02:09 PM

He'll be fine unless you plan to remove it.

Totheend beat me to it. That would be my guess.

Namea · 07-31-11, 03:17 AM

Protruding spurs is nothing to worry about on a male that age. Of all the ball pythons I've had only 1 of the males didn't have spurs that size by 6 or 7. That particular male also turned out to be sterile as he never bred successfully.

For a while we wondered if he was actually a she and had been probed incorrectly, however after having two other specialists probe we were proven wrong.

Likely they're looking that large because of old shed buildup. Try putting 1-1.5 inches of warm water in the bathtub and letting him have a quick soak. Often times pythons seem to revel in this, especially if you do it just after your shower when the room is still incredibly humid. The warm water will loosen shed buildup and it may fall off.

If that doesn't work there are many great shed-ointments out there. Rubbing a tiny bit of one of those on the spurs should do the trick if it's old skin.