This is Tiger, the same three month old baby who has trouble flicking her tongue upon birth. I noticed she has trouble swallowing her food down too (it will come up and down a few times before she pushes it to her stomach).
This week, I became super concerned BC she was bloated and gained weight from 13 to 20g. She soaked herself and pooped and now she’s 16g, which makes more sense for her. She’s also not bloated anymore.
I’ve been reading about crypto and now I’m overly anxious she might have it. I know it’s unlikely but I’m going to do a fecal sample just in case for her and send it to the lab.
Basically, I couldn’t find much about crypto in young snakes and I want to know what the possibility is so I can be a bit less anxious? I’m doing precautions like isolating her just in case.
Unfortunately, when we work with these animals it can be very difficult to really know what’s going on.
It’s unlikely that this little one has crypto. For this fresh hatched baby to have crypto and none of your other animals having it is almost impossible unless you handled an infected animal somewhere else and never washed your hands.
That said…There is documentation of it being passed to the eggs of an infected animal, but I don’t really know how common that is… but if it did, you would already have animals in your care infected with crypto and probably already have signs popping up there. If you are concerned, you can definitely have your animals tested for crypto.
The most likely reason is this baby might have some sort of congenital birth issue. Like something just didn’t develop right. At this size and age it can be almost impossible to know exactly what’s going on. Sometimes these sorts of things happen and we really can’t do much but try and maintain the best quality of life.
I would see how this baby does for a bit longer. If the bloating become severe or the baby is having trouble maintaining themselves because of regurged food or anything else, that could be a sign to talk to your vet about options.
I agree with pretty much everything @armiyana said. I do think that maybe feeding smaller meals may be a good idea as well to see if that helps to keep any bloating down.
This seems like a good idea to me. It is always good to rule out possible issues, even if it is unlikely.
This is good to know! I haven’t handled snakes outside my house for a long time and I haven’t had new snakes for 3 years. I’m leaning on the side she just has some congenital birth defects that make her slower. She is progressing okay but I’ll cut her food up and give her some reptile probiotics just in case. Hopefully this helps!
Thanks so much for helping me not worry too much as I was thinking of the consequences and it’s scary . I’ll still send a fecal sample for peace of mind.
. I’ll still send a fecal sample for peace of mind.