Reducing wobble?!

Has anyone ever heard of the wobble getting lesser if the snake first crawled around on a larger flat space?

In the topic about “the ethics of spiders and spider breeding” I mentioned that my champagne who is a wobbler didn’t show a wobble at all that day. Unfortunaly the times after she did wobble again, until one day, just like the day of that post in the spider topic I let her crawl around on my bed. After she crawled around for a few minutes the wobble was not visible anymore. She held her head up just like any other snake, with or without surface underneath her. I now tested it several times on her and every time I pick her up and don’t let her crawl she curls around like a roller coaster, but if I let her crawl first on a lager space the signs of the wobble are gone. It’s like she has to calibrate first.

I now also tested it several times on my spider girl. She is wobbles lesser but she still does. Where my champagne flips down forward she flips up backwards. I now tested this crawling thing on her too and also she lost the signs of the wobble after crawling around on a larger surface for a few minutes.

Is this just coincidence or did anyone else also had this experience with wobblers?

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Nothing “unfortunate“ about the wobble, it’s just how they are. Doesn’t hurt them :slight_smile:
Just a slight correction.

But I haven’t heard that, I FEEL like it shouldn’t help but idk I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has observed this.

The wobble is a neurological problem. Unfortunately nothing you do with husbandry is going to make a difference.

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Temperatures and or stress can impact animals that wobble, so what one need to aim for is lower temperatures 86 on the warm side is what I have found seem to work best, and low stress (less handling etc)

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@saleengrinch I know it is a neurological issue in every spider, even when it doesn’t show that much, and that it can not be cured. My question was more on symptom reduction. It was something I observed in my own two snakes and was wondering if more people have noticed this ever in their own.

@stewart_reptiles thank you for the advise. I knew about the stress part but not the effect of temperatures. It’s for sure something I will try.

@thecrawdfather I do accept them for how they are and I knew enough about the wobble to know they had it. But sometimes it does make me feel bad when I see the roller coaster behaviour, so if I can do anything to make the symptoms lesser I will give it a try. But that’s maybe indeed just a projection of my own feeling on them. But I was mainly just very surprised to see the difference. That’s why I was wandering if anyone else ever noticed this too.

In my opinion seeing as royal pythons arent typically climbers, they really werent built for it well, I feel like the average wobble seen isnt bad. Good breeders show snakes with barely visible wobble, my snakes dont have it bad.
I have one spider who does get bad, when I pick him up he will shake his head side to side, but on the ground he does perfectly fine.
So is it really a problem they wobble when in the air if they arent arboreal snakes to begin with?
Besides that hes never hit his head on the tubs, never bit himself. Hes capable or eating and shedding and pooping, even breeding. He seems perfectly fine to me

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Your answer is mostly in your question. As Deb mentioned, stress can bring the wobble in to play. By letting your animal crawl around for a while and get used to the surroundings, the stress of being pulled out and handled wears off and so the “trigger” for the wobble is removed and the behaviour calms.

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That might indeed be the reason. I didn’t think of that. My spider showed the wobble most in the first weeks I got her. Now she is more used to her new place I hardly ever see it. My champagne is a shy girl. She really doesn’t crawl around if she is not confident enough everything is safe and it always takes some time for her to get there. So the fact that she crawls around quietly flickering her tongue shows indeed that she is more relaxed, so that might be the clue.

Had a male spider that had a really bad wobble. I bred him to 5 WC adult females. Not one of the spiders from this breeding had any perceived wobble. The offspring of these spiders were the same. Did the same with a female woma who had a bad wobble breed her to a WC male and all the offspring were fine. Was told to try this by several breeders and it worked. Just cause your snake has a wobble doesn’t necessarily mean it’s got something that stops it from living it’s life to the fullest.

Definitely!!

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