I recently got a CA motley male (2014 baby, not sure on birth month). He seems fine health-wise no kinks, no mites, no neuro, has eaten twice and defecated once for me (seemed normal). Today was the second time that I've handled him (other than to get him out of the bag and to move him to clean his tub briefly).
On all the occasions I've handled him, I've noticed that he has seemed slightly weak in his back third (from about two inches in front of the vent to his tail). He can still move his tail and grip with the tip, but doesn't wrap the back third of his body around my hand / arm to hold on as well as my other boas do. When I got my hypo last year (slightly larger than this guy but not by too much) he didn't seem to have this weakness. The motley also seems to grip less hard with the rest of his body.
I was wondering if this is possibly related to the motley gene, or if it could be from simple lack of exercise. The breeder said he has 150 snakes, so doesn't handle them and I'm assuming this guy was almost maintenance fed (he seems pretty thin). I've given him a branch and hides to climb on in his tub which will hopefully help if it is due to a lack of climbing and I'm planning on moving him up to small mice from hoppers next week.
If you guys have any experience with anything like this, I'd greatly appreciate your advice. The boa seems healthy otherwise so I'm hoping he'll overcome this.
On all the occasions I've handled him, I've noticed that he has seemed slightly weak in his back third (from about two inches in front of the vent to his tail). He can still move his tail and grip with the tip, but doesn't wrap the back third of his body around my hand / arm to hold on as well as my other boas do. When I got my hypo last year (slightly larger than this guy but not by too much) he didn't seem to have this weakness. The motley also seems to grip less hard with the rest of his body.
I was wondering if this is possibly related to the motley gene, or if it could be from simple lack of exercise. The breeder said he has 150 snakes, so doesn't handle them and I'm assuming this guy was almost maintenance fed (he seems pretty thin). I've given him a branch and hides to climb on in his tub which will hopefully help if it is due to a lack of climbing and I'm planning on moving him up to small mice from hoppers next week.
If you guys have any experience with anything like this, I'd greatly appreciate your advice. The boa seems healthy otherwise so I'm hoping he'll overcome this.
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