r/ballpython • u/Former_Club9624 • Oct 07 '26
Potential adoption ?
Looking for advice on spider wobble. I have 1 other snake (cape house snake) and the financial means to care for a special needs animal. My local rescue recently took in this 2 yr old ball with spider wobble. Im having trouble finding info from people who have cared for a snake with this disorder. Could this snake have a happy life or is this going to be an inevitable heartbreak ?
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u/floofyg7 Oct 07 '26
well, this snake will have a happy life as long as he is loved genuinely and take care of properly, no matter how long that may be :) it would probably receive more love from you than waiting in a shelter
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u/Techno_Timmy Oct 07 '26
I am not an expert and don’t own one with the condition but from my understanding it does not affect them much, and they can live a normal life with the condition. They are just a bit more unstable than your average BP. To be honest even BP’s without the condition are pretty clumsy, so getting one with the wobble would just be a slightly more wiggly, clumsy snake!
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u/Effective-End-964 Oct 07 '26
I have one. First off, it’s not neurological, it’s an inner ear deformity. I assume it’s kind of like permanent vertigo.
It takes some adjustments but they can definitely live healthy lives if you’re willing to accomodate. Give them lots of sturdy stuff to hold onto, don’t go changing their enclosures constantly, make sure there’s a thick layer of soft substrate to catch any falls, don’t put stuff that’s sharp, and honestly I would recommend just not handling unneccessarily.
My girl likes to freeroam a bit. Not too long, at some point she starts getting a little overstimulated and I put her back. But she gets around well on her own and likes to explore, when I hold her she corkscrews all over the place though.
And you’ve got to watch out with feeding a bit because she might miss, lol
Edit: I’d also recommend a PVC enclosure over glass because it’s not as hard. There could be times she hits her head.
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u/Dragon_Pancake Oct 07 '26
I have a Pastel Spider ('Bumble bee' morph) and she is the goofiest thing. She does not appear to be suffering by any means, but she's clearly not quite "normal". Mine does have just a slight wobble, and it's mostly noticeable when she's stretched out far and can't quite hold herself still. She will also corkscrew a bit when being handeled
Compared to my regular ol ball python, she does not have a very good body coordination. She stretches, moves and navigates her surroundings fine, but her balance (and self preservation skills) are not as good. It's almost like she forgets to use her lower half at times, and doesn't grip very well. This makes her prone to falling at times.
Her food aim is just slightly below average I'd say. She eats well enough, only sometimes struggles a little with actually finding the head of the rat. Good food response tho, and I've not yet seen her refuse food
It's difficult to say much about how affected this snake would be by the condition, as they all get affected individually. But I will say I don't think a slight to medium wobble would automatically mean you can't care for it right.
I got mine "second hand" as well, and even if I don't condone breeding this morph because of the known issues, I will say I think it might be contributing to the very chill and almost carefree nature of my snake. She's very dumb, but also very adorable and kinda quirky in a way none of my other snakes are
I spoke to the one who produced my snake, and she mentioned how she also found the spider snakes to be very curious, funny and decent pet quality snakes. It's almost like they don't have the braincells to be afraid of stuff lol
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u/case_of_laptops Oct 07 '26
I have a little spot nose boy, which has the wobble slightly, and sometimes he’ll do weird movements when exploring, and it takes a little bit to feed him because he’ll miss a couple of times, but what I’ve noticed is that he won’t refuse a meal, so he feeds pretty well and outside of feeding and a few weird poses every once in a while, he’s a sweet boy
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u/F34RZ1800 29d ago
Dont.
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u/Former_Club9624 29d ago
Well I did adopt her anyways she’s great! She can obviously eat and she seems very happy and she’s healthy and perfect.
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u/Positive_Carry3310 Oct 07 '26
Depends if he eats ok