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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Stargazing?

It is well known with IDB. They will hold their head straight up in the air, as if they were staring at the stars. If it is with IDB, then death will soon follow. Also IDB is very contagious. It has been said to be the aids of the snake world.
 
causes of stargazing

Stargazing has been associated with many neurological disorders including trauma, toxicity, encephalitis (bacterial or viral as with paramyxovirus or IBDV), meningitis (bacterial, viral, and fungal). You can also confuse stargazing with posturing to breathe as is found with pneumonia, lungworms, tracheal mites, tracheal chondromas.
 
Just so it's said, holding the head vertical, even for somewhat extended periods does not automatically mean they are stargazing or that there are other underlying problems. It does warrant closer observation until you determine whether there is anything wrong, but that alone doesn't necessarily indicate a serious problem.

I have one particular male boa that is currently 8 or 9 years old. I purchased him at a year of age. He's done this periodically his whole life. I'd walk into the snake room and he'd have the front 18" of his body perfectly vertical staring at the ceiling of the cage. He's never had any neurological problems, or respiratory ailments, and normally once he caught sight of me returned to normal snake behavior watching me in the room.
He hardly ever does it now since I moved the boas into 18" high cages, but when he was in a 24" tall cage he did it regularly. There's nothing at all wrong with him though.
 
In cornsnakes there is a form of stargazing that appears to be a hereditary simple recessive defect in ratios expected from such a gene. Hatchlings come out of the egg uncoordinated, with star-gazing behavior, sometimes crawling sideways, upside down, or backwards. They may appear normal at rest, but it's noticeable when they are stimulated to move about.

The problem has been mainly noted in some sunkissed lines of Okeetees at this point, but I won't be surprised to see it popping up elsewhere.

I'm working on getting a clutch that contains some star gazers and their siblings to see if we can get some more information on this disorder. That's really all that's known about them at this point.
 
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