Just recently lost a snake we have had been battling a long term infection that she bad before we got her. We had such wonderful plans and such hopes for her to pull through. How do you guys deal with the loss and what is the best way to go from here on her body and such. We’ve never lost a snake before since all of ours are really young or barely adults. Is it bad I don’t feel like… Upset other than frustration?
I don’t think it’s bad to feel frustration more than upset.
The snake was an investment, more than a pet, right? Your emotions would be valid if you looked at it in the scenario. I know someone recently posted about their snake dying (unknown causes) and people told that guy to take it to the vet to get an autopsy since he didn’t know how the other snake had died and he didn’t want anything else to happen to his collection.
I am sorry that you lost your snake. I hope you feel better.
Did you know she was sick before you got her?
Losing any animal is hard, whether it be frustration or sadness that your feeling. As long as you can whole heartedly say you did your best you have no reason to feel frustrated towards yourself.
I can see why you would be annoyed that plans have to be adjusted but instead of seeing it as a loss, look at it as a new gain as you now have to find either a new direction or a new snake with the same genes… Or better.
As for disposal, depending on where you live depends on what options you have.
My first recommendation would be if you have any local
biology/science related schools/colleges that are in need im sure they would be happy to help.
If you don’t like that idea and you own your property and have land large enough, a deep hole and a bed sheet will let nature take its course.
Here are some links, I hope you find what your looking for.
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Thanks guys. We bought her from an expo and she quickly went downhill from there. Despite antibiotics and such we lost the fight. We didn’t know she was sick and obviously the breeder that sold her didn’t tell us. I had posted about her here about two months ago. Sand boa with impacted scent gland on the tail. We had her eating again and even gained a little weight back. So it’s confounding and frustrating.
But this does mean plans are changing and we do have another female in the process of being bought. Just not an adult like this one was. Sets our plans back several years which is most frustrating. But it’s also losing a snake that had a wonderful personality. Was also the snake that got my gf interested and excited in breeding sand boas. I just hope this loss doesn’t make her lose heart in breeding.
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If the animal was sick, it’s not a good idea to bury it. There’s a chance that whatever killed it could infect the wild animals. Either directly if something digs it up and eats it. Or indirectly by something in the ground eating it, and something else eating that. Possibly allowing the “sick” to move back up via the food web.
Most vets know of, or have access to places that can do cremations. You may be able to even find one local to your area. Some local humane societies/aspcas/animal controls can do them too. The cost depends on size of the animal, if you want if done by itself (and possibly have the ashes returned to you) or with a bunch of others (either as a mass garden scattering, or just as disposal).
Or if you really don’t care what happens to the body, and the body isn’t very big, trash can. (Ya, I know, sounds really cold, callus, and insensitive.)
And as long as you tried your very best…that’s what you could do. You couldn’t do any more or anything else.
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Losing a snake sucks dont get me wrong but when mine have died of old age and such I got over it fairly quickly and what I usually did was bury them
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I do have to agree. When I’ve lost a pet due to old age, old age related problems, it is easier to deal with. Or if they were sick with something that wasn’t going to get better, ie had a cat with kidney failure, or sick and going downhill and you know there’s nothing more you can do but make them comfortable. It’s sad, but not unexpected, which I think makes it easier to deal with. It’s those ones you don’t expect, or that get sick suddenly, or have bizarre accidents that no one’s ever heard of happening before. Those are the ones that hurt the most.
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