I came home from work to feed, and a dnake i received on January 3 is dead. I fed it one time. It looks like impaction killed it.
How do i know if its something I did wrong, or if it came to me like that? I dont know what to do. I dont want to make a big deal about it, but Im heart broken, my kiddo is heart broken, and Im out $450 and a part of my future breeding plans.
What would you do? Did i mess something up? I don’t know what to do.
I am so sorry for your loss. Unfortunately these things can happen sometimes with no known cause. Since you havent had him long there is a good chance the snake already had an underlying health issue, they are very good at masking when something is wrong. It is very unfortunate but try not to beat yourself up about it.
Aww 
maybe message the person you purchased from and see if they can do something for you or at least have some insight on what they think it could have been.
The first thing to do is contact the breeder. You most likely won’t get a refund or anything, but they may be able to help with what went wrong.
Chances are that whatever happened was way out of your control. as these are animals that are so great at hiding issues, it is almost scary how health they can appear just to be gone in the blink of an eye. He could of had underdeveloped lungs, enlarged heart, missing a kidney and his other failed, etc.
If you can afford a necropsy, put his body in the fridge and try to get his body to the vet as quickly as possible. If you can’t then that is perfectly fine and don’t beat yourself up about anything that happened.
I am so sorry for your loss and remember, it wasn’t your fault.
Wow what a tragedy for you. Definitely contact the breeder asap, if nothing else than to warn him or her to keep an eye on the other snakes. I’m assuming you had quarantined your baby.
Provided you have preserved his little body in the refrigerator, you could elect to have a necropsy done to try to determine what caused his death. If it was something that the breeder could have corrected (impaction) then you might have some recourse. If the cause was something unavoidable then at least you will know.
However, you paid good money for a beautiful little snake that lived less than a month in your care. The breeder needs to be notified of this most definitely, one way or another. I for one would like to see what response you get….
Keep us posted 
. I hope you get some answers
Sorry for your loss, truly.
Something I will say though, is that the odds of the breeder knowing something was wrong and selling you the snake are probably very low. And you bought the snake close to a month ago, so there is likely going to be no recourse, as it would be almost impossible to prove it was something they knew even if you fully thought they might.
Sometimes things happen. I’ve had perfectly healthy snakes just randomly drop dead out of nowhere. Without doing a necropsy; you’re just throwing guessing into the wind and don’t have any good answers, and neither does anyone else here.
Again, I say this because just as much as everyone’s saying it isn’t your fault, it likely isn’t the breeders fault either. This is something to keep in mind. It’s easy to just assume that they sold you a damaged/sick/defective snake and knew, but that shouldn’t be the conclusion that we jump to with what info we know.
If it was impaction, it’s likely the breeder didn’t know. And again, proving that would be almost impossible.
Again, so sorry for your loss, it’s never easy.
Oh no, I’m so, so sorry. He was a beautiful little guy. It’s never easy to lose an animal, but it’s such a gut-punch when it’s sudden and unexpected like that.
I definitely agree with others that you should contact the breeder. Not to assign blame or demand restitution, but just to inform them of what happened. They might be able to offer some insight, and even if they can’t, it’s good for them to be aware of so they can keep an eye on their own animals (especially the parents and/or siblings of your poor little guy).
Necropsy is an option, if you’re willing/able to spend the money and have a vet who is willing to perform one. It won’t change anything, but it might give you some answers.
Was he passing waste normally? If so, I doubt impaction was the problem. It could have been any number of things. Only way to really know would be a necropsy, and even then, the results could still be inconclusive.
I’m so sorry for your loss. I doubt it had anything to do with your husbandry, so try to not beat yourself up (easier said than done, I know). Hang in there. 
Now I can see how great breeders can get undeserved negative reviews over situations like this, even if I may not be their fault…
Just thought I would ask, could we see his quarantine enclosure? I just had a thought but don’t want to share it without seeing what he was being kept in.
I notified him. He didnt offer anything, just said he had never seen it before.
I had him on paper towels for a week. He was on husk after that. Husk, hide, water bowl, same as i use in everyone.
Before that he was paper towels water bowl, hide
Im not accusing anyone of anything, im trying to figure itnout if it was something i did. But thanks for the input
He had only ate once, n there was one tiny poop wirh his shed
The breeder should know in case the other siblings start dying too. It’s a long shot, but maybe multiple offspring got some genetic issue passed down from the parents.
Everyone here is right. Your snake was probably hiding some issue having nothing to do with your or the breeder’s husbandry. A necropsy may be able to shed some light, but it’ll cost you. If you are confident in your care, I would not bother spending money on a necropsy. Not to sound insensitive, but that’s money you can put towards a replacement.
I didn’t mean for you to accuse the breeder until the necropsy showed evidence of long term impaction. I realize things happen for seemingly no reason and are beyond our control. However it is best that you did contact the breeder anyway.
I am so sorry this happened to you and your child! 
I did.contact beeeder before i spike to ANYONE else.
I let my daughter pick out a new champagne, its not what I had, but champagne is her fave… (at 7 y.o, she knows more about ginerics in snakes than most people haha Shes grown up in a zoo haha)
I suppose one question I have, is what makes you think it was impaction that killed it? it’s not entirely abnormal for a snake to not poop in the amount of time you had him. Some of my snakes barely poop more than every 6 weeks or so it seems sometimes.
was he quarantined outside of your other animals? or was he in the same room/area as them? this is something to keep in mind if you’re concerned that something killed him, as you’ll want to make sure there’s no risk to anything else. Likely not, but just a thought.
again, its likely that it was something internal or a hidden issue that you nor the breeder could’ve prevented.
