Anyone have a snake that suddenly passes and not sure of the reason why?
I had a holdback from a clutch last year, she was a hypo, came from my banana bumblebee specter het hypo to a cinny het hypo… she has been doing great, always ate well. And she was fine as of Thursday when I last checked on her. I even had her out for some comparison pictures for my normal on Tuesday…
Didn’t get a chance to check on my snakes yesterday as I had to do some traveling with the wife, so did my nightly check and water replacement, and noticed she was laying weird in the tub…. Opened the tub to find her dead… it’s never easy to lose one, especially when it’s one you’ve produced.
I’m so sorry. It definetly hurts seeing one you hatched pass suddenly after thriving for so long.
I’m sure you already had, but the only thing I could think of offhand is did you check the temps? I have an AP rach that burned through a tub before I bought it on CL. Heat tape malfunction is rare but happens…
Otherwise, She looked god in the photos… But she could have been born with something internally wrong that just wasn’t visible. Without a necropsy, we won’t know.
I’ve heard of it happening before, a seemingly healthy snake suddenly passing without reason, but I’m not sure why it happens. I am so sorry for your loss, that is such a heartbreaking experience
Yeah, heat was one of the first things I checked when I saw her after checking on her tonight. That clutch did have a snake that came out with a pretty intense kink that I’ve kept as a pet only.
I keep the room at an ambient of 80-83 and I have heat tape to get a hot spot of around 87 in the back of the tubs. Everyone else in the rack is fine, and she still looked fine apart from the obvious of being dead… here’s a photo I took of her after I bagged her up. I didn’t notice anything off, so I’m thinking it’s just a one off issue. She’s fed feeders from the same frozen source I feed all my others, with the occasional live feeder that comes from a local pet shop I’ve used exclusively for the last 5 months or so.
So sorry for your loss, it always especially sucks when it’s sudden. It’s possible she had an internal birth defect or some other ailment that her body compensated for up until this point. If you want to try and find a definitive answer, you could get a necropsy done.
My heart goes out to you. Sorry for the loss.
I had a Pinstripe het for DG. Found him upside down 4 days after a meal. Everything was fine untill it wasn’t. Never could find a reason.
I had my first BP, Betelgeuse, suddenly die out of nowhere. He wasn’t a year old yet, and I think it happens more in young snakes. Kinda like SIDS but for a snake.
So sorry for your loss, I know it’s extra painful when its once yiu hatched. I had the same happen in two’s the past 2 years. First was my 2 bumblebees that were only 4 months old and they both drowned overnight in their water bowls. Had been eating & thriving just fine. I was crushed. 2nd occasion was last year when within one day of each other other my 2 banana bumblebees died for no reason. All temps, environment, humidity, etc. was fine. They ate regular and everything. They were only 3 months old.
Yes, unfortunately it was my bumblebee female and banana male pairing both times. I won’t be trying that pairing again, I’m leaning towards the female being the issue; so I’ll see if my banana boy has better luck with a different lady. I think I’ll wait a bit though, I’m still a bit heartbroken over it all. I have no problem keeping them as pets only as I don’t want to jeopardize their health either of course.
I suspected as much, seems too coincidental that you had four hatchlings die around the same age from different years. If you do breed your boy and still end up losing hatchlings, I’d suggest getting a necropsy to see if they can find any obvious malformations so you know what you’re dealing with/if there is any way to spot it. I am so sorry for your losses, it’s heartbreaking when you lose one, let alone multiple babies several years in a row just through bad luck genetics. Even if they end up just being pets, they will be much loved pets with the care you put in.
I’m so sorry for your loss. It is a terrible feeling to lose one under any circumstances. It’s worse when it happens suddenly for no obvious reason, worst of all when it’s one you hatched. I had it happen with a young corn several years ago. Never did figure out the cause. (Necropsies don’t always yield answers.) I’m very sorry for what you’re going through.
I’m sorry you lost her, I’ve only lost one snake but from that moment on the second you find anybody asleep or sitting too still for too long you feel that little bit of panic and it sucks. You can check around with your local exotic vet(s) and see if they can do a necropsy which might help determine a cause of death. For that you need to keep their body in the refrigerator though, the freezer ruins it.
As has already been mentioned, a complete necropsy (gross and histologic examination) is the best avenue to determine possible cause of death and rule out something infectious. If it is a congenital issue, those can be difficult to confirm with a necropsy - as not all congenital diseases will be evident histologically (esp. if in the central nervous system, which I would of course be concerned of with spider in the lineage).
If you find a snake recently deceased, best thing to do is get it in the fridge ASAP (don’t freeze it if it can be avoided). The issue with snakes on belly heat or if they die under the heat source is they rot extra quickly. If the snake’s body is starting to smell when you find it, it is probably a little too late for necropsy, but infectious disease testing should be done.
I am a veterinary pathologist at the University of Florida and the director of the Aquatic, Amphibian, and Reptile pathology program. Reptile and amphibian disease/medicine is my passion. We also keep our prices low to increase the availability of testing to hobbyists. I am always happy to help with reptile/amphibian disease concerns and testing. I can be reached at the info in the link below. (Unfortunately, due to license restrictions, I cannot prescribe meds for sick animals I havent been involved with working up, so contact requests for medications alone I wont be able to help with).
I just noticed this post on the front page of MM, so I posted. Otherwise I dont frequent the forums, so email is the best method to contact me (see below for info).
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone that commented. I appreciate the words and thoughts from all of you.
As far as a necropsy goes, I might’ve messed up my chance to make that be beneficial. I was in a hurry after I found her and ended up putting her in the freezer. Did I ruin any chance at making it worth getting a necropsy done?
it’s always horrible to lose any pet/animal. Must be even harder when you’ve bred it yourself xx