I have a hatchling ball python who suddenly passed away overnight. I have no idea what could have happened. My temps were right, 88 hot side 80ish cool side, it had a full water dish, and it had just eaten 3 days ago. I have no idea where i went wrong with this poor hatchling pls help.
Before you blame yourself too much, keep in mind that we deal with an a highly inbred species that we breed specifically to highlight defects ( color mutations). Some hatchlings just won’t make it no matter how well they’re cared for. If this just happened can you send me a message with a photo of the baby?
3 Likes
Sry i dont have any images of it.
1 Like
No problem. Honestly if your temps and tubs were good, and it was eating, you probably had nothing to do with it.
2 Likes
I realize it probably wasn’t my fault but it still makes me sad to think that it passed away whilst in my care. Can you think of ANYTHING that I might have done wrong? If you can pls tell me so I can fix it for the rest
Unfortunately a big part of creating life is dealing with the occasional loss of it. In a normal year I have 2-3, occasionally more, that fail to thrive. There are often internal defects we can’t monitor. If more than one hatchling in a clutch fails then I would start to look at things you might have been able change.
2 Likes
In the future, as soon as you find an animal has passed, bag it carefully and refrigerate it (do NOT freeze, it will destroy the cell structure). Contact you herp vet and arrange for a necropsy, preferably same-day, but up to 48 hours (refrigerated) after passing. It is generally worthwhile to pay for testing as recommended by your herp vet (disease specific, histopath, etc.) in addition to the gross necropsy itself, unless they find a very obvious cause immediately.
2 Likes
As someone who lost their first BP when he wasn’t even a year old after months of him being perfectly fine, it just happens sometimes. My boy ate like a pig, was friendly and brave for a young hatchling, and showed no signs of illness. Then 3 days after I fed him once, I opened his tub to find him dead. His temps were the same as my female BPs and I have no clue what caused him to die. My only guess is the snake version of SIDS basically. If they are going to die randomly on you, it will usually be in the first year of life. At the time I didn’t have the money to get a necropsy so I couldn’t know 100% what happened.
1 Like