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elmo · #1 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 03:27 AM

my rtb was only about 6 months old. i had her for about 4 months and she was fine. yesterday she started acting wierd. like she was really weak and she wasn't gripping my hand or making any effort for anything. today i found her dead... she was turned up side down. i looked at her body and there was fat chunky parts and some parts were anorexicly small... she was really thin up around her neck and i could feel her bones. i have no idea what could have caused this and if any one has any thoughts or thinks they know what could have happened please just drop a post....

haroldo359 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 03:31 AM

sorry to hear that.

elmo · #3 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haroldo359

sorry to hear that.

i am to... its only so hard because its my first one and i took #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& good care of it... i will eventually get a new one... but i need time... this one just meant so much to me.... i sound like an idiot being depressed and upset over a snake but its like part of your family. it really means a lot to you when u realy care about it. now that she's gone i really miss her. may LUCIFER R.I.P.

aesailor7575 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 03:45 AM

so sorry to hear.

haroldo359 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 04:13 AM

i been down about losing a snake before, so i know how you feel.

telefrag · #6 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 04:18 AM

The only way to know more accurately is a necropsy done by a vet.

Was anything done in the house in the last few days, like repainting, treating for any type of insect, power outage?

Anything that may have changed ?

sounds like it could be any number of things based on what you described.

JuliusSqueezer · #7 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 05:41 AM

Sorry for your loss. Out of curriosity, what were you feeding her?

WhiteLips · #8 (**permalink**) 10-30-2004, 01:07 PM

Sorry to hear of your loss.

sjt1985 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-31-2004, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telefrag

The only way to know more accurately is a necropsy done by a vet.

Was anything done in the house in the last few days, like repainting, treating for any type of insect, power outage?

Anything that may have changed ?

sounds like it could be any number of things based on what you described.

what would poweroutage affect? (am truly curious btw)

lethargiic · #10 (**permalink**) 10-31-2004, 08:07 PM

sorry to hear about that dude. I lost my rtb not too long ago either, did the same exact thing to being all limp and none responsive and her head kept turning up to the sky...in which i found out it was called star gazing. and i felt horrible because i only had her for 3 weeks and was attached to her.

but with your snake had she defecated upto or prior to her death? and what has she been feeding? what kind of substrate did you use..etc.
necropsy can cost depending on the vet starting at 65$ then u gotta add on tests n stuff like that but unless ur snake had a history of mites/parasites, then IBD can prolly be ruled out but im not going to jump to that conclusion

eddie · #11 (**permalink**) 10-31-2004, 08:42 PM

Quote:

what would poweroutage affect? (am truly curious btw)

The environment of both house and cage. No power = no heat and if the power is off for too long, or if the temperature drops too fast and too low, it isn't good for many reptiles.

Cretia · #12 (**permalink**) 11-01-2004, 09:16 PM

I am so sorry to hear about that. I lost my first snake too. I had him for 6 months, a bp. He seemed healthy until about a week or so before he died. I didn't understand the severity of the signs (for instance, weakness is an emergency) and I didn't get him to a vet fast enough. He started acting real weak and stuff the day before also. But mine threw up the week before, then got full blown scale rot, and then started holding his mouth open every once in a while. I thought I'd given him too big of a mouse. The scale rot I still don't understand. His cage was clean and not damp. -??? Anyways these were the things that I did wrong: dusty subtrate (newspaper or reptile carpet is best cause it cuts down on all sorts of bad stuff), not accurately monitering heat and humidity (I'm almost certian his hot spot was too hot. I didnt use a therm, and I always turn on a fan when my bf comes over- I learned that it completely sucks the humidity out of the cages, and low amiable humidity can add up over time and really hurt the snake's resp. health), I fed live (he could have gotten an internal infection, along with other things), and I had a screen top that I left as is, of course the humidity escaped, and who knows what things blowing around in the air got in there. I don't know if this will help you find out how your baby died... but it's the lessons I learned from mine.
R.I.P. Lil' Head

ginevive · #13 (**permalink**) 11-02-2004, 06:58 PM

I am sorry to hear about your loss. When one of my ball pythons died a few eyars ago, I admit I cried for about an hour. And I am not an emotional eprson. You get attached to a pet, regardless of what it is.
Had your snake been defecating normally? I know that gas can build up in a snake if it's not digesting its prey; the prey basically rots inside the snake. This can happen if cage temps are too low, but I am not sure if that was your case or not.
If you were doing everything by the book, maybe the snake had a pre-existing condition like IBD.

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