Okay... I have been keeping ball pythons for about 15 years now. I have had relative success, with a few of the common bumps.

A few weeks back, my pastel male stopped eating. This isn't anything new, and I didn't think much of it. I had a normal male that went off food for 17 months once, and is still alive and kicking. This particular pastel male has been off food for as much as 2 months at the time before (outside of normal cooling pre-breeding) with no ill effects.

He didn't lose any weight, and shed once a few weeks ago. I figured he'd go back on food afterwards, but he kept refusing the rats I offered. Water was present in his enclosure the entire time, and he drank regularly. Two weeks ago, I noticed his color was starting to look a little washed out. Almost like he was getting ready to shed again, but I knew it was too soon for that.

I went to check on him today, and he was dead.

Has anyone had this kind of thing happen before? All of the other snakes in that rack system are doing fine. The temps in every cage has been steady with the hot end around 90 and the cool end around 78.

The snake was 13-14 years old. I got it in 04 as a holdback from a full pastel clutch. The only idea I had is possibly either old age or a parasite of some sort.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated as I don't have the money to drop on a vet's visit for a dead snake.

Thanks.

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