Bob,
I certainly didn't mean to piss you off. Yes, we are still learning about reptiles everyday. But something we have already learned is that when you perform euthanasia it takes a certain about of time for the animal to pass on. My vet knew this. I never said my vet is a bad guy. He was simply impatient and in my opinion made a mistake. He said it would take 10 to 15 mins. and he only waited 5. He even said that is it not normal for the heart to still be beating. And it wasn't just a little movement, the heart was moving blood throughout the veins. Maybe the snake was already dead, but it was something I was not prepared to see. As far as you saying "AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED THE SNAKE WAS BASICALLY DEAD AS SOON AS YOU NOTICED THE SYMPTOMS. I MYSELF WOULD HAVE PUT IT IN THE FREEZER LONG BEFORE YOU HAD IT PUT DOWN." I understand what you are saying, but I was not sure if it was IBD or not. And putting a living, breathing snake in a freezer seems cruel to me. I'm sure its been done before but I know if I was sick I wouldn't want someone to throw me in a freezer to slowly die before they tried to fix the problem. Not to mention I would have never found out if it was IBD or not. Today is not the day I really want to defend myself. I did what I thought was best for my snake and my collection. Seeing you pet pass on is hard, seeing your pet cut open is harder, seeing your "dead" pets beating heart is something that I never want to experience again. And like I said before this is to warn others. If your vet says it will take 10 to 15 min. for the snake to pass on, make him wait 10 to 15 min.
Michael Burton Another picture of Missy

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