A friend of mine from work bought his son a ball python 1 month ago. They got it from PetCo, it was about 12 inches in length and petco had been feeding it forzen/thawed. I don't know a lot about ball pythons, I keep morelia's, but they followed online guidelines for cage setup, temperature gradients and moisture, so I don't believe there was any cause for the snakes death within those parameters. They are not the types to lack in taking care of their snake, and I know the son was very interested and caring towards the animal.



They had been trying to get it to eat f/t since they purchased it with no success, however the day before it died they decided to try live feeding and used a small mouse purchased from petco. The snake ate it without any hesitation, and the next day they found it dead.



My question is what kills a ball python? Do they suffer from, or not specifically handle certain circumstances other snakes do well with? Might this have been a feeding issue? I know reptiles can die from various minute causes, but I'm just looking for anything I can let my friend know for the the sake of his son who just lost his first pet, and to hopefully not sour them on the experience.

[ Show Entire Thread ]