Posted by:
PHLdyPayne
at Mon Nov 9 18:13:31 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]
Many pet stores get their ball pythons from captive hatched wholesellers. These hatchlings are often never fed from the time they hatch to when they arrive at pet stores. Once in pet stores, depending on the knowledge of the manager/workers who knows what conditions they are kept in.
There is also the risks of parasites, internal and external, pathogens and other health issues caused by stress, over crowding and poor conditions. Not to mention not knowing the exact setup/temps etc your friend was keeping the snake in.
There is no history on this snake, unfortunately so very difficult to even guess what caused the snake to die. Not to mention anything unusual happening in the environment (ie some toxin entered the snake's cage that wasn't there the day before?)
The only good way to find out why it died, would be to have a necropsy done by a qualified vet. The things that can kill a ball python...would fill a book.
What information that would work better to let us give an assessment than where the snake was bought would be the following:
Age
Weight (at purchase, and as close to time of death as possible)
Last time it went for a poop and ate.
Temps (warm and cool side) and method of measuring temps.
Cage size/type.
Heat source:
Substrate:
Snake's activity/behavior. Does it explore its cage regularly? How does it react to being handled? Does it feel like it has good muscle tone etc.
Any signs of mites or other external parasites? Has it been brought to a vet at all for a checkup and fecal?
How often was it handled and for how long?
Any changes to its environment? Is the cage near heat vents or windows? Was there any pesticides sprayed in the house or on a cat/dog in the house? Any source of fumes near the cage (ie furnace air conditioner vents, faulty heaters etc that could be emitting harmful gases or fumes (ie CO2). Use of air fresheners etc.
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PHLdyPayne
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RE: Friends ball died, shed some light pls? - PHLdyPayne, Mon Nov 9 18:13:31 2009