Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a 7 foot boa this past June that never really seemed right. Her head looked very odd and she just appeared to be a very old snake (bulbous eyes and rough looking animal). Her stools have always been runny, never anything remotely similiar to a typical dog-style stool. She ate just fine and had good weight on her. Over the past month she had a slight foul odor to her. Nothing that was overbearing, you just noticed it when you would clean her cage. I really had not thought much about her stools as I have had boa's that had mostly loose stools in the past and she was acting fine. Anyways, last night I went to check on her and she opened her mouth as I approached the cage. Her mouth appeared normal and clean but this morning I awoke to a dead snake with her mouth fully opened.

So, here are my issues:

1) We do not have anyone local who specializes in this and who could do a necropsy.

2) I had my dh sunglow male in with her for several weeks about a month ago.

My questions regarding the above are:

1) In light of the fact that I do not have anyone available to perform a necropsy what do I do?

2) Since I had a $3000 animal in with her what do I do to ensure him as well as the rest of my collection are not affected?

3) Do you think this is something to be overly concerned with? Or do I simply keep a close eye on my male/other animals and go from there? He is acting/feeding just fine.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Griz

I do not know what to tell you but hopefully someone on this forum will provide with the info that you are seeking.

Shot

Well, since you have no options for necropsy (and maybe even if you did) there's not much you can do except Quarantine the DH male. Has he been with other girls? This is definately one of the major risks with breeding. One "Typhoid Mary" snake could do significant damage.

IMO, sounds like she may have just been old.
Good weight could mean low probability of parasites.
No signs of RI?

Definately SUCKS!! Hope the reat of your snakes are OK.
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

She did have a slight wheezing the past week. Since she was already isolated, I increased her temps slightly. I held her a few nights ago and did not hear any wheezing at that point in time.

Griz

If I were in your place, I would assume old-age related demise (it accounts for 100% of otherwise survivors) and do everything I could think of to isolate, decontaminate, etc

Griz,
Was her body plump? I ask this because she had a foul odor and it's possible she had some sort of infection possibly in her lungs. The runny stools might also be a sign of some sort of infection. I would keep an eye on the male and make sure nothing odd begins with him, if something does then I'd find a place to take him for some bloodwork.
Hope all goes well, it's a bummer when you have this kind of thing happen.
Mike Derks