Follow-Up on the Death of Mr. T.
For those of you who aren't aware, Mr. T was my 16-year-old male creamsicle corn. He was a hefty 5 ft 2 inches and appeared to be in good health as recently as early March. Last Sunday he vomited a half-digested rat, was listless, was in apparent pain, and showed what looked like necrotic skin lesions. On Monday I brought him to Dr Rick Hinson, who performed a biopsy and held Mr. T overnight. On Tuesday at 0900, Rick called me to come get Mr. T. - when I arrived at about 1200, Mr. T was dead. The Dr., clinic staff, and I were stunned.
The sudden, mysterious death of an apparently healthy snake called for investigation. Therefore, Dr. Rick Hinson and I did the necropsy today on Mr. T. We were able to determine the following:
Mr. T died of complications due to advanced liver failure. The liver was at least 80% compromised - no other internal organs were impacted, except by the massive hemorrhaging, and he had ample fat reserves.
The skin lesions (pics of which were posted below) were due to subcutaneous hematomas (bruises), and were not infected. The liver failure led to a sever blood clotting disorder, which caused massive internal hemorrhaging (he bleed-out into his body cavity). Dr. Hinson stated that the nature of the illness is such that the if I had brought the snake to him a week earlier, he would have likely pronounced him in good health. He further, stated that hematomas like those we observed could form in as little as 24 to 48 hours from this cause.
In short, there was nothing I or Dr. Hinson could have done differently for Mr. T, except perhaps for euthanasia.
I am still greatly saddened by his loss, but as well said before, he lived a long and good snake life, and his babies are making babies.
Respectfully Yours,
John DeMelas
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0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
