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That is the best way I can describe the way I feel right now.
I lost my biggest female DP today. My best candidate for producing DP xDP this coming fall, and I don't know what happened.
I found her dead, having either constricted herself, or just fighting a stuck rat down.
I walked in to find her with her teeth sunk in deep, just above where the rat she had eaten earlier was. She had herself wrapped up pretty good aparently, but by the time I found her she was already dead, and loose.

Now, I don't know if she was trying to get the rat down, and freaked out, choked to death...whatever, or if in her deep shed blinded state she smelled the rat still on her and thought she had found another prey item. I know I will never feed a snake in shed again, but I don't know what else I can do to prevent something like this in the future. She was fine only three hours ago, ate with gusto. I just don't know.
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Davey Giltner

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Davey Giltner

As a fan of those pastels..........It kills me to know that a producing female has left us.
I am so sorry to hear that. Snake deaths are always a horrible loss. I'm sorry.
John
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"To be the best..........You must lose your mind."

Thanks John,
I wish she was in fact a producing female. This was the first year a DP female would have bred. It looks like the first DP to DP breeding will be done by someone else.
It is a common misconception that this is a "Line". The truth is that no two litter I have produced have been from the same mother. The only things the litters have in common is the father, and yet the results are the same, no matter what the female looks like. I just wanted to see what 2 DPs could do together.
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Davey Giltner

We all know how much you enjoyed that girl and the animals you have produced from your DP have been awesome hopefully you have another female coming up you could try next season, again sorry to hear about the loss.
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Brandon Nixon

This is so heartbreaking. I have been waiting for your next batch of golden-yellow beauties, as I KNOW you have. PLEASE don't give up on this line. They are very special and have quite a fan base......and we are eagerly awaiting more Davey Yellows. I'm so sorry for this loss. She was lovely.
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

She was a beauty. If I can do anything for you, just let me know.

Jesse
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"Continuing to cling to the patterns you know, inhibits your ability to discover what you don't know." - Eric Allenbaugh

Damn Davey. Sorry to hear about your female. She was a beautiful animal and the offspring would have been outrageous. I hope someone else can do a pairing of your pastels to see the outcome but I know that still can't replace your girl.

It really SUCKS to lose one, and I can only imagine losing one as nice as your female.

I am very sorry for your loss!

Denny

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Joel Pretz

I am sorry for your loss Davey...she was a fine looking girl...Andy
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Damn man! I cant even begin to tell you how bad I feel for you.....I am sorry for your loss, and I know that don't do much for ya, but I wish things like this did not happen.

Keep your head up

Bob

She was a beautiful snake and I hope things look better for you.
Greg

sorry to hear it davey...ive lost snakes that were like my kids before...very devastating,so i feel your pain.
as for the feeding while in shed thing....did she maybe get some rat blood on her?...my female boa got some blood on the bottom of her cage and after she swallowed the rat she started trying to eat the bottom of her cage were the blood was!...as a rule i never leave a snake unattended while its feeding,not until im very sure its over.again im very sorry she was a beauty...

I am so sorry for your loss.
Michael Burton

Very sorry to hear about your snake. It is one of the unfortunate realitlies of what we do that is never easy to take especially when it is an animal you are looking forward to breeding. It just sucks.
Bill Kirby

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I am very sorry to hear of your loss, I know that punch in the gut feeling well.
I have been keeping and breeding for about 10 years now, to this day, when I feed i get a little wound up. I know theres always a chance something can happen.
When your sticking a rat in a cage with a 7 ft 30 # Boa thats as strong as an ox, and theres only 18-24 inches of stainless steel seperating the two of you.. it can be exciting to say the least.
When all goes well, it still freaks me out a bit to see how fast and strong these boas and balls are.
Today, was one of those days that make you go..UUGGHH!
The first boa I fed, grabs the forceps instead of the head right in front of her, so I have to wait a bit before I pull the forceps, out because I can hear it scraping teeth, so I dont want to hurt her. She eventually eased up and all went well with her. Then my biggest boa, takes her Jumbo rat butt first, and this makes me nervous, just for the fact, its sooo much easier if they eat head first, especially the big meals.
Then another high dollar boa, sinks his teeth into his side along with the rat, hes in there rolling around and acting crazy, so I sprayed him with a bit of water and her let go of himself. I then look at him a minute or two later, and he's got his head down in the water bowl, with the rat! So I pull both out, very carefully and he finshes up.
Everything thing else went fairly smooth, but it just goes to show you, no matter how many times you feed, the next time can be the one that causes problems.
Normally I just stick a rat in front of them , they eat and its done...
Wow.. im glad todays feedings are done!
Once again sorry to hear about your loss.

Best of luck
Mike

....of that beautiful girl. It still amazes me how many different ways things can go wrong. Sorry for your loss. Hopefully, the story (project) will still have a good ending which will be even more satisifying.