Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son's GBK, Jackie died yesterday. Jackie was a yearling who stopped eating Sep 3, 2006 and eventually viewed F/T mice as either a threat or another obstacle to crawl over. I don't know if she was sick or not. We thought it was a sign of brumation prep, so I tried to brumate her for a couple of months, but the temps never got low enough in the basement. She seemed healthy and active to the end. I even handled her a few days ago and all seemed well. Yesterday afternoon she was coiled at the back of her habitat, and at bedtime I checked on her and she had started to crawl away from there and was stretched out with her mouth wide open, obviously dead.

We are all very heartbroken and will miss little Jackie very much. She was very sweet and gentle, and wasn't a biter. She was loved dearly and will always be remembered.

Here are some pics of her as a baby...

Walt

Looked like a nice alterna, unfortunatly the feeding issue you had is not an unheard of thing at all. And it may never be known if that was the problem, or the symptom of another problem in Jackie's case.

Lance

Thanks. I don't want to do a necropsy, because it doesn't change what happened and could only add more grief if she was sick and there was something we could've done to treat her.

That being said, she seemed in healthy condition during her fast, and forum members said that length of a fast wasn't unusual. Some even documented snakes not eating for a year, so I'm wondering if she did actually starve or if something else caused her death... something internal that was not readily noticeable. She had visibly shrunk a bit and her neck was thin, but no really loose skin was noticeable.

My son wants to bury her, so that's what we'll do. I'll probably move my Jalisco Milk to his room and get his tank off the good furniture in the loft.

Walt

Sorry to hear you lost your Alterna.. I think i remember offering you some tips that might have helped in brining this little guy around..

Please remember & remind your son that it may not have been due to somting you did or did not do.. What it comes down to is there are some hatchlings are just not meant to survive.

I say give it another try with a well started animal from a reputable source. In my experiance it is very rare to have issues once they are feeding on a regular basis.

~ Mike Russo

Mike, forum members,

I set up a fish tank in my son's room the day or so before Jackie died. The afternoon of the evening she died, I added some plants and decorations (a castle-like thing with a drawbridge that goes up/down from air bubbler). After it was running, I noticed a strange smell, but it wasn't that strong. Since she died, it has now gotten much stronger, kind of like overheated plastic.

Is it possible either the aquarium decoration or the plastic of the hood/filter is leeching toxic gases (like you get from new vinyl) and that killed her? Remember, she died with her mouth stretched wide open. Is that how they normally die?

My God, I feel horrible if that was what killed her, because despite the fast, she did look pretty healthy (besides the narrow neck and some shrinking) when she died. Is it possible?

Walt

I remember about 10 years ago I set up a trio of sub-adult rainbow boas in a new enclosure that a friend had in storage. All three were found dead the next day. We junked the cage after that suspcecting that it must have had something spilled on or in it that was fatal.

The thing to remember is that even IF that is a likely cause, you were trying to take good care of her and what happend was an unfortunate set of circumstances. Not neglect or rough handling or anything like that.

Thanks. That helps, and I will relate that point to my son. Of course, I still feel like crap...

Maybe her weakened state because of her fast also hastened the affects of that smell, although it happened really quickly.

Walt

The smell you have from your tank could be an air pump thats over heating not running as it should?
Sometimes plastic decorations have a smell (I soak them in regular water for a week before putting into the tank) however there is nothing odor wise that came from your tank that killed your snake . A cage could secrete oil,etc but the smell from decorations from a fish tank didnt kill him.
I am curiuos what the odor is .

I'll check the air pump. The smell is definitely coming from the water. I removed the new decoration and the tank still stinks. The only other decoration came from the old tank which didn't stink.

I believe I rinsed all the goop off the roots of the new plants. They are the ones from Petsmart that hang on display hooks rather than in that water tank.

Is it common for a snake to die with its mouth stretched wide open? That was one reason I thought it was the odor.

Walt

walt, i would seriously doubt your snake died due to the smell of water.

Some alterna babies can be very difficult to start even for people with tons of experiance with all the "tricks". As i said before some babies just are not meant to survive..

i would start over with a well started known feeder..

~ mike

Is 1 year old still a "baby"? She was a spotty feeder as a hatchling, but then she got steady for quite a while (6 months or so), then she just stopped. I don't know if she drank or not, but she ignored the mice completely between Sep 3rd and her death Jan 24th.

Thanks,

Walt

I remember about 10 years ago I set up a trio of sub-adult rainbow boas in a new enclosure that a friend had in storage. All three were found dead the next day. We junked the cage after that suspcecting that it must have had something spilled on or in it that was fatal.

Wow, I had forgotten about that "incident". I had snakes in that rickety cage for years with no problem, including a rainbow boa. If I really wanted your snakes to die, I just would have had your roomy Jason "take care" of them.
-----
Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I just want you to know, I never for one second blamed you at all, we were both trying to do the right thing... It just ended up with an unfortunate accident.

BTW, I wonder what happened to Jason sometimes. I remember him being mad at me because I was not happy with the condition of my house when I left him in charge. I thought he had a sweet deal.. Pay no rent, make sure the other two bedrooms are rented, and keep the place from falling apart. When I cleaned up the place I had to have the police come and remove some narcotics and I found out how many coats of paint it takes to cover a wall that was painted with diswasher detergent.