Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had many reptiles through my life including a corn snake who is still living healthy. about three weeks ago i purchased my first BP he was about 75 grams. i brought him home to a 30 gal glass tank with newspaper substrate, a side mount heat mat, a light, hide box, branch, and a large water dish. his tank was maintianing a steady 85F and a humidity of 60%. I didn't touch him at all the first week, at the end of the week i gave him a live crawler which he ate very aggressivly. i asumed this was a good omen of his health, about two days later he regurgitated the partly broke down mouse. so i continued to let him acclimate for another week, when i offered him a crawler he showed no intirest. I let him sit another day and offered agian still no respone. So i thought it was typicle of bp's and hoped he would eat next week. This was two days ago and when i woke up this morning he was dead. he was still very loose he had not been dead long and i seen no signs of injury or substrate in his mouth he was just dead in a coil does anyone know what i might have done wrong i did i buy a sick snake?

Glass tanks in air conditioned rooms are hard to get setup correctly.One of these could help you(if you don't already have one). http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=268
Don't get me wrong,the animal may have been ill before you got it..Yet,it did eat.Which is what leads me back to a possible husbandry error(Glass tank to cold in one spot,and to hot in the other?)

Just food for thought..sorry you lost the little bugger.
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Charles Glaspie

although the glass tank was pretty big at 30 gallons and all most of the time when something liek thsi happens it was aleady sick. im sorry to hear about youre loss. where did you buy the ball from?

I am so sorry for your loss. I think It is hard to say what might have happened for sure, but be carefull where you purchase from is all I can say.

it had anything to do with the tank. If a ball python is even remotely interested in eating, is basic conditions were being met. Health reptiles can tolerate quite a bit (younger ones obviously less) and from what you described it seems there was something else at play.

snakes that regurgitate and die (in my experience) has been from crappy pet stores who's feeders are tainted in some way (the possibilities are endless)

And sometimes things just die. Recently hatched a small clutch of bp's and one individual is the best feeder i've ever had, while one died due to refusal to eat, both being kept under the same conditions.

My first thought is that the snake wasn't getting enough heat to properly digest/thrive. You said you used a side-mount heat mat? Stuck to the side of the glass tank and not underneath? That wouldn't have provided him any belly heat and therefore the bottom glass would have been cold for him to slither on (newspaper doesn't buffer much). What were you using to measure temps? One of those stick-on thermometers or one with an actual probe to place right on top of the substrate?

Sorry for your loss.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Hey,

I don't know if any of us are really able to give you a diagnosis, as there are so many variables. As someone else mentioned, ball pythons are pretty hardy, so even if your set up wasn't perfect, IMO you would have had to do something very wrong for such a sudden turn of events.

I had a student who bought a ball python at Petco on sale for $75. She was so proud when she told me in class, and I couldn't hide my disapointment. She explained her set up, and I told her that regardless of how well she cared for it she was likely to have problems. It died a week later. She found it belly up with its head twisted like a corkscrew! I don't believe she could have saved that animal, but I do believe that she should be a more educated buyer in the future
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Thanks,
Amy
www.myboids.4t.com
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1.16 Normal ball pythons
2.0 Pastel ball pythons
1.0 Cinnamon pastel ball python
0.1 Spider ball python
0.0.1 Sinaloan Milk Snake
0.0.1 Plains Garter
0.1 Normal Kenyan Sand Boa
2.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Mid-Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Leucistic Texas Rat
1.2 Dumeril's Boa
1.2 BCI
That's Just The Snakes!

sounds like a sickly import. Where was this animal purchased?
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2.1 Albino BP
0.4 100% Het Albino
2.1 100% het Caramel Albino BP
1.0 100% Het Clown
1.0 50% het clown
2.12 Normal BP
0.0.2 Western Hognose
alot of cornsnakes
0.1.0 Dumeril Boa
3.6 Bearded Dragons
1.0.2 Sulcatta tortoise
3.3 Russian Tortoise
1.0 Cockatiel
0.1 Rottweiler
0.2 Boston Terriers
0.1 White Boxer
0.1 Paint Mare
bunch of geckos
0.1 Cat
0.1 Teenage daughter
1.0 Husband who puts up with all my critters.

you fed the snake too soon after it regurgitated? I had a Texas Ratsnake regurge and then I fed it a few days later. I fed it entirely too soon and then it just up and died. Regurgitating is really traumatic to the stomach so you can cause deadly results by feeding it sooner than 2 weeks from the day it regurgitated.
As everyone else said, I know how hard it can be to lose a snake. I hope you end up with another one from David and his reptile rescue.

I am sorry for your loss. Unfortunately there could be a million and one reasons for the death - if you want to know for sure - take the snake into your vet for a necropsy. I would also recommend this if you plan on getting another snake - in case it's something that could still be spread to the new snake.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

(CJBianco explaining the origins of the BP market.)
"In the beginning Bob created the Ball Python market. And the market was without morph, and wild traits were upon the industry. And Bob said, Let there be morph, and there was morph. And Bob saw the morph, that it was good; and Bob divided the morph from the wild trait. And Bob called the morph Albino, and the wild trait Normal. And the Albino and the Heterozygous Albino were the first investment.
-- Christopher 1:1-1:5"

That's a shame! Even if the animal was already sick, it is hard not to feel that it was some how your fault.
Yet,sometimes these things just happen.
A friend of mine calls it "UADS"
(Up and Died Syndrome)

There are so few vets qualified to do a reptile necropsy, I would not waste your money.
But Make sure you do a thorough disinfecting of your habitat, and all it's contents before getting another.
(preferably Captive bred, from a reputable breeder)

Good Luck!
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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

Couple things stand out in this:

30 gal tank..rather large for a hatchling ball python..Glass tanks are also a pain to keep at good temps and humidity. But going to trust you used digital thermometers to check temps..and you have a hot spot hotter than 85F.

It ate a live rodent...a mouse fuzzy? (actually rather small for a baby ball python...but anyway) and it regurged it. Then died a week or two later...

75g....isn't this rather light for a baby ball python? Aren't healthy ball pythons closer to 120g at birth? (don't have my BP book handy to double check birth weights)

So...as every body has pointed out all husbandry related possible causes...my guess would be it's weight and health when you bought it.

If a wild caught or captive hatched import which has never eaten since it hatched....it could be so stressed and maybe even parasite loaded, though it attempted to eat, it's digestive tract couldn't handle food...and it died from starvation, parasites, disease or excessive stress before it came into your care.

If it regurgitated because your hot side was too cold (if it was only 85F as well), that may have been the final straw that ended this snakes life....it just may have gone through too much and been so weakened, it couldn't handle the additional stress of a regurg.
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PHLdyPayne

While many may be in the 100 gram range, I had a baby that was a tiny 40g when I got him (hypermelanistic - beautiful!!) 2 mths ago. He's now 82g and eats like a piggy! My 2nd one bought at the same time died 3 weeks after getting her.

Sorry to hear of your loss - don't lose hope, but know that you may never really know the reason for the loss.

120g at hatching would be a HUGE baby, the egg would have had to have been 140g at least -- eggs are considered to be large at 100g in weight, and not all of that weight is snake, much is liquid and shell. I had big eggs this year, all 100-110g, and every one of my babies hatched out at 59-69g in weight. They were all healthy, eating great, and have all gone to new homes.

When I've bought hatchlings from other people, like my albino and yellowbelly, they were 80-90g at 6 weeks of age and a few meals. My albino is 600g now at a year old and eats like a pig.

I don't think the animal's weight had anything to do with it.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I appreciate everyone's opinions and will take them all into carefull consideration. I feel it would be in bad taste to say were I got the snake since they commonly advertise on this site and there's no way to tell if it was there fault. I will make a few ajustments to my set-up and try again. there is a herp expo coming to a near by city on 8/25 I think i will get one there to eleminate the stress of shipping. thanks again for all your insite.

Ask for a CBB snake. If you can get one a bit older/bigger, your chances of it surviving are better.
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2.1 Albino BP
0.4 100% Het Albino
2.1 100% het Caramel Albino BP
1.0 100% Het Clown
1.0 50% het clown
2.12 Normal BP
0.0.2 Western Hognose
alot of cornsnakes
0.1.0 Dumeril Boa
3.6 Bearded Dragons
1.0.2 Sulcatta tortoise
3.3 Russian Tortoise
1.0 Cockatiel
0.1 Rottweiler
0.2 Boston Terriers
0.1 White Boxer
0.1 Paint Mare
bunch of geckos
0.1 Cat
0.1 Teenage daughter
1.0 Husband who puts up with all my critters.