An acquaintance from work recently bought a ball from the local pet shop. I was looking at buying this particular snake myself, and here's why I'm glad I didn't.
He took the snake to the vet for a preliminary checkup. The vet said that there weren't any outwardly appearing problems, and he took it home. Within an hour of getting it home the snake went into a seizure and died. I doubt that the problem was because of a stupid mistake on his part-he's knowledgeable with quite a lot of animals, and knows how to set up a snake. I don't remember, are seizures a symptom of IBD? I loaned out my disease books, so can't look it up right now.
I just heard of the incident tonight and decided to see what a few other people thought.
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
Anyone heard of this happening??
Ryan Shackleton
May 21, 2003 11:49 PM
Replies (2)
serpentcity
May 22, 2003 12:06 AM
Hello Ryan:
Seizures can occur with IBD typically at the end-stage of the disease, but snakes more often than not exhibit seizures at the end-stage of life whatever the cause! And it also depends on what you're interpreting a seizure and your definition of a seizure.
Not many vets have significant reptile experience, but many of these will still take reptile patients. It's a competitive world out there. Many of these vets do more harm than good, unfortunately. Everything I learned about herp medicine was through my own efforts, not from a course on herp medicine (there wasn't one at the U of Ill where I attended vet school).
Without further details I can't venture an opinion on this particular case. I just hope he isn't scared away from BP's!
Scott J. Michaels DVM
Whalesong
May 22, 2003 12:18 AM
I had a little yearling ball python, the prettiest little girl you'd ever see. I'd only had her a few weeks, but I grew very attatched, and so did my roommate.
A vet said that she was healthy and very sweet. I was happy, and went home. A week later, she had paralysis and was leaking foul smelling fluids from her mouth. It was too late at night to call the vet. She died after about four hours.
The vet I went to even had an "exotic specialist," but I imagine that she saw more giunea pigs and parakeets than herps.
I don't hold it against my vet. I think she jsut needs more experience, and so do I for that matter, but I still miss my little girl. If my big male Marcus knew about her I'm sure he;d miss her too.
Sorry about the long post.
Caitlin
Millicent of Ashenvale, May 2002 to April 2003. Gone but never forgotten.
