Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this isn't a ball python question but the Boa forums are dead and I'm sure some of you can answer this:

I checked on my boa a few days after I fed her a normal sized meal and she was dead. Her midsection was all bloated (twice the normal girth), her skin was coming off and she had cloudy eyes as if she was in the middle of a shed (even though she shed a week earlier) and she was bleeding from the mouth and vent. The whole scene was very disgusting. She has always been healthy so I have no idea what this could be. IBD maybe?

Someone help!

Was it a live rat?
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

yes...but i saw her kill it and swallow

Just a guess. I don't have any idea why she died but here are a few possabilities about the condition. If she was in a very warm cage or under a "hot spot" that could explain the swelling. The rat did not start to break down so gasses could not get released. Therefore causing bloating. As for the blood. That could be caused by an organ(s) also swelling and them bursting with seepage out of the various orafices. Or pressure from the swollen meal.I hate to admit it, but with 40 years working with reptiles, I have found my share of dead herps and those that have been under a light or extreme heat are really not something you look forward to cleaning up. Sorry for your loss.
Bruce Delles c/o Twin Cities Reptiles

thanks for your help

In a sense- i'm relieved-- but totally bummed that someone else lost an animal.

I posted before about a snake I had fed an appropriatly sized rat-- then found dead later.

here's the thread:
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1528675,1528675

The vast majority of the people that read the thread-- TOTALLY disregarded what I said, and based thier responses off the pics.

the snake was fed a small rat-- that didn't leave a bulge in the snake on the 18th, then another small rat, the same size as the first-- and there was a slight bulge-- then on the 20th he had doubled, almost tripled in girth-- swelled up huge but still alive. then on the 21st-- he was dead-- there wasn't blood in his cage, rather, a red tinged fluid-- totally rancid smell-- i could smell it as soon as I walked in the house.

We had a necropsey done and Vet says he was NOT fed too much. The stomach tissue around the rats was discolored-- but all other stomach tissue looked good, as well as other organs.

Someone asked about my heat source-- went looking and found the last 2 feet of my flexwatt quit working-- the top 3 foot were functioning fine. I contacted the company I got the flexwatt from, and they had me send the strip in. I was given a 25$ store credit for the faulty flexwatt--- that barely covers the flexwatt shipping-- and they would not pay for the value of the snake or the vet costs.

It is a sad loss-- but know that you aren't the only one with an odd food-related death.

sorry-

Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

I was just about to say Beth from OK Reptile Rescue had something similar, almost exact, happen to one of her snakes (since I seen you had posted it on the forums). I was gonna tell him you that she would know more about it than anybody, and that when I asked one of my exotic vets (I work at an animal hospital) what happened to her snake (I asked out of curiousity), they told me the same thing that her vets told her.

I am terribly sorry about your loss, tho.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)