Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A guy I know had a western hognose. And just out of the blue it died.
He said there was no signs of disease or sickness. No injuries, no strange behaviors or anything. Just one day it was dead with no warning at all.

Any thoughts?

Well,...to be quite honest, it could be any one of a number of things,....there's absolutely no way of knowing, or even guessing what might have caused it without a thorough necropsy. These things can happen to ANY animal at any given time, just like in humans.

We can also only go by what the other guy told you about everything being fine,....who really knows for certain. As silly as it sounds, it could have even been a heart attack!,...after all, snakes have hearts too, or any other organ failure...(shrug)

It's too bad that it happened, but I don't think there's even any good guess, let alone any answer as to why or how.

I know this post isn't really telling you much, but the reality of the matter is,......... no one really can.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

To put Doug's post into perspective, we know that there is a cause and an effect. Nothing just outright happens. There isn't any such thing as "SSD" - Sudden Snake Death syndrome. Just like there's no such thing as the misnomer "SID" - Sudden Infant Death syndrome. However, I'm sure you can find someone that will tell you there is.

Doug nailed it.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Thats just what I thought.

>>Any thoughts?

We've all had snakes just spontaneously die (if you've kept snakes long enough, that is). Generally it is impossible to find they cause without doing necropsy and even then the answers can be evasive.
There are a couple of things I might consider:

- sudden change in temperatures (room/cage getting too hot). In the summer, a few hours without AC can get the temps lethally high in some areas. You may not even know they temps got that high because by the time you get there, the temps are back down to normal (power failure turning off AC, for example).
- poisoning. Many household chemicals are toxic to snakes even though they are non-toxic or less toxic to humans. A good example is Lysol/Pine-sol type cleaners/deodorizers. A tiny amount of those cleaners can kill a snake as many snake owners have found out.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

I had this happen to an adult rosyboa I got from a breeder. Turns out, he had "dewormed" them about a month before I got it from him. Looked perfect one day then dead the next. He lost most of his the same way.

I agree with Chris especially regarding chemicals. Even some plastic sweaterboxes if fresh from the mfgr can release very toxic substances when heated. Iris makes a line of boxes that are horrible with this. Fortunately it is not their larger boxes, only the smaller ones. The best boxes are recyclable - that is when you know the chemicals are not as bad. Polycarbonate and polyethylene are the best. Smart & Final sells polycarbonate shoeboxes that are awesome (strong, last forever though pricey) and are safe when heated.
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Mark