Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am devastated today by the death of my 13-year old red tail. I don't know why she died. I can't afford a necropsy so we buried her last night in the backyard.

She was with me for 13 years. I feel as though a part of me is gone and I can never get it back.

I have been very overwhelmed since Ike flooded our home and so she was not getting the attention she deserved since then. I am beating myself up wishing I had a second chance to pay more attention and perhaps prevent her death. I feel so sad.

Have you ever experienced a sudden, unexplained death of an adult red tail boa? I am grasping at straws here, but I am so heartbroken. She had no contact with other snakes, was fed prekilled, frozen rats only.

At 13 she probably died from natural causes. Often when tumors and cancers, organ failures or other age related diseases occur in these animals, the only symptom is sudden death. Unfortunately a necropsy is the only way to determine the cause. If she was showing no other symptoms (such as weight loss, refusing meals, regurgitation, unusual/bloody stools, respiratory issues, etc) it was probably something that could not have been foreseen or prevented.

While these animals certainly can live longer, I frequently hear of boas passing away at or around that age (15 years or so being the most common). Don't beat yourself up! It sounds like you genuinely cared about your pet and that she lived a long and happy life. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Nicole
www.truetails.net

Thank you, Nicole, for your comforting message. I definitely didn't expect her to die of natural causes at this age... for as long as I have had her the literature has said she would live 20 years or more. I feel a little better to learn that their deaths are common at this age, but I still feel very guilty.

She always ate well and never regurgitated. Her stools were fine, she shedded recently too. This last time I fed her she was slow to take the prey, but that was the first time she has ever been so. The only real change in her behavior is that for the last 3 years or so she has been very aggressive. I sought advice on this earlier and thought I would begin a course of re-gentling her this winter... now I feel so sad because that will never be.

I did love her very much and I feel so sad and lost. I wish I could "wake up" and find her alive again.

Sometimes it just happens.

Unless there was some other clear sign there would not have been much if anything you could have done differently.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats