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...last night and I have no clue why. Two nights ago, she was entering the final stage of shed so I misted her tub to add some more humidity. I did the usual water filling and cleaned while I was at it. I did noticed that she felt "dense", sort of stiffer than normal but equated that with shedding. Yesterday, after work I saw her moving a little but not quite as active but that's normal because she was in shed. A couple of hours later, I noticed her head was laying sideways... and panic set in. I opened her tub and for a moment thought she was just really weak but nope, she was gone. Her body was still limp and warm in the center of the tub.

I was floored and lost. I checked the temperature in the rack immediately since I had another adult pastel female and an adult mojave female in the same rack. Everything checked out. I inspected her body for any apparent wounds that I may have missed from a rat bite, she went off feed in December and was breeding regularly, but nothing. There wasn't any foaming or blood anywhere to be found. The males bred to her have been in my collection for 2 years so I don't feel that a new disease was introduced. I had this sweety for just under a year and she was an awesome feeder, very healthy 2300 grams. My only thoughts are that she was dehydrated because she had a slight skin fold appear near her neck area but it may have been the skin that hadn't shed yet. Is it possible for a ball python to dehydrate themselves to death even if you provide them with water? I just haven't heard that happening before. Any thoughts?

Sorry, I cant offer any answers. I am very sorry to here about your loss.

Casey

Sorry to hear the sad news! Unfortunately I don't have any answers either.
Ken
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0.1 Mojave Ball Python (Mitena)
1.0 Spider Ball Python (Sarki)
0.1 Pastel Ball Python (Panthea)
0.1 100% Het Albino Ball Python (Hazina Adamma)
1.0 Albino Ball Python (Apu)
0.5 Normal Ball Pythons (Norma, Nova, Nala, Nimeesha, Nyoka)

1.0 Desert Tortoise (Tubbs) from Tortoise Rescue
1.0 Boxer (Shadow)


www.ocballs.net
kvandoren@ocballs.net

if she felt dense as you say, maybe some sort of an impaction, whether that be an egg mass or fecal matter. an autopsy would be the only way to know.

sorry to hear about your snake.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's always hard to lose a snake, whether it is considered a pet or not. Most of us have been there, and nearly everyone who keeps them long enough will experience that loss too.

Sometimes there are things we simply can't help each other with here on the forums. In your case, I would definitely follow the advice about bringing her in for necropsy. If it is something contagious you would at least know to monitor the rest of your animals (not every disease has outwardly visible symptoms). Even if it doesn't turn out to be a pathogen of some sort, it might help you feel a little better understanding the cause of her death and if you find out that there was nothing you could have done and that you did nothing wrong to begin with you will hopefully be able to put your mind at ease about your husbandry skills as well as the rest of your collection.

Spend the $100 or so for the necropsy. It's worth it. Especially for an animal you undoubtedly paid more from and who was potentially gravid.

Sorry to hear that!

Hey,

If I could perform an autopsy on a snake that died like that for under a 100 bucks I would do it in a minute. Let us know if you do it? I would definitely do it with a completely reputable Reptile Vet or equivalent. We would all benefit from knowing. And I really am really sorry on your loss. It would crush me to ever lose an animal.

Bill

I feel your loss and am truly sorry to hear the bad news. It really could be a number of things. I would be willing to send you a $5 money order to help pay for the necropsy, and I am sure there are others that would be willing to pitch in 1,5,10 dollars to learn what happened. If you decide to do it, just contact me privately for your address so I can get that out to you. I will say a prayer for her tonight.
Matt Z.

im sorry one of your "babies" died. i think i will ball like no tomorrow when any of my animals die. i love em.
anyways.
yes, i suppose its possible she could have been dehydrated on top of possible compaction of some sort. one of my boys looked really dry and i couldnt figure out why- it was like he needed to shed, but wasnt showing any signs of going through a shed cycle. so i started soaking him. and at first he would drink the water- he would spend a good 1-2 minutes just drinking. i DO provide water for him in his tank.
so i soaked him and made sure he had enough moisture in his tank. after day 3 or so i was holding him after the soak and i rubbed the skin lose, so he had a shed with help from me.
anyways, that was a long windy way to say that they can get dehydrated if they arent drinking the water.

anyways. i hope the rest are ok. i wish you better luck and better health for the rest of your critters.
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~Snake Charmer~
0.1 russian tortoise (natasha)
3.1 dogs (church, bandit, willy and tonka)
1.2 cats (taz, squeaky, cami)
0.1 king snake (q aka curly q or queenie)
2.1 'normal' ball pythons (zenith, butters, zahara)and i want more snakes. guess you can say im developing a "reptile addiction"- lol

I am sorry for your loss. I have a cat that is currently ill and we have wondered sometimes if she would make it.

I would consider that her condition could have been congenital. Like all creatures, any number of internal malformations could have developed. Heart and neuro conditions among them. Especially since your husbandry seems up to par, I hope you understand this could have been completely out of your hands.
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1.0 normal ball python
0.1 greyband hybrid kingsnake
0.2 crazy cats
1.0 husband

If she was bred she may have egg bound, sometimes it can cause an abrupt change in blood pressure and they can die as a result. It happend to my favorite snake last season she had 7 HUGE eggs in her. I bred her just like any of my other snakes and she was the only one that had complications. She was actually the largest snake i bred last season as well ... she had a lot of promise she was a "dinker" project snake
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