Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is the same cal king from the topic below

the biting got alot worse, he started to try and eat himself almost every day even with food in his belly.

it was getting bad his whole body was covered in bites and a cuple times he had nearly a foot of his body swallowed.

with the rate he was progressing and how often it was i didnt want it getting worse or for him to suceed and kill himself so i had him put down.

it was a hard choice but i couldnt stand to see him suffer any more
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

If the snake was not taken to a vet then I disagree with your decision to euthanize it. As was discussed in your previous thread below there are a few things that quite likely may have been happening with the snake and if feeding the snake more did not help then a vet almost certainly could have fixed it without major capitol input. While I do not personally feel it is appropriate to base care for an animal on whether or not a trip the vet will cost more than the animal is worth, in this case I think the vet bills would have been less than the cost to replace the snake. The bite marks would have cleared up after a couple sheds after the underlying cause was treated.

If I had to guess, you would have spent about $65 on the visit to the vet plus another 30 or 40 on medication, most likely Baytrill.

Wow! What's up with all that kindness & compassion you showed this fella? Ya'll sure put a lot of stock in "assumptions."

"As was discussed in your previous thread below there are a few things that quite likely may have been happening with the snake and if feeding the snake more did not help then a vet almost certainly could have fixed it without major capitol input."

Like what? How many times have you heard of a snake biting itself like that? It isn't a common occurrence. In the other thread Kelly Haller mentioned that he'd only heard of 3 causes for it and this person ruled out two of them. That leaves a CNS (central nervous system) disorder, which I feel was apropriately dealt with. Euthanization was the best choice for the snake's sake. I don't care if they put the snake down their self or had a Vet do it - they did the right thing.

And where did the talk of Vet costs being a factor come from other than you? I didn't see it mentioned by "goregrind" in the earlier thread.

How is one to watch a snake 24/7 to ensure that it doesn't eat itself to the point of no return?

No, I don't think you two nay-sayers are bad people, but I do believe your attitudes were bad and your thought process was flawed at the time of your posting. I hope people are easier on ya'll if/when you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

Later!
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

out of the hundred or so snake owners in my area im the only person to ever take a snake there. they used to have a vet that was "trained to treat exotic animals" but i dont know if she still works there. when i did take all my snakes there she did know enough to treat the basics but she lacked in expierience (she sexed my ball backwards with a cat catheder despite me telling her how to do it).

i feel realy bad about putting him down but i felt like i had no other options (plus we were overwhelmed) because he was already an adult when i got him 3 years ago as an adult from a BAD owner (cage was filthy and he had a heat rock and a bright heat lamp on 24/7) so i have no idea how old he is. and he never seemed right, he was always a little weak. he could never get a live rodent, he would bite the sides of the cage (his reflection?) and himself. so it seems that chances are if the vet could help it might only be temporary.
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

Wow, after not getting back to people AT ALL on the previous thread? I assume you didn't take him to a vet either, they probably could've been able to tell you a fixable cause. Like anuraanman said, probably would've been cheap as far as vet checks go too.

So uh... good job?

Wow! What's up with all that kindness & compassion you showed this fella? Ya'll sure put a lot of stock in "assumptions."

"...they probably could've been able to tell you a fixable cause."

Like what? How many times have you heard of a snake biting itself like that? It isn't a common occurrence. In the other thread Kelly Haller mentioned that he'd only heard of 3 causes for it and this person ruled out two of them.

I don't care if they put the snake down their self or had a Vet do it - they did the right thing.

No, I don't think you two nay-sayers are bad people, but I do believe your attitudes were bad and your thought process was flawed at the time of your posting. I hope people are easier on ya'll if/when you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

Later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Yeah, I knew I was coming off a bit harsh the second I hit post, but I just dealt with someone else saying 'oh well we put it to sleep without consulting the vet' earlier that day. One of my pet peeves to jump the gun like that. Obviously I hope the vet was consulted, I think it just sort of came out in left field that we were getting updated on the snake and before mention of 'I took it to the vet and they x-rayed him' or the like, 'we had to put him down'. Know what I mean?

So I'll take this spot to say: I AM sorry for your loss, gore. Really I am. I know it's tough lose an animal, I hope you did everything you could for him and if not, I hope he went quickly and peacefully.

i dont feel i jumped the gun, i do wish it didnt happen but i saw it coming a long time ago.

he did go peacefully and painlessly but it wasnt exaclty quick. becuase they had never put down a reptile they went about it the same way they would with a dog which normaly takes about half an hour i hear. the put him in a covered tub with a towel and started pumping in the gas to knock him out before the shot. after 30 minutes he was just very "happy" which made it even harder to handle. after that they told us we could go home and they would call us when it was done. we originaly got there at 8:30 am and they called me at 1:30 pm
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

about me not replying... i was alittle busy with a 2 ear old son, a divorce, a sknake trying to eathimself, a caecilian with fungus and a failing family business. sorry i only had time to read the posts?

and money wasnt the issue... i may be poor but i do whatever is neccissary to keep my snakes healthy (or at least keep them from suffering) i didnt have the money at the time and the bill was 116 bucks so i gave my psp and all my games my friend to pay my half (i gave the snake to him when i moved into a place i couldnt have too many snakes). so technicly he didnt even belong to me any more
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

Having said "(HAD) it put down" leads me to believe he didn't do it himself. Don't jump to conclusions that this was a easy decision made entirely alone. And even if it was made alone "culling" out bad individuals is a practice been being done for centuries. Our bleeding hearts just can't accept it in todays times. Nobody seems to realize all of the animals we have are already dead to evolution and nature. Allow the guy to give an explanation of what happened before concluding this case.

Good post!

HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I already replied to my 'jumping to conclusions above', but adding... wait, what? This isn't people whining about culling stock from a herd, this is people hoping the animal went to the vet. It's not a bleeding hearts case, obviously if some snake comes out of the egg with it's heart on it's sleeve it needs to be put down. I'm just a firm believer that you have a responsibility to an animal to do everything you can to make it comfortable in life to the best of your ability. It isn't about 'today's times' unable to handle it; somehow I doubt you'd say those words if it were a dog.

In fact I'd say the same thing about any animal regardless of what it is. And I would agree to give an animal the best care in life. As well the best choice sometimes to eliminate suffering is death. Ironic I just went to a class at UAB Birmingham last night and it was a class on herp conservation. There was eight exotics vets attending. Two of them known as the best herp vets in our state. We all get a chance to speak at this class and ask other attendants questions or just share information. I actually brought up this case and when I mentioned this guy was recommended to take the snake to a vet the entire class chuckled and one of the herp vets said "Why? It's a very common problem especially with kingsnakes I've seen it alot. They either stop or are uthanized".

that makes me feel alittle better, at least i have alittle less doubt
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

holy crap! i could never do that myself. i know the only way to instanly kill a snake with no pain is to punture the brain. and the only way i can think of to do it without mutilating him would be a nail and hammer, but then i would have hold him down and work up the courage, and i couldnt use a nailgun because then my snake would be nailed to a board... it was a hard decision to make but euthinasia vs a nail was a no brainer.
when i was on the phone with the vet office setting everything up i had to try not to cry. just picture a fat guy with a shaved head and a big ring in his nose holding back tears. not an emotional guy but but ever since i was a kid ive had a soft spot for snakes.
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

I'm sorry for your loss! You did the right thing.

Hang in there!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

dont worry im doing fine, you stuck up for me more than you needed to. its nice to see hillbillies still stick up for eachother.
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Jake Barney

snakes
1.1.1 ball pythons
0.2 corns

aquarium
0.0.1 Typhlonectes natans (aquatic caecilian)
0.0.1 common pleco
0.0.1 peacock spiny eel
0.0.? feeder fish

if i were you id watch him carefully. im sure you always do this, but make sure he isn't hungry. we had a red tail boa and he was acting perfectly fine..next thing we know he had bitten himself. we helped him detach from himself, fed him just to be safe and went to bed. we woke up and he had bitten his own neck as close as he could to his head and he was dead. we don't know why this happened. i had never heard of a snake killing its self.. so just keep a close eye on him.