Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sad to say, my female striped Cal King, born '07 died this week. I was taken aback by the death, and somewhat mystified by how it happened, so I will provide the background info, and let me know what everyone thinks. The room temp was 80 degrees, maxing out at 84 during the day. She had taken 3 adult mice, frozen, two days prior to dying. The day before death, she was active, with no obvious altered behavior. 36 hours later, she was dead. She had some shavings in her mouth, and it was full of blood. Urea appears to have been sprayed in the final moments, but the cloaca had no visible impaction or irritation. I do plan on doing an autopsy, but I wanted some thoughts.
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Bill
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1.0 Banded Cal King
0.1 Striped Cal King
0.1 Aberrant Cal King
0.1 Chihuahua Mountain King
1.0 Arizona Mountain King
1.0 Anery Jurassic Milk
1.0 Nelson's/Corn snake hybrid
0.0.1 Viper Boa
0.0.1 South Florida Swamp Snake
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
2.3 African Dwarf Frogs
0.0.1 Alligator Snapping Turtle
0.0.1 Florida Snapping Turtle
0.0.1 Loggerhead Musk Turtle
0.0.1 Common Musk Turtle
0.0.2 Fly River Turtle

Sorry to hear about your loss. It would all be guessing without a necropsy. That sudden though and without any visible warning is strange. Maybe something perforated the snakes stomach or something. Let us know what you find out.

Sudden death, just like in a person can be from any number of things from a blood clot, to a seizure, to a heart attack. All are rare but possible. I am assuming when you said frozen mice you meant frozen/thawed? Another possibility is egg binding. Even if she was never bred at 2 years old she could have a clutch of slugs stuck in there. Not exactly supported by the fact that she was still eating but its a possibility. Sorry to say you will probably never know.

Necropsy was done on Saturday. There was blood in the stomach, but it was the heart that gave it away. Her heart was greatly enlarged, and there was a large amount of blood in the pericardial sac. Heart attack and hemorrhaging seem the likely choice, but the enlarged heart seems like something she would have had from birth. I have slightly relieved that it seems unlikely that I did anything wrong, but at the same time I would rather it had been my mistake, and something I could have prevented.
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Bill
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1.0 Banded Cal King
0.1 Striped Cal King
0.1 Aberrant Cal King
0.1 Chihuahua Mountain King
1.0 Arizona Mountain King
1.0 Anery Jurassic Milk
1.0 Nelson's/Corn snake hybrid
0.0.1 Viper Boa
0.0.1 South Florida Swamp Snake
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
2.3 African Dwarf Frogs
0.0.1 Alligator Snapping Turtle
0.0.1 Florida Snapping Turtle
0.0.1 Loggerhead Musk Turtle
0.0.1 Common Musk Turtle
0.0.2 Fly River Turtle