Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I looked in my bloods cage today and saw him rolling around with his mouth open. On closer inspection his mouth was packed full of sphagnum moss. I guess he crawled in his moss dish and decided to eat some of it. I rinsed his mouth out but im not totally sure i got it all out before he swallowed any. And then a moment later his body tightened up and he got real skinny and he was just hangin there and his tongue was sticking out. it was like he just died in my hand. i set him on the bed and about 30 seconds later it was like he came back to life as fast as he "died." I gave him a clean cage with no moss and just a hide spot and water bowl. Please help me in any way you can. mostly if you know if hes going to be alright. Also, he hasnt eaten since i got him. ive tried prekilled hopper mice and it seems he likes to strike my hand more than the mouse. Tomorrow im going to try a little rat to see if thats the deal. thanks for reading this and thanks again for anyone who leaves a response.

PS: in case it helps, he is only about 2 months old. he is a sumatran red blood, and i have had him for a month. the temps/humidity are good and so is everything else. i have him in a 10 gal. if you have any questions or anything then ask and ill answer them. thanks.

Hey,
Sounds serious! But, if it came back to life it just might be ok. Don't stress it out any more than it has already. I would leave it alone for a while and see how it does for the next few days. If you start to see signs that it is stressing and seems like it is in extremus (near death) it might have then ingested some of the moss and probably taken in some into its lungs, in which case there isn't much that you can do at that point. I don't want to sound ghoulish, but this is reality.

Anyhow, I hope that it is doing better and that what I have described has not taken place. But, really keep close watch on it and make sure that it is comfortable. Don't try feeding it for a few days and let it calm down some.

Make sure that it does have sufficient water and humidity, and then try feeding it by leaving food out side of its hide box or offering it food from forceps or long tongs. All the best. If you have any questions you can email me direct.

If it did actually eat some moss, I think a vet would have a few tricks up their sleeve to try and help. I'd almost get an appointment now just so you'll have it if the snake keeps acting wierd.

your Blood didn't "eat" any moss, that is the result of the death throes of the animal. there is an underlying problem there that you don't see, perhaps a vet can help you identify it.

when snakes (not just Blood pythons) go through pre death spasms, they have these mini seizures, mouth open, twisting, jerking around. not pretty by any means. while they are doing this, they literally "shovel" the substrate with their open, writhing mouths. neophytes see the dead animal with a mouth full of material and say "dumb snake, it tried to eat the moss/cypress/dirt/carefresh and then it choked to death and died". that is not even close to correct.

it was well on the way to dying before getting anything in its mouth. perhaps there were internal problems, perhaps it was too dehydrated, perhaps it ran into a genetic roadblock, all hard to say, your best bet, if you want to know what killed the animal, is to have a vet do a necropsy.

the shoveling is symptomatic of a deeper problem that is actually causing the death.
-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

i now see the snake did not die, that's good...

so here is your chance to get to a vet right away and save the animal before it does. best of luck.
-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

The snake made it through the night but when i got home today it was dead. I was ready to take it to the vet. Thank you very much for youre help even though it was too late. The thing about the snake shoveling around with his mouth opens makes since and I see why he died now. I was about to start force feeding but I kept on reading and hearing that i should be very very patient. So I was, despite the fact the snake was very light. I guess losing an animal is all part of the experience. This is the second bad fortune i have had with a blood so im probably going to wait a while before thinking about getting a new one. If you have any thing else to let me know then please feel free to say it because i will probably benifit from it. Once again, thank you very very much and i hope the best for all of you and your bloods.

np

i thought it was gonna be a tough pull for an animal in that stage, sorry about your loss.

there are GREAT captive bred baby Bloods available on the market (from us and others) there is no reason to start with anything less than a strong, healthy, heavy, full bodied baby that will do very well for you.

don't be too discouraged about this, still consider the Bloods, healthy animals are a terrific choice!
-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

..snakes are my 'pets'. I like to breed and get cash, but even if they didn't breed I'd keep them. They are usually gentle creatures, and when my first Ball python died in 98` is was truly freaked out. I'm more attached to my pythons (capets, white lip, bloods) than any cat or dog I've ever had. Many people can't see crying over a dead snake but it is very sad, to know an animal that wasn't even supposed to be alive or in a cage died at your hands. Dont let it bug you too much because it wasnt your fault, and my ball died from other reasons too. I stood around for a year wondering how I killed it, and should I even think about getting another python? Yeah get a healthy one like Markland said and you should have better luck like I realised I could.
sorry about the news

Thanks for explaining this to him and others who might have never witnessed it. While we’re on the “how snakes die” topic, I thought I’d add one other observation. When snakes thrash around in their death throes, they often do so with a lot of force – visualize an unrestrained air or fire hose whipping back and forth – and can smack their heads and mouths against the hard surfaces of the cage with distressing force. So if you have not seen this happening and later find the snake dead with blood on the cage floor near its head and perhaps in its mouth, you might mistakenly think it died of some mysterious internal hemorrhage. You may also find that one of its last movements is to bite into a body coil (whether it is actually biting or has just randomly snagged its teeth, I do not know).

So, just as with humans, the final living moments for snakes are usually not pretty or peaceful. But you may be able to salvage something from this situation by trying to pin down the cause(s) of death. I usually feel that I owe it to the creatures that gave me such pleasure to at least cut them open and see if I can determine anything from gross observation, and to collect tissues (or have a vet do so) for histopathology.

-Joan