Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I've owned ball pythons for just about ten years now, and I've had very few health issues with my snakes. I've bred for the last five years, and never lost a baby...until this year! I've lost four babies this season. Two spiders and two cinny's. The first spider died shortly after he was born, and he was a tiny baby, so I chalked that up to him being a runt. Each of the other three all ate, and seemed healthy! In fact, he last two died today after having eaten just Saturday night with no issues. The three babies that ate before they died all ate feeder hopper mice that we bought from a local pet store. The other babies seem fine, but I am worried that their is either a disease going around or that they ate a bad batch of food. Any ideas why they might have died, or what I should do to protect the rest of my collection?

Water was available, and the hot side temped in at 87...a little low with the ambient temps dropping due to the weather, but I can't imagine that would cause digestion issues, would it? I don't use any chemicals to clean the room other than dilute bleach on the floor.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Also, we have not added any snakes to our collection in two years.

Sounds fishy to me.See if you can find out what the mice were eating.If they were fed dog food with red dye,I'v herd that is toxic for snakes.Also the bedding the mice were on,cedar is toxic for snakes.I have only been breeding for 3 years,but never lost a snake that ate,lost a few that would'nt eat.Dont know if this helps but nobody else chimmed in.Good luck

I'd definitely look into the feeders...87F is definitely not too low as far as temps go. My snake room is heated to mid 80s w/no heat in the racks and I have no problems. Sorry I can't be more help...

I suggest bringing the refrigerated bodies of the dead babies to a vet for a full necropsy...and bring any living babies from the same clutch for examination. It wouldn't hurt to bring any uneaten rodents you have left from the batch you bought to feed to the babies.

The toxins in cedar or red dye used in some dog food are not so deadly it would kill in one meal, I don't think...its a build up effect over several meals, though babies could be far more vulnerable. However, no way to know on a forum with guess work...you need to have somebody qualified to examine the snakes and rodents to determine what caused death. For all we know it could be something genetically wrong with the babies...which caused them to die, such as improperly formed digestive tract..., or maybe you have a CO leak in the room you keep the babies in.
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PHLdyPayne

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