Hey guys, I've been keeping arboreal vipers for several years nowwith mixed success.This month alone I just lost 2 long term eyelash and 2 longterm squamiger. in all cases the snakes lose interest in food, lose weight, become restless and die. this seems to keep happening to me - I get 4-5 good years out of them and they suddenly crap out when they hould be in the prime of their life. Does anyone think there is any merit to feeding frogs for the first year or so rather than pinks? Could feeding baby vipers pinkie parts shorten their longterm life?
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viper deaths
dziedzic
May 29, 2003 05:16 PM
Replies (4)
MsTT
May 29, 2003 07:41 PM
I'd definitely go for a necropsy. You want to find a good reptile specialist vet who knows what to look for.
Some possible causes to look for would be kidney and liver problems. Long term captive snakes that are overfed and even a little underhydrated often turn up with issues in these organs on necropsy. I'd want to be looking at little slices of both organs under the 'scope, and sending samples to the lab.
Every viper keeper's nightmare is of course paramyxo, but you're not describing a mass die-off so that probably isn't the issue.
You might want to get fecals on the survivors and on the food source you're using to see if a parasite load might have been a contributing factor. Just a general precautionary tactic that's cheap and easy.
viperman
May 30, 2003 03:30 PM
Squamiger's are known to have kidney problems when over feed I would look into this first. What you have to consider is what the eat in the wild verse's what we feed them in captivity. There should not be feed once a week, adults should be feed 10 to 14 days and babies can be feed every 4 to 7 days just depends, but once there of size they do not need to be feed to often. I would agree with TT find the vet that knows his stuff and what to look for and take the snakes there after they die.
I hope this helps
Link
viperman
May 30, 2003 03:32 PM
Also a friend had a problem once to find out it was all due to a bad batch of mice so look into your feeding source. He was getting his frozen thawled and they were bad
dziedzic
May 30, 2003 09:59 PM
That all sounds like very sound advice fellas & I am looking into a vet right now. i am aware of how sensitive these animals are to over feeding & have only been feeding the adults about once a month- that's the mind-boggling thing. I feed rat pups that I buy live from a petshop then freeze them at home. Thanks for the replies.
