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I HAD MY BABY BOA FOR 1 YR AND HE WAS VERY HEALTHY. I FED HIM TWO MICE ON MONDAY THEN ON TUESDAY HE REGURGIATATED BOTH (ONE IN THE MORNING AND ONE IN EVENING) THAT NIGHT HE STARTED TO OPEN HIS MOUTH AT A 90 DEGREE ANGLE AND SPIN HEAD HIS AROUND IN CIRCLES. WHEN HE STOPPED I THOUGHT THAT HE WAS OK BUT WHEN I TOUCHED HIM, THERE WAS NO STIFFNESS OF HIS MUSCLE, THAT WHEN I KNEW THAT MY LITTLE FRIEND WAS GONE. A SAD MOMENT IN MY LIFE. BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET HIM, HE WAS THE BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL SNAKE I EVER LAID MY EYES ON. I FED HIM LIVE MICE, THATS WHAT HE WAS FED FROM BIRTH. HE HAD NICE HEATING AND WAS ALWAYS HANDLED AND VERY DOCILE. I JUST CANT FIGURE OUT WHY HE DIED. IF ANY ONE HAS ANY IDEA OR HELP PLEASE LET ME KNOW, IM VERY EAGER TO LEARN WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BABY.----SHAWN

I don't know if I can offer any insight as to what happened, but there are surely others here who can. It's hard to lose a little creature that has become a friend and has been close to our heart. I hope you can find some answers.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KINDNESS IN MY TIME OF MOURNING, I GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.

Sorry to hear about your boa. I know how you feel I just lost one of mine not to long ago.

The open mouth thing you described is Death Throes. I have seen many snakes do that right before they die. Now as to what caused it.....that could be a mystery. If you were feeding live mice, my first question is...Where did you get your mice from?
It is very possible that the live mice were fed something that poisoned your snake. I have heard of places that will put out poisons to kill any escaped mice but when they find one alive, they just toss them back in the cage with the others. Since poisons don't kill immediatly, the mice have time to be sold before they die from the poison. (one of the reasons I feed frozen mice)

My second thought would be that he had a low grade infection that you did not notice. It is possible for these guys to be sick and not show very many, if any symptoms. Over the years, I have seen some weird things in snakes. I have had a snake die from a bleeding ulcer (go figure!) and one die from an aneuryism. Without a necropsy, I can only speculate what happened but it could have been very well a strange heredity/defect thing that there would have been nothing you could do about it. Please don't feel like this was your fault. You gave him the best care you could.

Wow. That's very interesting about the poison and those who put an escaped mouse back in with the others to be sold.

When I think of how incredibly stupid that would be to do, it boggles my mind. Yet, I can imagine some pet stores doing just that now that you mention it. Maybe the owner/manager puts down the poison and doesn't bother to tell the help about it? Maybe the thought never crosses their minds? Idiots.

In any event, this is yet another reason why I'm glad I feed only f/t.

Bill