Reptile & Amphibian Forums

a couple days ago i woke up to find my snake dead! he was probably 5 months old. i kept his tank clean, temperatures were fine. i noticed some changes in him after he regurgetated his food. i thought it was due to stress because i had to move. or maybe it was a bad pinky. what else could it have been. what did i do wrong? any advise on this and how i can prevent this happening on my next one.

Sorry to hear about your corn. You may not have done anything wrong. Some snakes just dont make it. As long as you had everything set up correctly there is not much you can do. The only thing I would say is next time you notice any problems take it to a vet. Many times when you notice a problem it is already too late but it couldnt hurt. Hope this helped some and Im sure others will be even more helpful. EP
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Occupants not paying rent:
7 balls
2 corns(normal, candy cane)
1 pueblan milk
1 everglades rat
1 cal. king
1 gray band king
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2 fish
1 rat
5 cats

Thanks for the reply. it makes me feel a lot better knowing that i might not have been resposible for the death. I will definitely go see the vet next time.

I'm guessing the body's gone now or too decomposed, but it might have been a good idea to have taken the body to the vet for an autopsy. They might have been able to determine if it was something environmental or just one of those things that can't be controled :/

Sorry for your loss. That sounds very shaking.

It is almost impossible to know what went wrong. If the snake just regurged on his last feeding and you just moved into the place I would say it was something eviromental, as just a wild guess. The place getting bug sprayed before you moved in, the chemical they used to clean the carpets, Boric Acid placed in the A/C-Heat Ducts to keep the bugs down or any one of a hundred different problems. It is now your job to try and find out what could have gone wrong before you bring in another reptile. It of course could have been just a health issue with the snake, but the eviromental end of it is something that you can control and look at, Do you use cedar wood chips, recently used bleach to clean the cage, spray the dog for fleas or the kids for lice? Any of these checmicals can cause problems with the aniaml if they are exposed. I hope you can find the cause and if you have any questions, please let em know.
Good Luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

Some good advice is to purchase your snake directly from the breeder and, with respect to corn snakes, it's best to get one that is at least 6 months old (around 1.5-2 ft).

Also, it's extremely rare for a young captive bred corn to just drop dead like that. Don't be afraid to get more.

I am so sorry to hear about your corn..... its always hard to lose someone/thing that you have loved and cared for. I'm sure circumstances were just fine in regards to temp. and such.... I would try again.

hey thanks you guys for the replies and advice. i really appreciate it. i will keep you guys updated on what happens next. i will try again.