Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi -
Over the past 2 years I have owned 3 ATB's. All purchased at shows, all were labeled 'captive born/bred'. Yet all of them succumbed to something, and ultimately died. I'm not sure why I have lost only this particular species. They all stopped eating at one point, and died within weeks. Can anyone help me understand why only my ATB's were affected and what is it with these snakes that may have caused this...
I'm rather hesitant to own another ATB, so would like to understand what it was that may have made them sick and killed them....none of my other snakes have ever been sick....

How are you keeping them? Did they have plenty of ventilation and humidity? Hidebox and water dish? Temperatures? What were they fed? Did they ever throw up a meal? Solid BM and urates? Give as much info as possible.

That's a tough one to answer and to even take a stab in the dark we need much more information. Try to answer these for starters:

1. how old/big was each snake
2. what were the exact conditions the snake was being kept - size of enclosure, decorations, temps, humidity, etc.
3. feeding schedules - how often, what size, live, p/k, f/t, etc.
4. time frame between purchase, first refusal of food and expiration
5. did you have them all at the same time or one at a time? if one at a time, did you put them all in the same enclosure successively?
6. did they die in the summer, winter?
7. did you ever take them to a vet?
8. were there any common factors between all three such as bad sheds, runny stools, no or infrequent urates, weird neurological symptoms, etc.

I can't really think of anything else and without a necropsy, all we will be able to do is guess. Overall, ATB's are really hardy animals once they are properly established and kept in proper conditions. Sorry for your loss though.

Billy

>>Hi -
>>Over the past 2 years I have owned 3 ATB's. All purchased at shows, all were labeled 'captive born/bred'. Yet all of them succumbed to something, and ultimately died. I'm not sure why I have lost only this particular species. They all stopped eating at one point, and died within weeks. Can anyone help me understand why only my ATB's were affected and what is it with these snakes that may have caused this...
>>I'm rather hesitant to own another ATB, so would like to understand what it was that may have made them sick and killed them....none of my other snakes have ever been sick....

Sounds like there's a husbandry issue at hand here...where in NJ are you? Email me at danny@urbanjungles.com and I'll see if I can help!

Danny