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My baby BP died.

Felkon Jul 02, 2003 12:41 PM

I just woke up this morning and noticed my BPs head was upside down and wasn't moving. I knew something was wrong so I opened the cage and took him out and, well, he's dead. I have no idea why the poor thing died. When I first got him almost a month ago he wouldn't eat a small adult mouse... I guess he wasn't used to his new home yet. But a week ago we got him two small fuzzie mice and tried to feed him those but he still wouldnt eat. I left them in his cage for an hour or two and left off the lights. To my surprise when I came back he ate them BOTH! I never expected that to happen. Now he's had those two mice in his belly for about 4 days, but this morning he's dead... I'm guessing he just couldnt digest two fuzzies at once? Was it bad to leave two fuzzie mice in there with him? What tempature do they need to be able to properly digest them? He did have a heating sticky pad attached to the outside bottom of his cage... I feel terrible and wonder if I somehow caused this to happen.

Replies (11)

krawls Jul 02, 2003 12:50 PM

Sorry to hear about your loss!

The two small mice probably did not have anything to do with the death.

mmellott Jul 02, 2003 12:59 PM

sorry for your loss...it prob'ly wasn't anything you did...that's jus nature some times...

Larryskeepers Jul 02, 2003 01:15 PM

Im so sorry to hear of your loss... I dont know what i would do if i found myself in your situation...It doesnt sound like you were doing anything wrong and it also doesnt sound like the fuzzies in anyway hurt your new baby...I really dont know what could have happened... Sometimes its just nature but usually if they are willing to eat it is a sign of survival.. im so sorry for you...But you didnt do any wrong dont blame yourself just try and find out what was happening with your poor baby... im sorry again

Sincerely,
Rose & Steve

DeltaWoods Jul 02, 2003 04:39 PM

I know how your feeling. One of my baby african clawed frogs died last night also. I have no idea what caused it or anything. The other frog i have is doing perfect but the other just died. Its almost worst not knowing what caused the death because you continue to wonder.

amytruman Jul 02, 2003 01:26 PM

I am very sorry for your loss.
I just wanted you to know that it's death most likely had nothing to do with your care for it.
You sound like you took excellent care of it.

Amy

Scott_Sullivan Jul 02, 2003 01:41 PM

I'm so sorry to hear about this. Two fuzzies is not too much for a ball to handle. I'm sure it had nothing to do with that. Sometimes things just don't go the way you planned. Last year I got a call from a friend that someone he worked with had an adult female that wasn't in too good a shape. I immediately went to get the snake. When I got there I couldn't believe my eyes. Her cage was disgusting and for heat she had a radiant heat panel underneath the entire length of her cage. I could see she was keeping her belly sucked up to try and keep off the heat as much as she could. When I picked her up she was completely burnt the whole length of her belly and she had two huge scars along her back. I felt horrible (but happy she was going to a better place, mine). Well after working on her the whole summer of last year and after many sheds her belly was looking cleared up and she was eating again. I thought, great, I've saved her life. Well, she seemed fine right through last winter until one day I hear my wife yelling to me to come immediately. I go to see her and she's rolling all over her cage like I've never seen a snake do. Within a half hour she was dead. I couldn't believe it! I picked her up to check her out and she had 6 bumps along her belly. I think they were egg follicles (I'm not sure though). I assumed that with her past severe belly burns it killed her. To make a long story short, sometimes things just don't go the way you want. Take care and RIP Mrs. Furley, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

Naara Jul 02, 2003 01:47 PM

I'm sorry for your loss.

I know you maybe feel responsible (I always do when an animal (never mind what kind) gets ill or dies) But you really shouldn't. Looking at your story you did every thing you could do. Some things are just out of our hands. As terrible as it feels, it's just nature.

zawakees Jul 02, 2003 02:10 PM

sorry for the loss bro ...

did u have a therm on the ground to make sure it wasn't too hot for the snake ? i have a uth, and i burnt my snake lightly , the temp was over 100 F !!!

felkon Jul 02, 2003 03:14 PM

Thanks for all the sympathy. It's appreciated bigtime.

I think he might have died from the temp being too low actually. During the daytime his cage is 82 and during the night its 78. So maybe he had a hard time digesting his food due to low temp? Thats the only thing I can think of! I just wish I knew what went wrong so I could have prevented it from happening. I don't know if I should try and buy another snake because what if the same thing happens? I just hope he died a painless death...

krawls Jul 02, 2003 05:08 PM

Those temps aren`t too bad. Baby Bps prefer it a bit cooler.

I doubt the temps were to blame either.

I keep mine at about 85 during the day and 79 or so at night.
They have tummy heat 24/7 of about 88.

VoodooDragon Jul 04, 2003 02:48 AM

I'm so sorry. I had a snake of mine die Feb, and know how horrible it can be.

I'd reccomend getting a necropsy done, so you know EXACTLY what happened. Maybe it had parasites? It can be hard to tell sometimes.

Again, I'm so sorry.
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-Irish
Email: animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
AIM: VoodooDragon137
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