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Last night was another sad night at our house,We lost a subadult female that has been with us for quite sometime now!I have spoken to a few different people about what may or may not be causing these problems!When my daughters boa passed I assuymed it was because of his back,But when this almost 6ft an 10lb,2 year old female died on melast night this got me to thinking!My temps an humidity are good an as soon as any of my boa's use the bathroon the cages get cleaned asap!So it couldnt be that!So things were a bit tight last month an I traded off a female normal for some rats an I thought I got took on the deal cause it took me 3 weeks to get them an then I never got what I was supposed to get!I put them in the fridge till later that evening an drew scolding hot water as normal to thaw them out the rest of the way!I put ther whole bag an all in the water an waited 30 minutes to add fresh an when I opened the bag their were 6 rats in a ziplock gallon freezer bag an then their were 2 large just laying in their an when I opened the bag the stench hit me in the face!I threw them out at an instance,an assumed thet the 6 in the freezer bag were ok,they didnt have the smell or any creamy milky substance on them so the sink was cleaned thouroghly an I finished un thawing the 6 rats an fed!Every snake that ate these 6 rats has went into shed an 2 of the 6 are now dead!The other 4 are still in shed so I dont know,Their is no thrashing around except for big mamma she has lost her litter completely cleaned out an is making a strange movements in her body!????I would get her to a vet asap but we dont have any knowledgeable reptiles vets in our town,So all I can do is wait!Does it sound like a poisening to any of you?I am so upset an cant really point a finger cause I dont know but this is the only thing that I can think of!Thanks god I didnt feed any to any of my expencive boas except for 1!The rest all ate what I raise thank god!Thanks for any help an hope everyone is doing ok,Take care an sorry for being so long!Eric[Hypoboa]

R.I.P-Little Bit,An Littel Man
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E&C's Exotic House of Reptiles

It is hard to say if poisoning is the problem or not. Your description is haphazardous reading, probably from your fast typing. I have gathered that you gained some rotten rats and have had two snakes die. Are any other snakes looking ill? Did you get a necropsy done on either of the dead snakes?

If all of your remaining snakes are doing fine then the wait and see attitude will suffice. If any symptoms are present or arrise then take them to your veterinarian. Look for one prior needing one.

Some areas are blessed with excellent choice of awesome herp vets. In other areas you may have to drive a little, but usually a vet can be found that is interested in reptiles and has the resources (main resource is discussion with other colleuges, namely the herp experts)to help you. Certainly this is beneficial over not addressing the illness at all.

Ask for referals from your local veterinarians, check out www.arav.com and/or their link to herpvetconnection. It is not uncommon to have to drive 1-2 hours if you are in a rural area.

Good luck with your boas

Ian