need help understanding

[futureherpbreeder]

i need help understanding, or for that matter, why my little "lippy" died.
about 10 days ago, i discovered that my white lip python had belly rot, so i imediately put lippy in another aguarium on paper towels, and treated her with repti wound. i cleaned lippy daily, applying repti wound, then a couple times with neosporin. i actually saw an inprovement, and was glad. but i got off work today and found that lippy has passed on.
could it be that she was just to stressed out from me treating her?
could it be the new substrate that i gave lippy 2 weeks ago? its called peat moss by premier, i even called the 800 # to make sure it was safe to use on reptiles, and they said it is ok because its all natural and theres no chemicals in it. so i used it and noticed that it retained alot of the water from misting, and when lippy shedded, it was stuck in her belly scales. could this be what killed lippy?
lippy was a wc from lll reptiles, i got lippy 9 months ago. could it be because lippy was straight from new guinnea?
i need to find out if it was something i did so can prevent this from happening again.
thanks for reading, and any feed back will be greatly appreciated.


RIP lippy.

josh

[hhmoore]

Unfortunately, not having seen your snake, it is hard to really give an educated response...everything will have to be based on the info you have given (which at this point, lacks some details). I guess the first place to start is the new substrate - is this something other than the normal peat moss found in garden supply centers? By your statement, she was only on this for about 4 days before you noted the "belly rot". What did you use before that? Were there any other signs/symtoms of problems? oral or nasal discharge? wet sounding breathing? was there any redness of the belly scales prior to changing substrate? Any unusual odors? How bad/extensive was the "belly rot" when you noticed it, and how long before/after her shed was it? Had she been eating steadily? If not, when was the last time she ate. How were you heating her enclosure, and what were the "hot" and ambient temps? I'm sorry for all the questions, but the info is needed to try to understand what was going on. Unfortunately, whitelipped pythons can be somewhat difficult captives...especially fresh imports. The belly symptoms you mentioned could be due to a response to an irritant, a burn, excessive moisture, or unclean conditions (or a combination of the above). Sometimes, mulches, mosses, and other humidity holding substrates are difficult to keep clean because it is easy to miss the mess.

[futureherpbreeder]

hey heres some answers to your questions. hope they help.
it is the same stuff from lowes garden center, used aspen bedding before that, still use it with all my other herps, no signs of symptoms of anykind, no redness of belly before substrate change, belly was pure white, no odors, belly rot was pretty bad, when i noticed it at first,thought it was the peat moss sticking to the shedding skin from being to wet,went to help her shed the rest and found out it was not what i thought it was,shes been eating 2 adult mice a week from furry critter farms, never gurged or refused meals, temps were normal for this python, lower to mid 80's in hot spot,78-80 in cool spots, changes a little at nite cause i turn ohh lights, doesnt ever drop below 76 in the room due to the room i have my herps in, its the closest room to the furnace in basement so it gets all the heat in the house, the heating pad is a 5x7 zoomed thats not hooked to a thermostat, so i double up(about 3in) on bedding, not only that i also have a hollow log for her hide spot, and dont be sorry for asking to many questions.

hope that helps and thank you,


josh

[hhmoore]

If she went from a clear white belly to significant sores in a matter of 4 days I would have to suspect the peat moss...either due to something in it, or just due to the way it holds moisture. Too wet conditions are worse than too dry - skin problems, bacterial & fungal bloom, and respiratory issues can come on quickly. Still, to die 10 days after onset of symptoms is almost amazingly fast. Given the conditions you describe, IF there was no harmful component in the peat, my guess would be that wet conditions degraded the skin, and the area got badly infected. Again, this is little more than a guess, since I did not view the snake.
You say you had a 5x7 zoomed UTH...where was this in relation to the light? Where in the tank did you measure temps, and with what sort of thermostat? What size tank? How much did you mist the tank, and did you modify that when you noticed the wetness of the substrate? Did you happen to note if the peat was compressed (with the addition of water) or possibly somewhat pushed away from the surface of the UTH? The extent of injury you describe, especially with the rapidness of occurrence, still makes me question the possibility of the belly being burned.

[Junkyard]

I could easily blame LLL, but I will pass on that for now. A necropsy is under $50, it is worth the money to find out what exactly killed your snake. If you still have it.

[hhmoore]

Michael,
I have to disagree with you this time. Josh has had the snake for 9 months, and it has (according to his story) thrived until 2 weeks ago. Whatever anybody thinks about LLL, this is not their fault. I am surprised to hear that a necropsy is so cheap, though...Heck, it costs me almost that much to have them pull my file for a visit.