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My understanding is the demise of the ball python was caused by a build up of uric acid in the animal (gout). I won't pretend to be an expert on this subject but I can tell you I've seen many animals over the years with calcium salt blockages in the small intestinal tract area just prior to the vent. Whenever a new animal comes in or I inspect animals at a show it's one of the many things I check for. It tells me how aware the seller is of the animal's condition prior to sale and also explains why sometimes an animal looks bloated in the posterior area. In my own collection I constantly monitor for these white chaulky buildups by palpitating the rear ventral surface of EVERY animal I own on at least a weekly basis and each time I handle them. If I do detect a blockage I gently message the lumps towards the vent and out. Once the ball or lumps escape an immediate noticeable gush of urine follows sometimes under considerable pressure. From my personal experience with snakes this condition can happen in as little as two weeks. I'm not sure of the cause but whatever the reason I'm quite certain the animal's health is in jeopardy if the blockages remain unchecked.
In larger animals this is virtually never a problem but I do see it frequently in yearlings or less. The reason I'm bringing this up is, isn't it possible that this type of blockage could have caused the buildup of uric acid in the animal leading to it's death? After all if excretion is blocked the urine has nowhere to go and the snake will build up toxic levels of uric acid in it's system as a result. I also believe this may have been the reason why the animal regurged it's meal. The food from it's stomach simply had nowhere to go. With the regurge now even more fluids were lost furthur concentrating the uric acid in the animal's system and it may have just been the final straw.
Again, I'm not an expert but I do believe something as simple as this condition may have been the culprit for the Gout. I bet if each of you who reads this checks the animals in your collection right now you may find these deposits present and up until this point have never given it a second thought. Perhaps 99.9 % of the time nature corrects itself by eventually expelling this matter. There is, however, that 0.1% chance that it may not and a dead animal's the result. Everyone who's ever owned snakes has seen this white calcium salt excreted and knows what I'm talking about. Isn't it possible something as simple as this caused this animal's death?
In the past I've brought animals into NERD for Kevin to personally examine as they're only 30 min. from my location here in Southern NH. You know what one of the first of many things he does upon examining the animals? You guessed it, he palpitates the ventral surface from head to vent looking for any problems. I think anyone out there who doesn't do the same should consider adding this as a standard regiman of inspection for their animals. I know it helps me sleep better at night especially when big ticket high end animals are involved. Just a thought.
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