BP Experts Needed! Something Odd Happened...

I have a bit of a story that may be interesting or maybe crazy for snake lovers, but trust me, this is true. The following picture is one I took earlier this fall of a snake I have, known as Junior at first and now officially named Rea. She's a little lesser baby and I got her with two other BPs. Now thing about Rea is that she, just today, ended up totally doing something wild. She more or less came back from the dead. Yes, from the dead. At least I assume so. I live in a camper, but have a nice little improvised rack setup for Rea and my two adults perfectly sized and everything for them all to each have their own personal space. Unfortunately last night there was a major cold snap and I actually ended up running out of propane, so meaning my camper had no heat. By the time I woke up it was about 15 degrees fahrenheit in my camper. Now luckily my rack system did obviously have a good hot spot, but it seems the cold was so intense it made anywhere else in the rack close or exactly the same temperature. I checked on them, adults were fine but Rea I found dead. As in literally, 100%, completely and undeniably dead! I picked her up, limp as a stuffed animal snake and no signs of breathing, heartbeat, nothing. I can't even begin to emphasize how dead she was. Turns out she had strayed from the hotspot too long and unfortunately the cold took her away. That being said, I guess I was desperate or subconsciously hoping for a miracle, who knows. So as soon as I got some propane back when my stepdad brought a tank for me to heat the camper with a bit, I honestly put her freezing cold, limp body onto the heat coming directly from the vent. Her body began having spasms, her nerves firing up wildly but the head was completely limp. That was, until I kept it up. Suddenly, movement in the head too. In fact, I began seeing tongue flicks every thirty seconds, give or take. I honestly don't completely understand the sciences behind snake death and nerves, but I was pretty sure a dead snake shouldn't be able to start doing that. But I could be wrong, correct me if I am. That being said, I ended up putting her in a little tupperware with a paper towel and placed her right under a heat lamp and left for a while to do a few things. I return maybe like thirty minutes later? Now wouldn't you know it, Rea was alive! She was moving, her tongue was flickering, her head and body reactive as they normally would be. I picked her up and she instantly did her usual, balling up. I "booped the snoot" and what do you know, she recoiled like she always does when I do that. My little girl who I was 100% certain was dead because of the cold, was suddenly alive and well again! In fact she's back in her rack shelf right now, completely alive and well with no signs of issues or anything. She's literally just her same old self as if she never had "died" in the first place, assuming she indeed was dead or maybe I just was dealing with some type of false death? I don't know, but... That's the story of Rea and how she was "resurrected". I hope other snake lovers can enjoy this story. I even have a video of her in her little tupperware holding container acting perfectly normal, but unfortunately I never though to take before pics and video since I never figured I would need video proof that I had a dead snake in the first place. But that being said, maybe someone with more experience in the field could explain what happened today. All I know is that I am glad Rea is well at this point and I am glad I tried what I did.

Now that all being said, has anyone at all ever had something similar happen or maybe know if BPs can go into a completely dead-like stasis or anything? I have scoured the internet, asked everyone I know that is more versed in BPs, everything and literally no accurate results to explain this at all...

As a basic summary too;

Snake was found LIMP. Snake was NOT breathing and there was NO heart beat whatsoever even when I felt in the areas for five minutes straight, and I am EXTREMELY touch sensitive. Snake was cold, as in 15F level cold and should have been dead type of cold. Nerves in body alone acted up while on heat vent. Head stayed completely limp, lifeless and unresponsive to any degree at first. Head acted up later, began showing signs of natural nerve responses. Left snake under heat lamp. Came back, found snake alive and well and acting completely natural and normal with no signs of any damage whether it be nerve damage, neurological damage or anything else. Snake is currently alive and well in my rack again.

Fish do the same thing too. As long as they don't freeze they can come back. Watch her closely for respiratory infections though.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

Fish do the same thing too. As long as they don't freeze they can come back. Watch her closely for respiratory infections though.

Will do. I check her every morning and night, so far nothing, but I'll definitely keep tabs on her real carefully.

Okay. Crazy story. My brother had a adult grey band king snake a few years back. He’d had ghost since he was a hatchling and he was roughly 4-5 years at the point the following occurred. My nephew come over and decided to grab his dads snake out of its enclosure, now. Why he thought it would be okay to take ghost out into a Niagara Falls winter to run the dogs. (Had him around his neck) is beyond me. (If I had of known he grabbed him I would have stopped him) but he did. He took the dog out. Come back in. Was talking to his brother and then went upstairs to put the snake away and realized he’d lost him... out in the snow o.O. Now. It was about 11 pm. (My bro worked nights and wasn’t home til 2-3am) Went out with flash lights. Everything. Couldn’t find ghost ANYWHERE.. The next morning I checked for snake tracks in the snow. I looked through anything desirable that he may have found shelter on to get him out of the ice. Nada. Last ditch effort.. I looked behind some pots on the porch by the door (that I had checked the night before to no avail) and wha do you know! Ghost was there, curled up. Limp as a spaghetti noodle. No visable breathing and he was so cold he felt like a icicle the poor bugger.. I brought him inside and showed my brother. He was heart broken. (My nephew was 24 at the time and had gone home by this point).. but I thought something was a little off.. now. I know snakes hibernate. And I figured hey.. he’s not “stiff” he’s just limp.. his body hasn’t gone into rigo so I got to work. I grabbed a wash cloth. Lined it with Luke warm water to not raise his temp to fast too quick... and I laid It on top of his heating mat.. then put him on it.. checked on him periodically didn’t seem to be working.. until his body started coming up to temp.. I started to notice little quivers.. like twitches almost. About ten minutes later, I seen visable signs that he was breathing and even little tongue flicks.. and then he started to move around mostly normal for the most part. I took him up to my brother who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat that his boy was for the most part alright.

I say the most part because although he didn’t have a respiratory infection his eyes always had a milky haze to them. Like a stuck shed almost if that makes sense? He still hunted and stuff okay just more misses. (And he used to strike and hit every time. And I mean every time). So keep an eye on her.

Hope this Helps!

Wow, amazing stories both of them!

It is very interesting what mother nature can do.
I had a similar experience when a baby ball escaped it's temporary home in my hunting cabin one winter. She got out & away from the heat source. When I found her in the am, same thing limp & cold. She definitely seemed dead. My fiance sat with her in front of the fire for a while & she slowly came back to life. She ate a couple days later & all was well. I was shocked. Babies seem pretty resilient to a point.
Definitely keep a eye on her tho for a bit. Good luck with her!