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The Python Lab

The Python Lab

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Sorry for the title, but it;s the only thing that really fits right now. Here goes.... My female pied slugged out roughly a month back. A week or so later she took a rat pup. Her next two meals ( small rats ) she threw up. Everyone i asked kept saying " give her a couple weeks then try feeding her again " . Even the vets i had look at her last week said " she appears to be in perfect health, just give her a bit. " Well today when i came home from work she was coiled and was bit down on herself. Needless to say i called the vet freaked out. I managed to pry her mouth off of her, and when i did she began seizuring, trashing back and forth with her mouth wide open. I've put her back in a tub and she has bitten herself 1 - 2 more times. Now she is laying motionless with her head slumped against the side of the tub. All the vet could tell me is it's either epileptic ( spelling error most likely ) a tumor, or I.B.D. which he says he has never found in any snakes he has ever checked. I'm not a vet, all i can say is what i see and from where i am sitting she looks to be on deaths door. This is a hug loss, as a potential breeder and as a pet i am very fond of. Right now all i can do is hope this is something isolated and not I.B.D.. if not i'm pretty much screwed. If it ends up being I.B.D. and it's been transmitted to the rest of my collection this will be the end of my snake breeding endevor. I won't be coming back from this financially or emotionally. Too much time, love, and money spent to have it all comed to an end and to try starting alll over. Just let this be a wildcard issue. As bad as it is i just hope everyone else is ok. Has anyone ellse ever went through anything like this and your end result?
 
When i was younger, i purchased a snake off craigslist (go figure) it was some sort of ca. The boa never ate for me the two months i had it, but it looked to be in good health, and kept it's weight up. I never really held it because it was as mean as they come, but one day i walked in to check on it, and it was rolling around, it bit itself quite a few times, and died within five minutes. Necropsy showed that it had somehow managed to twist it's intestines around, and got impacted. Very strange experience. Still to this day, a few years later, ive never seen anything like this.
 
:(:(:(

Wish I could help, but I've lost juveniles (Fiji boas) to similar symptoms - feeding fine, then start regurgitating, then spasms and death. So far unknown causes.

Absolutely heartbreaking, and I know just how distressing.

Hope I'm wrong and she recovers, but it doesn't sound good. If the worst happens I strongly suggest getting her straight to the vet for a necropsy so that you can find out the cause.
 
If she doesn't make it you MUST get that necropsy. I am totally pulling for you through all this. I'm so sorry, it must be awful. :(

I wouldn't wish something like this on my worst enemy. She will have prayers tonight!

Good luck with it all.
 
last night when i went to bed she was coiled upside down with her mouth open and her head smashed against the bottom of the tub. only sign of life was some breathing. didn't move when touched, nothing. this morning she has righted herself. mouth closed. i picked her up and she is completely limp. If it were I.B.D. i would assume she wouldn't have made it through the night, maybe it was a seizure brought on by something. going to see what else i can do. someone mentioned soaking her in " clear gatoraid " ?? said something about electrolites? i honestly didn't pay much attention because from what i saw yesterday i didn't expect her to still be alive this morning. this has to be the most confusing situation i have had to deal with so far in my short 6 years keeping reptiles. maybe she will pull through. i need more info. if anyone knows of anythingthat might help please suggest.
 
Glad she made it through the night. I pray she
has enough strength left to pull through whatever is
going on inside her.
good luck
 
:(:(:(

So sorry to hear, but, as you said, very unlikely to have had any other outcome.

Don't feel bad about not trying the electrolyte bath - it can help in severe dehydration cases, but I think you had no reason to suspect that.

With my juveniles I tried everything, even forcing water and electrolytes down one of two throats with a syringe, but did none of them any good.

I know you'll be very despondent right now, but try not to let it sour the whole hobby for you - little is really known about reptile health in comparison to most pets kept, and they do keep surprising us.

I hope you manage to get a necropsy done, and can share the findings. It will help you resolve the issue and be very informative for the rest of us.
 
Oh, and at this stage don't presume IBD and panic over the rest of your collection - I'd think there is also a possibility of a retained slug and maybe a subsequent internal infection - only a necropsy can tell.
 
I had a Burm about 15 years ago that one night out of nowhere did the exact same thing you described. I heard him thrashing around in his cage, he bit himself, writhed about with his mouth open, totally incoherent. His episode only lasted about a half hour and he eventually died...had a feeling as I was reading that yours would end up dying too. Sorry she did. :( The only positive thing I can say is that it was a totally random incident that didn't spread to my other snakes and I've never seen happen since. I've never known for certain what it actually was.
 
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