2 headed ball what to do?

Originally Posted by snakemansnakes

C02 would work just fine in this case. Sorry about this wee little one

No! Not with snakes...it doesn't work the way it does with rodents, and is a far cry from humane.

Originally Posted by RobNJ

Maybe they were the yolks, and not undeveloped embryos.

That's what the pic looked like (I'm glad I scrolled down to find this before responding)

well the 2 i found just now it looked like it was left over yoke and fat. the fatty part looked like an extra embryo.

Originally Posted by RobNJ

Maybe they were the yolks, and not undeveloped embryos.

That's what I'm seeing in the pic (glad I scrolled down far enough to find this...but my phone didn't want to post, so I don't know what has happened since my last post)

Originally Posted by nickyp0

yes every one of them.

on a side note it looks like i did not have to put it down it just died on its own

Sorry to hear that. Poor little guy.

So looking at the photo, it almost looks like some kind of chimerism instead of an improper split embryo? The pattern and color on the ''top' head and neck look totally different than on the rest of the body-- there's that "seam" right at about 11:45 where everything changes. The one's almost "leopard-like" while the other resembles, almost, a mismarked pinstripe or something. Is this the case, or am I just seeing things?

if you look at it, its almost like there was 2 different morphs fighting each other from the heads it looks like normal and as you go down to the 3rd kink it changes color to a cinnamon color.

Originally Posted by ReptileGeek181

In my personal opinion smashing the heads with a hammer isn't humane at all. If you can afford to please take the poor snake to a vet so he can be humanely euthanized.

I'm inclined to agree with Helen, it results in instant total destruction of the brain, so while it sounds unpleasant it isn't inhumane. The drugs used for euthanasia don't necessarily work well on reptiles because of the way they metabolize the drugs....I have even seen it go badly with mammals...so going to the vet may not be the most humane thing, especially if it isn't a reptile vet.

I, too, don't wish to turn this into another euthanasia methods thread, but I also feel the need to educate people....

Originally Posted by nickyp0

it would cost over $200 to go to the vet to put him down, and they would have to find the heart to do a stick prick to put it down, idk but that sounds like a lot of pain to me

Uhhh.... If it's that much, methinks you need another vet. I had a vet put down a leopard gecko for less than $20. I realize not every vet will be that cheap, but $200 is beyond excessive.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

Taking it to a vet to get it "humanely euthanized" is playing with fire. Unless the vet is an experienced herp vet, they will probably administer a drug to euthanize the animal. Reptiles are notoriously difficult to euthanize via drugs. In addition, the animal then becomes biohazardous waste due to the toxic chemical in its system. Most of the expense of euthanasia does not come from the drug itself, but from disposal of the animal. They have to be incinerated to prevent scavenging from wild animals, who could also die of the drug.

Actually, no. What a proper reptile vet does is administer an overdose of anesthetic. This basically makes the animal "go to sleep" and then pass away. The only pain the animal feels is the stick of the needle.

The chemical argument is also flawed. Anesthetic used to euthanize reptiles has an extremely short half-life: two days. I have yet to see documented evidence of reptiles euthanized by anesthetic causing deaths of animals that ate them. (I recall reading an article that said an animal that ate another euthanized by anesthetic cannot die from said anesthetic, but I don't have a reference at the moment.) Burying the reptile almost removes the chance of an animal finding it and eating it. If you're really worried, dig deep. You could also burn the animal yourself if you're really, really worried.

If you're seriously that concerned about animals dying because of the amount of anesthetic administered to a tiny reptile, methinks you should be more worried about the larger mammals that are euthanized in the same manner....

I do agree with the rest of your comments, though, especially about the CO2.

Originally Posted by FireStorm

The drugs used for euthanasia don't necessarily work well on reptiles because of the way they metabolize the drugs....I have even seen it go badly with mammals...so going to the vet may not be the most humane thing, especially if it isn't a reptile vet.

Uh, actually, the proper reptile euthanasia meds work extremely well.

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Most of the information put forth here by me is from my reptile vet, who has decades of experience. Not saying he can't be wrong; I'm simply showing I'm not entirely talking out of my butt.

And here I didn't even respond to the actual topic.

I'm glad you didn't have to make a decision on euthanasia. I'm sad for the little guy, though. But yeah, if he's that kinked, there isn't much ya can do for him. I'm sorry he didn't make it.

Sorry about the three posts in a row.

The AMVA euthanasia methods report from 2007 (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_wel...euthanasia.pdf) does actually say that animals that eat others euthanized by anesthetics can indeed be affected by the anesthetic. And despite the half-life, it can persist in carcasses. So I was wrong there. (As a side note, this part of my previous argument was not put forth by my vet; it is what I recalled from previous searches on this topic, though apparently, I was really smoking something last time. O.o)

However, it does not give any details on how much an animal would have to ingest to cause problems. I highly doubt the amount used in small reptiles is enough to cause issues with anything that eats them. Again, burying the animal deep enough or destroying the body yourself negates the problem of something eating it. (There are actually laws for burying bodies of anesthetized animals, though they appear to vary by state.) In addition, the AMVA article says that the benefits of using anesthetic outweigh the problems, which I do agree with, especially considering the low incidences of wildlife poisoning from improperly-disposed animals.

If you don't feel comfortable disposing of an anesthetically-euthanized animal's body yourself or paying the vet to incinerate it, then use one of the other accepted reptile euthanasia methods (listed in the same PDF, some of which have already been mentioned in this thread).

Okay, sorry about all that. I'm going to shut up now.