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Unexplained death of our BP...

G

Gabriel Burgi

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Hi all,

Yesterday I got a call at work from my wife saying that our son's (unproven) black-back ball python had died. He was well fed, well watered and well cared for. He showed no signs of stress, no wheezing, no regurge, no abnormal feces, etc. He was fine one day, and gone the next without any explanation. He was 5 years old and outwardly in perfect health.

So, without doing a necropsy, I offered the explanation that it was just a freak occurrence. Has this happened to anyone else? He was CBB and has always been parasite free. Any ideas???

Thanks for any info you may have to offer.

Gabe :shrug01:
 
True cases of fine one day, gone the next are somewhat rare...but possible. There are a number of things that could have happened but, without a necropsy, you will likely never know the answer.
Any possibility of electrocution, chemical exposure, trauma, or carbon monoxide poisoning?
Many people overfeed snakes -accidentally, or in an attempt to get them to grow. This leads to a variety of problems including fat deposits around vital organs, and something akin to our atherosclerosis. Liver damage, renal failure, fat embolism, or heart failure are all possible results that could suddenly end a reptile's life without significant warning.

It may be little consolation to your son, but at least it wasn't a slow, lingering death.
 
I appreciate it...

But, I have been keeping snakes for over 15 years and have never seen anything like it. No chance of electrocution, chemical or other toxin. His cage is cleaned pretty regularly. He was not overfed. He was fed about 2 weeks ago with a F/T med rat. Are there any diseases/common ailments that can be transferred from rat to snake even after freezing? Like I said, really weird...this one is really puzzling me. Thanks again for the info, we'll see what turns up.

Gabe
 
A bad feeder can cause a sudden death, and can hard to trace to that source...but I've never heard of it taking two weeks (unless there were symptoms). Some pathogens and/or parasites can survive the freezing process - but the fine one day, gone the next scenario doesn't fit the ones I can think of.
Hopefully somebody else will have some ideas for you.
 
hhmoore said:
A bad feeder can cause a sudden death, and can hard to trace to that source...
Click to expand...

I know this one from experience, the place I get feeders from is pretty bad, they keep about 200 mice in a 15 gal tall. Problem is they're the only sellers of feeders that isnt 40+ mins away, so I go each shipment day and buy them before they go into the tank. Learned this the hard way when I waited, got a feeder and it killed my corn snake. This is also the reason I'm starting to breed my own now.
 
Old, but here's my take. If the rats were sprayed with a pesticide of some kind, or the prey ingested some pesticide in some fashion before death. Lots of varibles in this situation. :(
 
My hercules (my BP)passed away suddenly and we attributed his death mainly to a power outage, since that was the only unusual occurrance. He had just eaten and then an ice storm hit and we lost power for about 7 days. I built a fire and kept everyone with thermometer's in front of the fire to keep temps up and then after about 48 hours we took them to the in-laws to plug everyone in....it was so stressful. Once the power was back I began moving everyone back home, and after a day or so he began thrashing and it looked like he was trying to regurge and then he just died. It lasted about 10-15 minutes. I tried to help him and there was nothing I could do, it was so sudden. He showed no ill signs prior to this. I cried for days and felt so guilty for letting him suffer. It was my only "sudden death" I have ever experienced and I hope my last. It was so sad and I was devistated. Herc was my first and favorite snake ever.
I am so sorry for your loss. :(
 
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