hellotanuki
CHAAAABOK!
A year ago I purchased a young (he was eating small mice already, so not a baby) Arizona Mountain Kingsnake at a local reptile show. Two months ago, he stopped eating. Then, the past week or so, he had the triple whammy of a stuck shed, lethargy, and me noticing a large lump a few inches down his body. I took him to a local exotic vet, who performed an ultrasound and was unable to determine what the lump would be - he also pointed out there was a second lump on the thickest part of the snake. He suggested bringing the snake in for an endoscopy today.
Unfortunately when they went to do the procedure, they found him deceased. This was somewhat confusing to me as the last time I'd seen him he'd been fairly alert, albeit not his usual always-on-the-move self. The vet was unsure if it was a combination of stress from the change in environment and being ill that suddenly did him in or not. He opened the snake and found out both lumps were tumors. Feeling a bit upset at the time I declined to have them sent away to be tested for cancer.
My searches on the web to figure out how common this is were kind of unhelpful. Most of what I brought up with tumors in kingsnakes, cancerous or otherwise, were on very old snakes. A friend with some experience told me there's nothing about husbandry that could have caused a tumor, which only slightly put my mind at ease.
Should I bother telling the (assumed) breeder I purchased him from about this, or just chalk it up to bad luck?
(I also wanted to make this post in case someone else has my same issue and has trouble finding similar cases.)
Unfortunately when they went to do the procedure, they found him deceased. This was somewhat confusing to me as the last time I'd seen him he'd been fairly alert, albeit not his usual always-on-the-move self. The vet was unsure if it was a combination of stress from the change in environment and being ill that suddenly did him in or not. He opened the snake and found out both lumps were tumors. Feeling a bit upset at the time I declined to have them sent away to be tested for cancer.
My searches on the web to figure out how common this is were kind of unhelpful. Most of what I brought up with tumors in kingsnakes, cancerous or otherwise, were on very old snakes. A friend with some experience told me there's nothing about husbandry that could have caused a tumor, which only slightly put my mind at ease.
Should I bother telling the (assumed) breeder I purchased him from about this, or just chalk it up to bad luck?
(I also wanted to make this post in case someone else has my same issue and has trouble finding similar cases.)