# Site General > Rainbow Bridge >  Is it my fault?

## Makennasnider21

I went out of town for a week and a half. I got 2 extra water dishes for my 1 year old bp but i was running late and rushing and totally forgot to put them in. They were sitting beside her cage and everything. I got home tonight and she was dead. I am really beating myself up and even considering selling by corn snake and lizard because i obviously cant take care of animals well enough. I know it was an accident but i cant help but feel like i killed her. Should i sell my animals to breeder and be done with my beloved pets or start all over again with a new bp? Rip Alice

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## Eric Alan

> Should i sell my animals to breeder and be done with my beloved pets or start all over again with a new bp? Rip Alice


Sorry to hear about your Alice. Only you will be able to answer this question. Take all the time you need in order to do so and no matter what you choose, it will be the right decision. I wish you the best.

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## redshepherd

Oh shoot... so sorry for your loss  :Sad:  That's so sad

I think you could definitely keep the pets you love. But a good idea next time you'll be gone for that long would be to have someone come in and check on your pets every couple days or so... to change water and just to make sure everything's still going fine. That way, even if accidents do happen (they definitely do), you'll have someone as backup to fix things.

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Merriah (04-02-2017),Slither Seeker (02-12-2017),_Sonny1318_ (02-11-2017)

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## Craiga 01453

So sorry for your loss. That's definitely the hardest part of keeping animals in the family.  Loss is never easy.  I recently lost two of my favorite fish, a Venustus cichlid and a Texas cichlid, in the same week and almost lost the Oscar and Green Terror that were in the same tank.  I also felt responsible for their deaths.  I know deep down I didn't kill my fish, but I almost gave up and sold off both of my tanks.  I decided to not be hasty and take some time to think about what is best for the animals and what is best for me.  I decided that parting with my tanks was not an option for me.  I got back into keeping fish, as well as all my other animals, because I love them, I am passionate about them and I knew If I got rid of them I would miss them almost immediately.  I love my fish, my ferrets, my snakes and my girlfriends cat (who has become my own after 4 years together and living together for over 2 years).  I simply couldn't imagine them not being a part of my day.  The enjoyment I get from them far outweighs the pain of loss, for me at least. 

   Now I know fish and snakes are a bit apples & oranges, but they are both animals we keep as pets, and I didn't have a relatable snake story...

   And the decision was my decision, yours may be different and that's ok. Like Eric said, take your time, only you know what is right.  I would just suggest not doing anything right away.  Continue to love the animals you have and take some time to decide...You'll know what the right decision is.
Best of luck and my heartfelt sympathy.

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## CALM Pythons

Theres no way not having a water change for 1.5 weeks killed your snake. They go for long periods of time without food or water. There was obviously a underlying issue that you were unaware of...   
Thats to bad but give another BP a good home...

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abiwankenobi (07-22-2018),_cletus_ (02-12-2017),_Kira_ (02-11-2017),KWAddict (04-08-2017),Marzipan (02-12-2017),_Reinz_ (02-11-2017),Slither Seeker (02-12-2017),_zina10_ (02-11-2017)

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## Reinz

> Theres no way not having a water change for 1.5 weeks killed your snake. They go for long periods of time without food or water. There was obviously a underlying issue that you were unaware of...   
> Thats to bad but give another BP a good home...


My thoughts exactly as I read the OP.

If not an underlying condition, my next guess would be that the heat went way out control(too hot).

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_CALM Pythons_ (02-11-2017),Merriah (04-02-2017),_zina10_ (02-11-2017)

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## Sonny1318

I'm sorry you had that happen. I do see what the others are saying, but I still would like to know what effect having no water might of played? Was the snake completely without water, or just extra water? Sincerely would like to hear from some others also.  Pit you out there?

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_zina10_ (02-11-2017)

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## zina10

I'm sorry for your loss, but I agree with the others. Even without any water at all for a week and a half. That wouldn't kill an otherwise healthy Ball Python. They can go far longer then that without water. 

Either something else went wrong, like the heat spiked, or the snake had underlying issues that ended up killing it. 

If it appeared completely healthy prior to your leaving and would eat regularly, I would double check the heating. 

Being to cold will make a BP sick in the long run, but not kill it quickly. To hot on the other hand, certainly can..

You sound like a caring pet owner. Just double check all the husbandry, then deeply and thoroughly sanitize EVERYTHING with either a product like F10 or a bleach solution. If bleach solution, rinse and dry everything. (F10 you just wipe off)

Once everything is sanitized, aired out and double checked, get another Ball Python. It will have a good home with you.

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_CALM Pythons_ (02-11-2017),Craiga 01453 (02-11-2017),_Kira_ (02-11-2017),_Reinz_ (02-12-2017),Slither Seeker (02-12-2017),_Sonny1318_ (02-11-2017)

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## CALM Pythons

[QUOTE=zina10;.
You sound like a caring pet owner. Just double check all the husbandry, then deeply and thoroughly sanitize EVERYTHING with either a product like F10 or a bleach solution. If bleach solution, rinse and dry everything. (F10 you just wipe off)
Once everything is sanitized, aired out and double checked, get another Ball Python. It will have a good home with you.[/QUOTE
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Good idea L...Never thought of that.... Clean the heck out of that enclosure along with any hides ect.. sterilize it all incase their is a bacteria or disease present...

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## DLena

I'm so sorry. It's awful to lose one of our pet family members. Absolutely clean everything really well then go looking, see if anybody calls to you. I'm sending you a pm.

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## Slither Seeker

I've had some pretty big set backs with my critters and it's a hard blow to get over, especially when you think you did something wrong and are responsible for the incident.  the worst one for me was when I was young, I was transferring a 30 gallon salt water tank of critters to a 100 gallon and it took way longer than I thought, well into the wee hours of the night, and I got so tired I had to stop and get some sleep.  In my exhaustion I placed too small an amount of water in the transfer tank with all my prized fish, a beautiful chestnut cowry, clown trigger and several others.  without thinking of it I put the non-submersible heater in the tank but didn't get enough water in it to keep the thermostat functioning properly.  when I woke up in the morning my entire collection of salt water fish and inverts were cooked... I cried on and off for days.  Harvey Fell of Fell's pet shop in Wilmington DE did his best to comfort me over the phone and promised to help me build my collection bak up again by giving me some deals.  it took time but I got back on my feet.  more recently I hatched a bunch of chicks in a homemade "coolerbator" for my daughters 1st grade class.  we had great success with hatching but later more than half died and most of the remaining ones turned out to be roosters and had to be put down... I felt like such a heel!  the next spring we tried our hand at it again, reviewing all our practices and after making some changes, we had much better luck. 

It's always good after something happens to get into detective mode and try and figure out if some aspect of your husbandry can be perfected, regardless of whether it was the cause, there are many shades of gray between surviving and thriving.  You may never know what happened, sometimes even natural causes takes a pet early, sometimes even a birth defect to a critical organ that you can't see.  If you loved having a BP, I'd take some time to mourn your loss, then get back on the horse and have another go at it.  and as others have said, after disinfecting everything.  there are an amazing array of reasonably priced BP's out there, many on craig's list that need a new home.  take a look at all that are available and see if something between the breeders and the rescues calls to you.

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## cletus

Really sorry to hear about this.

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