# Site General > Rainbow Bridge >  A very sad night

## Atherosdragon

I found Mr Jackal, Mr. Ibis, Athena, Annebelle, and Eros Half of my collection all dead or half dead from being to cold due to my dimmer switch failing... Damn I wish I had bought that Spyder a LONG time ago!! all I can do is blame myself... I still have all my girls Zorya, Solara, Hathor, Xena and my trooper Odin... so I didn't lose everyone :Smile:

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## notmyfault

So sorry for your loss.  :Tears:  Take it as a lesson learned. It's always a good idea to use a quality thermostat especially with as many snakes as you have, plus a back up thermostat isn't a bad idea either.

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## DooLittle

Bummer, that's sucks.  Sorry for your loss.  :Tears:

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## MSG-KB

Sorry for your loss

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## heathers*bps

:Tears:  I'm so sorry

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## DemmBalls

Sorry for your loss.  This is the exact reason we all preach the importance of a good T-Stat.   :Wag of the finger:

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## muddoc

That sounds horrible.  However, are you sure they were dead?  What did the temp get down to?  I ask, because I have seen some balls get so cold that they appear dead, but after warming up a bit, they will start to tongue flick and will make a full recovery.  It is possible that they got cold enough to slow down bodily functions to almost a stop.  Unless it got down to below 40 degrees for 6 hours or more, I would suspect that they might still be alive.  If you haven't disposed of them yet, warm them back up before you make the final ruling on death.  Then get that new t-stat.  

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

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Atherosdragon (03-04-2012),dr del (02-23-2012),GlassPython (03-05-2012),_kitedemon_ (02-23-2012),_llovelace_ (02-23-2012),_Orijin0XazN_ (02-23-2012),rabernet (02-23-2012),_ReptilesK2_ (02-29-2012),Rob_D (03-08-2012),_Shadera_ (02-23-2012),_Slim_ (02-23-2012),Stewart_Reptiles (02-23-2012),_Wapadi_ (03-06-2012)

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## L.West

Wow, how awful.  How long had it been since you checked in on them??  Of all the things that could go wrong - I never thought I needed to worry about them freezing to death.  I check my collection, morning and night faithfully.

Godspeed to your poor snakes.

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## DemmBalls

> That sounds horrible.  However, are you sure they were dead?  What did the temp get down to?  I ask, because I have seen some balls get so cold that they appear dead, but after warming up a bit, they will start to tongue flick and will make a full recovery.  It is possible that they got cold enough to slow down bodily functions to almost a stop.  Unless it got down to below 40 degrees for 6 hours or more, I would suspect that they might still be alive.  If you haven't disposed of them yet, warm them back up before you make the final ruling on death.  Then get that new t-stat.  
> 
> Good luck, and let us know how it goes.


This is an excellent point.  We lost a snake in our car in December while moving back to PA from OH.  We never found the snake until the next day with the temps dipping into the 20's overnight.  Once we found him...I wrote him off for dead.  No breathing, no tongue flick, etc.  After a night of slowly letting him warm up...He seems fine to this day.

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GlassPython (03-05-2012),mitchball519 (04-19-2012)

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## dr del

What Tim said.  :Bowdown: 

You're not dead till you're warm and dead.


dr del

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## Royal Hijinx

Yep, works on people too!

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_Mike41793_ (02-23-2012)

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## mechnut450

yeah  unless they smell dead, stiff as board with rigger, or warm and dead  don't right them off. I had acorn that got loose and took me 4 months to find hime ( under the trailer then  and he only lost  the last 1/2 inch of tail to forst bite. ) and i still got him today at 15+ years old but he blind( cataracts in both eyse) andjust running out of go power anymore lol..

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Atherosdragon (03-04-2012)

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## Atherosdragon

Two of them are dead the other 3 are not doing well I see tongue flick and very little response to touch 24hrs on heat... they are all warm and I am panicking to get a new real t-stat I can't decide on which is best... It's all preferance but I don't know what my preferance is... the three boys are Mr, Jackal my Mojave, Eros my spider and Mr. Ibis my pinstripe I would have to say they have a RI now because of the 3 days on cold I don't check on my snakes very often at least not feeling for heat any way I give them water but I don't move the hide that they usually stay in sometimes they are out of course but not recently... I feel aweful my first snake Annebelle is gone he was a pastel and yes I know its a girls name I didn't know how to pop and the guy ripped me off saying it was a girl... at the time i didn't plan on breeding... Thankyou all for responding with such awesome support

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## DemmBalls

Any update on these snakes?  Sorry about the ones you did lose though.  Hope the rest are recovering.

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## Atherosdragon

they didn't survive even with all 3 anitbiotic shots they were on their backs dead I am just happy to have Xena Odin Solara Hathor and Zorya

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## dr del

Sorry to hear they didn't make it.  :Sad:

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## drezden

I'm sorry for your losses. If you get digital thermometers with probes you can quickly glance at what the temps are without needing to feel for heat. They are quite cheap at walmart.

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DooLittle (03-02-2012)

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## DooLittle

> I'm sorry for your losses. If you get digital thermometers with probes you can quickly glance at what the temps are without needing to feel for heat. They are quite cheap at walmart.


This, is a must.

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Atherosdragon (03-04-2012)

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## Atherosdragon

Digital Thermometers in 6 places they were cheap and now I'll be obsessed again I dropped my guard for just a few days and lost everything i've worked so hard for and I wish I could tell them i'm sorry

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## DooLittle

I'm sorry for your loss.  You can't turn back time, so just take it as a lesson learned.   :Sad:

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## mechnut450

suck man you lost so many,  we lost one snake bet we cooked her, the probe for her  had slid off athe tape and she backed in her own tub ( sadly  she aslo  was sick  befoer hand so it might of just been too much.  I now tape my probes to the heat tape and then cut a small piece of plasict  to fit around it to act as a guard.

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