Snake died suddenly, why?

[Ash]

We had a breeding pair of het pieds being kept at my boyfriend's house in a rack. The rack is in an insulated shed heated by a radiatior. The ambient temp in there is kept at 80 degrees, and their hot spot is 90.

They were last paired about three weeks ago, and they locked. Neither has been eating for the past two months, but we figured it was seasonal. They are checked on every day and handled frequently.

My boyfriend says he tried to feed the male this morning, handled him, and he seemed normal. Tongue flickering, moving actively, clear pink mouth and nostrils (he pulls down the lower lip to check inside their mouths). That was at 7 AM this morning.

At 7 o'clock this evening, he came home from school and checked on them again. The shed smelled awful and he found the male het dead. The paper towel substrate was covered in blood, black sludge and brown fluid. The snake was upside down and limp, not yet in rigor.

When my boyfriend picked him up, clear fluid ran out of his mouth, and later pinkish orange slime came out. The blood appeared to be coming from his cloaca, which looks to me like it's torn. He was flimsy throughout his body, but was stiff near his cloaca.

We're terrified that whatever this is might be contagious and will spread to our female. She appears completely healthy, but so did the male this morning. This was completely out of the blue. We removed his dirty drawer and scrubbed down all the others very well, gave her fresh water. Does it sound like any illness/problem that any of you have experienced before? We still have the male's body in the freezer, and may get a necropsy done. :'(

[wilomn]

Take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. Freezing makes some determinations impossible.

Sounds like he got injured somehow or overheated. Did you check temps?

[Ash]

We have a herpstat pro which is running perfectly. Directly against the heat rope is 90 degrees, and with a temp gun the plastic is measured to be about 88 degrees on the hot spot. The radiator has a thermostat set to 78 degrees which leads to the ambient temp being 80. Is that too hot?

[wilomn]

Not too hot. It's just that the degree of decomposition you describe is often brought on by high heat. They don't usually rot that fast.

[Ash]

I think the rotten smell was the black sludge and blood etc. He hadn't been dead for long, he was still all floppy

[KatStoverReptiles]

I'm sorry for your loss. Maybe contact a herp vet in your area and see if he/she can shed some light on the situation. Hopefully your lock was successful and you have beautiful babies to remember him by.

[LizardPants]

Your method of controlled heating sounds good. However your profile states that you're from SoCal (which gets HOT). So I ask, do you have any method to cool the shed automatically?

[Blubb]

I'm sorry for your lost. Contact a vet, they will probably help you.

[Ash]

Your method of controlled heating sounds good. However your profile states that you're from SoCal (which gets HOT). So I ask, do you have any method to cool the shed automatically?

The shed is in the shade of two trees. During the heat of the summer, the ambient temp did get up to the high 80's. We just turned off the heat when it got very hot. Since it's only March, the highest temperature has been in the 70's for the past few months.

[Simple Man]

When's the last time you actually saw the animal? Could your boyfriend be giving you a line about when he checked them last? I'm not too familiar with conditions but I've never heard anything like that happen in a few hours. Something just doesn't add up. I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

Regards,

B