Need help.

[rojarr2003]

I am very new to ball pythons. I tried very hard to have a good set up for the month old babies I picked up. In three weeks I could not get one to eat at all, she was drinking often, she seemed healthy and was very sociable. Right at the three week mark she started star gazing and flopping around. I know these are symptoms of IBD. We took her to the vet the next day and he said she was dehydrated and really needed to eat. He fed her with a tube and she kept it all down. After that she had a few more fits of flopping, but seemed calm after that. The next afternoon she had died.

Mean while the other girl ate after three weeks and seemed like she was doing well. Two days ago she regurgitated half of the mouse four days after eating. Shortly after that she started the flopping and star gazing well.She managed to make it just over 24 hours before we found her dead as well. I'm not saying that this was IBD and I won't say that it isn't. I don't know and honestly I can't afford to take either in to have testing done.

I did have a little trouble keeping the warm side warm enough for the first week, but it never dropped below 85 and 77 on the cool side. Humidity stayed at 50-77 warm side and cool side. I am using and under tank heater for 10/20 gallon tank. I did have the pair in a 20 high. I had hides on both sides and the water was changed daily. After a couple of weeks I switched to a wire top with a heat lamp to help the temps, at that point the temps spiked once up to 96 degrees, but that was only for a few minutes. We kept the high side between 88 and 92 for the last week. Humidity did drop a bit with the new top, but we kept a towel over the cool side and misted the tank several times a day and kept the warm side at about 40 percent and 55-59 on the cool side.

I know that I have probably made mistakes and I hope to learn from my mistakes. I am not willing to give up yet. I had done lots of research and asked many questions before I started this. I have done much more since the first one died and feel like I have learned a lot. Please if you read something I may not have done right please tell me. I will be getting another in the future.

Now my other question is just in case this was IBD how well do I need to clean my house. I know all the snake related items will need to be discarded or cleaned meticulously. And how long should I wait to bring another snake into my home?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice, and sorry for the long post.

[Anya]

I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of experience in that sort of thing, but I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss! It must be really crushing. Don't give up, though! You seem like a really devoted owner.

[Eric Doane]

I am very sorry for your loss. From the sounds of the stargazing and flopping, i would say ibd. As for keeping them together, it is not a good idea. Always keep them in separate enclosures except for breeding. Whenever you get new snakes, they need to be kept separate from an established collection so that they don't spread anything. As far as cleaning goes, I would say soak everything with hot bleach water and rinse very thoroughly. Clean the area where you had them with disinfectant as well. Go back to where you got them and inform them as other snakes they have may be infected if it is ibd. I hope this has been helpful. Once again I am very sorry for your loss.

[wolfy-hound]

I would discard anything they came into contact with and disinfect everything with an antiviral/antibacterial etc.

If it is IBD, it's extremely pervasive and I'm unsure how you'd actually get rid of it completely to be able to bring in more snakes. There's someone I know of on another site that had an IBD outbreak wipe out her collection, but I don't recall if she ever brought in more snakes or not.

GOod luck. I definitely would NEVER even go into the place you got them again, but I would call to tell them that both snakes died of suspected IBD in case they don't know.

It's a real pity you can't have them tested, as that could tell you definitely if it was IBD. The last time I priced necropsy, it was about $70 plus the shipping if you need to ship the body to whereever you choose. Not cheap.

[dr del]

Hi,

Lots of things present with those symptoms - not just IBD.

Parasites, bacterial infections, overheating, viral infections etc can all present with stargazing and weakness.

I would definately recommend housing animals seperately.

I'd probably get recommendations for a good herp vet if possible too.


dr del

[rojarr2003]

Thanks for the info guys. I had already started gathering what I needed to set up a second enclosure before the first one passed. We have cleaned the house and pretty much everything we and the babies came in contact with.

As I said before I am not ready to give up. I feel as if I have failed and I can't go with that. This did not start because I thought they were cool, my father-in-law had my three kids and my wife scared or nervous about snakes and I'd had enough. I convinced my wife it was a good idea and three months later she is the most broken hearted over this. My daughter and younger boy both said they would leave or do otherwise to the snakes if I brought them home.
The entire family is devastated. I will not rush into another and I have been talking to a local breeder and have been learning more.

Again thanks for the info and support.

[gibleis]

I feel as if I have failed and I can't go with that.

You didn't fail at all. From what I read of your post you didn't just buy em and throw em in a tank like some do. You care to make their living quarters most comfortable to them. I would say you just ran into some extremely bad luck cause the snakes already had something before you purchased them.

On keeping them in the same enclosure, I also keep my two normals in the same tank. They were bought as a pair and I have not seperated them. I don't really see the need to right now. The albino and hets I got do stay in seperate tubs though

Just clean and pick ya up another FROM A DIFFERENT PLACE. Good luck!!!!!

[spitzu]

Any chance you would say where you got them from?

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[rojarr2003]

Any chance you would say where you got them from?

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I will say I got them from a local chain in Denver while I was on a weekend trip there. Pretty sure you have one near you.

[spitzu]

Now THAT is freaking scary and I know exactly who you're talking about. If my collection catches IBD because I buy the occasional rat there I swear to GOD I will burn that place to the ground.