Pet BP passed away - Cause of Death?

[btshipp]

Hi Everyone,

I owned a male ball python, named Maurice, since 2010. He was captive bread and I got him when he was only about 12 inches long or so, definitely just a baby. Over the past 7 years, he always ate well (live mice, then rats) and I always monitored his feedings to make sure he was never bitten or subsequently injured by his prey. His tank is consistently between 73-78 degrees, with a heated area that gets to about 88-90 degrees. Maurice was just over 3 feet long, and typically ate small rats. The pet stores here rarely have rats in stock because they are gone by the end of the first day they arrive. If I can't get him a rat, I always feed him 2 small mice, back to back. He never had any issues with this.

On Thursday of last week, I had to leave home for a business trip and did not return until midday on Monday. Prior to leaving, I fed Maurice his two mice and made sure he had plenty of water, checked his temps, etc. Everything seemed totally normal. When I arrived home on Monday evening, I checked on him and didn't notice anything unusual. On Tuesday morning, I noticed a very strange smell coming from his tank. When I went to check on him, I noticed that he had regurgitated at least one of the mice (it was not digested, so it's possible that he regurgitated it not long after I left and I did not notice it because it was in one of his hides). That's when I noticed the smell was coming from him. I picked him up and noticed he was limp, and there was a drop of some liquid coming out of his mouth. I don't know if he was dead at this point, but there was no movement or breathing. I was, and am, completely devastated.

I owned Maurice for nearly 8 years and he had never been sick or had any noticeable health problems. I know it would just be speculation, and the only way to be sure would to be to pay for a necropsy (I won't do that, he doesn't deserve to be cut up). Can anyone speculate what may have caused my baby boy's death?

Sincere thanks,

Brandon

[dakski]

Hi Everyone,

I owned a male ball python, named Maurice, since 2010. He was captive bread and I got him when he was only about 12 inches long or so, definitely just a baby. Over the past 7 years, he always ate well (live mice, then rats) and I always monitored his feedings to make sure he was never bitten or subsequently injured by his prey. His tank is consistently between 73-78 degrees, with a heated area that gets to about 88-90 degrees. Maurice was just over 3 feet long, and typically ate small rats. The pet stores here rarely have rats in stock because they are gone by the end of the first day they arrive. If I can't get him a rat, I always feed him 2 small mice, back to back. He never had any issues with this.

On Thursday of last week, I had to leave home for a business trip and did not return until midday on Monday. Prior to leaving, I fed Maurice his two mice and made sure he had plenty of water, checked his temps, etc. Everything seemed totally normal. When I arrived home on Monday evening, I checked on him and didn't notice anything unusual. On Tuesday morning, I noticed a very strange smell coming from his tank. When I went to check on him, I noticed that he had regurgitated at least one of the mice (it was not digested, so it's possible that he regurgitated it not long after I left and I did not notice it because it was in one of his hides). That's when I noticed the smell was coming from him. I picked him up and noticed he was limp, and there was a drop of some liquid coming out of his mouth. I don't know if he was dead at this point, but there was no movement or breathing. I was, and am, completely devastated.

I owned Maurice for nearly 8 years and he had never been sick or had any noticeable health problems. I know it would just be speculation, and the only way to be sure would to be to pay for a necropsy (I won't do that, he doesn't deserve to be cut up). Can anyone speculate what may have caused my baby boy's death?

Sincere thanks,

Brandon

I have no idea, but am terribly sorry for your loss. I would be devastated as well!

Hang in there and my thoughts are with you.

[AbsoluteApril]

Hi Brandon, I'm very sorry for your loss.
Is there a chance your heating source failed? (was it on when you came home?) Possible a power outage could have knocked it out?

There's not really any way for us to tell beyond what you know (vet necropsy) and even then results are not guaranteed to be found.
Again, I'm very sorry.

[hilabeans]

I'm very sorry for your loss. When I lost my first snake I immediately refrigerated him and and took him for a necropsy the next morning. I wasn't expecting his death, was absolutely devastated, and just had to know what happened to him. I had to know if it was something I did.

Anything the members here tell you will be pure speculation. A necropsy is probably as close as you'l get to the cause of death, but it may be too late for that depending on his current condition (whether he's preserved or not).

In any case, it totally sucks to lose a loved one. So sorry.

[btshipp]

Thanks for the condolences everyone, most people don't sympathize with the death of a reptile, it's just as bad as a dog or cat. The heat source didn't fail to the best of my knowledge, it was on when I came home and the house is never cooler than 72 degrees anyway. Even if it did fail, he's lived without one for a couple weeks when I was in Africa about 3 years ago.

Hilabeans, were they able to determine the COD for your first snake? It's out of the question for me now as I've buried him.

[Aedryan Methyus]

Very sorry to hear about your loss. That really sucks! It sounds like your cool side temperatures were definitely on the low side, but your hot side temperatures sound fine. As others have already said, any guesses we could make would only be speculation, but you almost have to give serious consideration to the mice you fed him on the day of his death for him to have suddenly regurgitated and simply die like that... I don't know if there are parasites that can kill a snake that fast, which the mice could have had? Could the mice have still been alive when he swallowed them and they caused internal injuries? I've never heard of that happening, but maybe some of these other guys have...

[Craiga 01453]

Like the others said, a necropsy will be ypur only shot of really knowing.

Beyond that, I can only offer my most sincere condolences for your loss.

[hilabeans]

Hilabeans, were they able to determine the COD for your first snake? It's out of the question for me now as I've buried him.

Yes. A significant infection in his liver. It was slow growing and he was showing symptoms of being "off" for weeks. But his symptoms at the time more logically pointed to a million other possible things that I was addressing, so a vet visit never quite seemed warranted. His death was sudden and unexpected. He was very young and my first snake.

His loss shredded me. I felt like I failed him. You know...hindsight...

This community was wonderful to me throughout, though. You need to be around those who truly appreciate what it's like to love and lose these guys, and it can be hard to find in the "real world".

[Godzilla78]

Sounds like some sort of food poisoning/parasites/digestion. Or a coincidence that he regurgitated and then died? It doesn't matter now, much sympathy for your loss.

[Albert Clark]

Wow, this really is sad. I am truly sorry for your loss. Certainly sudden death and its wide range of possibilities are always something we all have to deal with as keepers. However the true, definitive way to know in this case would've been a necropsy. Sorry once again.