Mourning my Ball Python, Ramses...

A few days ago, my sweet ball python, Ramses, the gentlest animal Ive ever had, passed away, and I can't seem to get any closure. I was so attached to the creature, who I had only had for about a month and a half... I did everything the guy in the pet store told me to do, fed him, spot cleaned, only handled him once a week... which seems to have been my downfall as a responsible pet owner.... From reading up on symptoms for the past few days online, I was horrified to learn how terribly wrong their info was... for one, the guy told me that a heat pad was unnecessary for Balls until mid october, if my house was fairly warm. I, being the neurotic that I am, bought it anyway... Unfortunately, however, my heat pad malfunctioned and I had to send it back to the company... remembering the pet store man's advice, i thought my baby would be fine while I waited for a new one, so I put his cage under a reptile lamp until then... my Ramses was eating fine, until one day, when I realized that he had regurgitated, ... I called the pet store and asked for advice, and he told me I could not feed him for another two weeks, the days following, he began engaging in odd behaviors (weird, contorted positions, overactiveness, this "stargazing" behavior ive just found out about, )... I now presume his hunger, coupled with the fact that his cage was NOWHERE NEAR warm enough, was his downfall... it is ironic that the heater came the day i awoke to find him gone.... and I am ashamed, horrified that I did not even pause to question this man's advice and look online... I am sickened..................... needless to say, my guilt is overtaking me... I cant concentrate on anything... all I keep thinking about is my stupidity,... I keep wishing he would magically appear in his cage again.... I know I am rambling now, but its hard to talk about it to people who arent snake people, like everyone here................... I really really wish I could be given a second chance with the support of a good manual as well as websites such as this,,. but i cant bear to replace ramses yet... plus i feel like i dont deserve another chance with this beautiful pet.... I know I am more than capable of taking care of animals (i have two dogs, a fish and a geko) this is why i just cant understand why I was so ignorant and stupid in this case... advice to all, NEVER trust pet stores.... RIP Ramses the Great :'(

So very sorry for your loss. Pet store people a lot of times know very little about the animals they sell and will tell you anything to make a profit. It really is a shame and this is a perfect example of what can happen if you don't do research. Also a lot of times because of their lack of knowledge, the animal that you buy from them may look healthy, but it could still be sick. Now that you are on this site, you will find a lot of good info and experts on here. I wish you luck with your next snake :)

I'm so sorry for your loss. From the sounds of it, the poor snake was doomed. I don't think you did anything particularly wrong at all, you shouldn't blame yourself. Those symptoms you described are NOT from being hungry or cold, those are symptoms of a sick snake that was probably already very sick before you got him. I'd never go near that store again. I wish you luck in finding closure, I deeply empathize with you. :tears:

Thank You guys, it helps.... hope I can eventually get another one and redeem myself... even though, like you said, it could very well be due to the fact that he was already sick :(

Sorry for your loss I can understand your feeling of hurt and dissapointment. But on a good note you found this forum and it is full of great info for you to learn from and not let this happen to your next snake.
Robie

So sorry to hear about that. I swore off pet store advice after keeping some anoles and frogs as a kid that ended up dying very soon after I got them. At least with this forum you can find a good breeder or even a specialty shop near you that can give you sound advice and a healthy animal

I'm with LGray... Sounds like the poor snake was sick long before you got her. So sorry for your loss.

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Originally Posted by LGray23

I'm so sorry for your loss. From the sounds of it, the poor snake was doomed. I don't think you did anything particularly wrong at all, you shouldn't blame yourself. Those symptoms you described are NOT from being hungry or cold, those are symptoms of a sick snake that was probably already very sick before you got him. I'd never go near that store again. I wish you luck in finding closure, I deeply empathize with you. :tears:

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I agree. So sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. Don't beat yourself up over it though. Sometimes animals are just sick and there's nothing you can do about it. Im sure the majority of people on this site have gone through something similar to you at some point in their lives. I bought a rainbow boa a long time ago from a local pet shop not knowing he was sick and after 3 weeks the poor guy died. I felt horrible. It did get me doing a LOT of research after the fact though. This is what they mean by "good coming out of bad situations." we all learn. what I can say is in the long run, i'm certain you will find another friend and will do a good job caring for your buddy because you seem like you actually care! Good luck and again, sorry for your loss.

I am sorry to hear of your loss.... If you plan on owning any more Ball's... Read "the complete ball python" from Kevin Mccurley... I was informed from a local breeder to pick it up. When I got my first 2, And I will say it is the best book for ball pythons hands down... Petstore people are usually useless and have NO knowledge what so ever animals. They just fit the open position.