Sad and Angry, have you seen this before?

I Just checked on my snakes. When I got to my gtp I found her on the cage floor with a mouth full of substrate. I opened the door and touched her side and she started to wiggle around like a disturbed earthworm. I picked her up and got most of the substrate out of her mouth and knew something was very wrong. She has always been very nippy but I was able to hold her head, open her mouth, and remove the substrate without protest. She would get alittle fight in her every few seconds and then her entire body contracted and she was gone.

Her head was thinner in the back and seemed flat, I think from the muscles seizing up. Her left eye had a indention in the clear membrane and after she passed I could see a blood vessel popped in the upper part of her eye. Other than that she appeared very normal.

She just got a new pvc cage with rhp that I moved her into on the 20th. This was a few days after i got it and after running test. I always run test on a cage to see the temps while unregulated and then regulated until it is dialed in. The temp and humidity has been steady and correct. Was I wrong in thinking the cage was safe with a new rhp? I got the cage from pvccages.com. Did the rhp give off gases?

I don't think that is what happened and will feel like an idiot if it did. Getting to see her final moments I feel like she had a seizure or seizures.

Has anyone had or heard of something like this before?

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http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...EEC402BF9D.jpg

This is how she seized and past

http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...EEBF9E1815.jpg

No ideas?

I just handled her yesterday morning and all was well and she was her regular self.

I'm really sorry for your loss. I don't know anything about GTPs though. :(

Sorry for the loss:(
What size cage was it? What were the temps? Humidity? when was the last meal? Defecation? What was the Substrate? What type of branches did you use? Any stuck shed?
As for the cage it is possible the RHP off gassed, i have a PVC cage from jim for my carpet, i ran the RHP on full blast for 20 mins(3 times a day), then hooked up to a thermostat for 3 days before my carpet went in. so it is possible it did off gas

The temp at the high branch was 88, floor 77-78. Humidity was 55-63. Last shed was good, none stuck. Her last movement was the 22nd. The perches were the ones he made with a bendable one from her old cage. Substrate was mixed reptibark with eco earth, like old cage. Her last meal was the16th, she turned this week down but i thought it could be do to the move.

I ran the rhp full blast for almost a day and a half. Then a full day regulating it and getting it dialed in. Would that gas be odorless?

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Cage was 24*24*20

I'm very sorry for your loss :( That is tough to deal with.

I'm not too sure about off gassing, but I wouldn't rule it out. In my opinion, 88 is a little hot for a GTP, but it shouldn't do this kind of damage.

Any ideas how she got the substrate in her mouth?

:( :( Very sad.

How much distance is there between the high perch and the RHP?
Where, and how is your thermostat probe mounted?
Are those temperatures surface or air temps?

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the popped blood vessel and mouth full of substrate suggests seizure, but I'm no expert on GTP, but I've heard of similar with other snakes.

I don't know gtp's, but am very sorry for your loss. :(

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The distance from the rhp and the perch is prob about 7 inches, that's a guess. The perch were already mounted and I don't think it had anything to do with it. The temps I posted earlier were all surface temps measured with a temp gun. The ambient was right around 80 in the lower portion of the cage.

As far as the substrate in the mouth, I really have no idea. She was like that when i found her. With her eye and the mouth it looked to me as if she had been thrashing around on the cage floor. Which made me think seizure but I just don't understand why.

The probe is mounted to the rhp using a cable strap attached to the frame of the rhp. This way the probe is directly under the rhp but does not touch the surface.