Estelle, my super tiger retic has passed. Still Numb

Hey all, I haven't been very active recently and it's due to a very special snake passing: my favorite girl in my collection, my super tiger retic female Estelle, passed away earlier this month. I had her since she was under a month old: http://daybreakerexotics.weebly.com/estelle.html

I found her quietly passed away in her cage where she looked like she simply fell asleep as she was laying how she always did. She was acting perfectly normal the night before so when I found her I was in shock: I literally laughed at myself because I couldn't believe it, walked out of the room, sat down at the kitchen table for a few minutes not knowing what just happened, and just started crying harder than I have in a long time. I literally didn't know what to do with myself for days after: that may sound crazy since she was a snake but I know many of you would understand how you would feel if you found your most special animal passed away unexpectedly. Even when I brought her down to my vet for the necropsy it still didn't feel like it was real. It still doesn't, even when I just cleaned out and sanitized her cage yesterday because I didn't want to bring myself to do it earlier.

Received necropsy results back recently that shows that it was not a viral infection that took her: this was so bitter sweet because in the time waiting for the results I was worried if my others were going to unexpectedly pass away too as she was in my established collection room with over forty snakes. Without posting the whole results, my vet simplified it for me:

"...Lots of bacterial in her tissues [I did a full histopatholgy on all her organs, including her brain/entire head] which is consistent with an infection within the bloodstream called septicemia. A granuloma, a large area of infected tissue, was found within her nasal passages as well. We suspect that this granuloma wore through into the blood stream and caused the septicemia which resulted in her death. The granuloma may have been either caused by her traumatizing her face by rubbing [she's always been a constant pusher, even when she was young] or may have been the reason she rubbed. It is difficult to know for sure which came first. It is not unusual for reptiles to hide medical conditions such as this for a long time before becoming immediately serious. Granulomas are notoriously hard to treat, even with aggressive antibiotics. There are times where treatment can end up not being successful on these types of lesions. At this time there is no evidence that suggests a contagious cause to her death."

I still feel very upset and numb at her passing and am honestly still shocked. I expected to have her through her entire life and she really was special to me: I hate to play favorites but she was mine. I have let the breeder who I got her from know of her passing and he sent a really nice email back letting me know his condolences. Though Estelle can never be replaced, he did say that if I want another ST baby he should have some hatching out soon. A replacement could never replace her but if given the chance I would gladly get another little ST baby from the same breeder that Estelle came from (I am actually waiting for another little retic morph baby from that breeder: that new addition will make Estelle's passing a little easier). Estelle's passing has hit me hard but I'm still enjoying every minute with my other babies and am still looking forward to new additions and breeding in the future. She will be greatly missed.

Angelica

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I am so very, very sorry for your loss. She was beautiful.

She was very beautiful!

She was a beautiful snake. Very sorry to hear about your loss.

Very beutiful snake. Sorry about your loss :(

Sorry, all I can say. People that dont have snakes cant understand what you feel.

So sorry to hear this. What an amazing snake.

How old was she?

Oh no :( I'm so sorry to hear of her passing. She was such a beautiful snake..sending lots of love & comfort your way [emoji173]️


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She was such a gorgeous creature. Condolences:(.

She was a beautiful snake, I'm very sorry for your loss.