Never had this happen before?

Just had a baby ball die on me out of no where?! I had him in a cserpents rack with several other snakes who are all healthy as can be!

I got him on the 8th of this month. He was deep in shed so I let him get settled in. No attempt at feeding on the 10th. The 17th many of my snakes were in shed and he was just finishing up. Offered but meal not taken. Last Friday (10/24) after a perfect one piece shed, he again refused to eat. Now I'm like ok wth?
He has been drinking and he defecated the first week I got him. I noticed last week he seemed to have his neck in an abnormal and very obscure position. I took him out and he was fine. It was only 2 times I noticed. Came home from work today and Boom. He dead.
ambient temp 88 inside tub hot spot 91. Humidity is 55

I am really surprised that after this short a time. he croaked out on me?
I've isolated all my snakes atm and I am scrubbing everything like it is no ones business. Anyone have anything happen like this??

Wow, that is awful. Were you able to have a necropsy done? You should probably contact the breeder or pet shop you got him from. Could be an illness that other hatchlings in their collection/inventory may have, or maybe even your snake was from a clutch with a lot of deformities or babies that didn't make it. :/ It sounds like your husbandry is just fine, so I'm thinking it has something to do with the breeder (illness, bad clutch, whatever).

Just edited to add, that the weird neck position really makes me thing that maybe he came from a messed up clutch. Could have even been a difficult hatchling from the start. Maybe ask the breeder if he started off eating/shedding/pooping okay or if he had to be assisted in any way?

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Originally Posted by somnambulant

Wow, that is awful. Were you able to have a necropsy done? You should probably contact the breeder or pet shop you got him from. Could be an illness that other hatchlings in their collection/inventory may have, or maybe even your snake was from a clutch with a lot of deformities or babies that didn't make it. :/ It sounds like your husbandry is just fine, so I'm thinking it has something to do with the breeder (illness, bad clutch, whatever).

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Got it from Albey! Already emailed him and I am in the process of finding where I can get one done. This all happened today. I checked on everyone last night really quick, still alive. Not sure what happened but my only concern now is cleaning the rack just in case it is something contagious like that???

Sorry to hear that :( I'm definitely not an expert, but is it possible he had mites? They can transfer some nasty stuff. It sounds like you've been worrying about it being contagious, and I don't want to stress you out further but I did have a sorta-similar situation happen to me about a year ago. I had a baby die after a couple of weeks from a disease. She did hold her head at a funny angle, and then it affected almost her entire body before she died half a day later.

Hopefully (as bad as that sounds) it was just a birth defect or something vs it being contagious. Good luck.

Not mites 100%

Was he in a quarantine rack or in with your existing animals?

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Originally Posted by dr del

Was he in a quarantine rack or in with your existing animals?

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He was QT until this Saturday. I went away so I put him in the bottom rack. There was no one above or next to him.

From the 8th to last Saturday is only a two week QT, which is not enough. Should be 90 days minimum.

Hopefully the necro will show it was something the baby was born with, and not a disease. If the vet can't determine a cause of death then you need to lock down your collection - nothing in or out - for a few months to ensure none of your other snakes picked up anything.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

From the 8th to last Saturday is only a two week QT, which is not enough. Should be 90 days minimum.

Hopefully the necro will show it was something the baby was born with, and not a disease. If the vet can't determine a cause of death then you need to lock down your collection - nothing in or out - for a few months to ensure none of your other snakes picked up anything.

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I rushed it and hopefully won't pay the price. 90 days is what I'll be doing from this point on. Guessing it may have been a neck injury from transit. Necro will tell me. Thanks everyone!

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Originally Posted by celixo

ambient temp 88 inside tub hot spot 91. Humidity is 55

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Way too warm but maybe not the culprit since you have other snakes surviving in the same rack. Do you have something that monitors highs and lows like an acurite probe thermometer? I'd be curious to know the temperature range for the 3 weeks you had him. Was he in the top tub by any chance?