What did my pet snake die from? Should I be concerned for his "roommate?"

First of all, I rescued a pastel male a few years ago when he was in very bad shape and was very thin from a trailer park. Since then he recovered and showed no signs of health issues, apart from the fact that he would go off feed for months during the winter/spring months (I was told this was normal). This year, however, he hardly ate at all. We tried giving him smaller/bigger rats, warming them up, and everything, he just wouldn't eat. Still, he didn't lose any weight from what I could tell, and he was active, he often would roam his cage and go up to his water bowl, do normal stuff. When I got him out he acted normally. Yesterday, I noticed a brown spot in his cage near his water bowl. I didn't think anything of it and figured I'd clean it up in a half hour. Later that night I went to change his water and he was laying outside of his cage with his mouth slightly open. I picked him up, and he was limp and dead. I checked his body for marks/cuts and didn't find anything abnormal. Upon lifting his hide, I found much more of the brown stuff under it.

That was last night. Today I cleaned out his cage well with Lysol and got rid of his paper towel bedding. I'm concerned with my older female because she lives near his cage. Should I be? Needless to say, this has not been a great start to my summer :(

Here is a pic of it: (It's gross, just warning you)

Is it blood? Vomit? IDK!

http://s288.photobucket.com/user/app...?sort=3&page=1

If any of you can give me advice that would be appreciated. Likewise please ask me questions if you have any. Thanks.

My guess is that it's bloody stool/ bloody vomit. Or just vomit. I don't know much but if it's liquid poop then I'd call it an infection. Either way disinfect everything and check your other snakes poop/pee. Even take a sample to get it tested for infection/parasites.


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Wow, sorry for your loss. The photo of the secretions looks very suspicious! IMO. I would agree with Citrus that it could be a parasitic entity or a gastrointestinal disease of some type. It would be a good idea to bag and tag a sample of the brown fluid for testing at the vets office. And definitely deep clean your other animals enclosure and treat this as very contagious. Maybe its not but treat it like it is until proven otherwise. Good luck. :salute:

Hopefully you saved a sample of the fluid. If so, I agree it'd be good to get a vet to test it. I second a deep-clean of equipment he may have touched and everyone else's enclosures. I feel like you would have noticed other symptoms of a bacterial infection before it got to that stage, so I'm wondering if this could be parasitic or maybe viral?

Wow, sorry to hear about your loss. I would have to concur with the others, disinfect everything and get a vet to perform a necropsy to be sure. I would bag and refrigerate him before getting him to the vet, do not freeze.

The only way to get piece of mind is to know the cause of death.

The best thing to do when a snake dies is to place it in a plastic bag, keep it in the fridge and get a necropsy done.