Young Ball Python Died

I had a really young ball python, a spider, who died today. I found him in his cage and around his head and a little bit lower was really stiff and curled while the rest of his body was really limp and almost squishy feeling. He seemed a little weird when I got him yesterday when I picked up him and 4 other snakes, all of which are perfectly fine at the moment. When i found him he was coiled up and the corner of his enclosure instead of being in one of his two hides. He had water and had just been fed the day before we got him. They said he was feeding on fuzzies at the time. When I took him out of the enclosure the back of his body was completely limp while his head was still tucked down and super stiff. The left side of his mouth was slightly opened and had some of his substrate in it. The substrate is not something that would be big enough to kill him if he where to swallow it. Also after picking him up some liquid dripped out of his vent(?) and upon further inspection I noticed that area had some red and his pelvic spurs where sticking out fully. After determining he was dead we cleaned his cage out, in the event this is something that could infect the other snakes, and we found a weird blob of regurgitated fur and other nasty stuff. I am going to contact the original owner in the morning and ask if they knew anything about what could have happened, I just really want to know what this is and if any of my other snakes can get it.

Seems like the prey was the culprit (too big, still frozen in the middle etc) and he regurgitated it. Sad but it happens...

I'm so sorry about your baby, hopefully the owner will be able to shine some light on the situations.


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Originally Posted by Magalo

Seems like the prey was the culprit (too big, still frozen in the middle etc) and he regurgitated it. Sad but it happens...

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The owners was feeding him live which I am planning on changing it over time so they eat F/T. He was a beautiful snake. I have a cinnamon who is about the same sizes as him, she is also very pretty and is doing amazing. I noticed though that they both seemed to be lacking in muscle in there rear area. Also I am probably going to move this to another thread.

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Probably just a birth defect. Sorry for your loss!

They fed the snakes the same day you were picking them up? That's weird to me.

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Originally Posted by KMG

They fed the snakes the same day you were picking them up? That's weird to me.

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It was the day before I picked them up, though yes it is kind of weird considering we had arranged a pick up time two days prior

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Originally Posted by Magalo

Seems like the prey was the culprit (too big, still frozen in the middle etc) and he regurgitated it. Sad but it happens...

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Not seeing how a fuzzy was too big???

The only thing wrong is that the snake was pickup after being fed the previous day, that can and will lead to a regurgitation, however this does not mean it is the culprit.

NO ONE can know for certain what happen, everyone can come up with theories but for certainty you will need to have a necropsy done.

Knowing that you have other animals a necropsy is definitely something I would recommend for the piece of mind.

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Yeah, we can sit here and speculate on all the possibilities and its not definitive at all. I second the necropsy. That's definitive. So sorry for your loss.:(