My BP died suddenly?

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Originally Posted by JadeSisson

Thanks. But I bought him from the pet store so I don't know how old he was, I had only had him for 7 months. He weighted 70 grams. Not sure how terrible that is. But thanks. I'll defiantly do more research.

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I feel like something else had to be at play. 7 months and only 70 grams just doesn't feel right. I'm sure nothing you did. Hmmm again we are hear to answer and support you at this time.


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Originally Posted by Solarsoldier001

I feel like something else had to be at play. 7 months and only 70 grams just doesn't feel right. I'm sure nothing you did. Hmmm again we are hear to answer and support you at this time.


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He was completely fine until 3 weeks ago. He was very active and what not. He had only one spot that was red at the end of tail, and then it slowly moved up. It was only on one side. And then like I said, in one spot his scale was completely gone and you could see his flesh I guess? It was just a white spot.

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Originally Posted by JadeSisson

He was completely fine until 3 weeks ago. He was very active and what not. He had only one spot that was red at the end of tail, and then it slowly moved up. It was only on one side. And then like I said, in one spot his scale was completely gone and you could see his flesh I guess? It was just a white spot.

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I'm sorry for your loss. :( I'm not sure if someone had already mentioned this, but without a thermostat, it sounds like he might have been burned by the unregulated UTH.

This picture is a severe burn from UTH without a thermostat, but a burn causes scales to fall off: http://s816.photobucket.com/user/lad...urned.jpg.html

As someone said, this forum is the perfect place to start research and learning about their care. Pet stores and even vets who don't have experience with reptiles are notorious for providing incorrect information that can even cause the death of the snake, like in this case...

A useful fact is that ball pythons should be eating prey that is around (just a little bit smaller) the width of the thickest part of their own body. Hatchling ball pythons right out of the egg are often fed mice hoppers, which are larger than pinkies.

Here's the ball python caresheet on the forum... http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

And an underweight ball python will have a prominent spine, like a visible line down their back, and their skin will seem to be "falling" down around the spine. A health weight ball python's body shape is thick and round, and their body should be much thicker than their head width.

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Originally Posted by Solarsoldier001

I feel like something else had to be at play. 7 months and only 70 grams just doesn't feel right. I'm sure nothing you did. Hmmm again we are hear to answer and support you at this time.


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Mouse pinkies weigh 2-3 grams. If being fed once a week, that's only about 60-90 grams of food over 7 months, so that weight makes sense.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I don't know nearly as much about snakes as most of the others here - but my two '15 balls are each eating an adult mouse a week. Occasionally I'll give the boy a mouse hopper and two rat pinkies, just for variety, since he'll take f/t.

Sometimes, too, there's just something wrong with a snake. My female kingsnake is still about 33g, while the male, the same age, same breeder, delivered at the same time, is over 100g now. She eats great on large mouse pinkies for weeks - then spontaneously regurgitates. No changes in her environment or feeding routine, exactly same conditions as the male. She doesn't keep anything with fur on it down at all. The vet's prognosis is that there's something wrong with her digestive tract. She's thin, but her spine doesn't show, and she seems happy enough, so I just try to keep a close eye on her.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

I'm sorry for your loss. :( I'm not sure if someone had already mentioned this, but without a thermostat, it sounds like he might have been burned by the unregulated UTH.

This picture is a severe burn from UTH without a thermostat, but a burn causes scales to fall off: http://s816.photobucket.com/user/lad...urned.jpg.html

As someone said, this forum is the perfect place to start research and learning about their care. Pet stores and even vets who don't have experience with reptiles are notorious for providing incorrect information that can even cause the death of the snake, like in this case...

A useful fact is that ball pythons should be eating prey that is around (just a little bit smaller) the width of the thickest part of their own body. Hatchling ball pythons right out of the egg are often fed mice hoppers, which are larger than pinkies.

Here's the ball python caresheet on the forum... http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

And an underweight ball python will have a prominent spine, like a visible line down their back, and their skin will seem to be "falling" down around the spine. A health weight ball python's body shape is thick and round, and their body should be much thicker than their head width.

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It didn't look anything like that. It was on his side, and just a little dot. Thanks for everyone's help. I wasn't sure what size, I was really scared they I would give him something that would have been too big for him.

It's unfortunately that you got bad information all along the way, but now that you're here, you can find out all the things that will make for a great experience next time.

Tanks are notoriously hard to get the temps/humidity right. If you really want a tank, there's a sticky on here about how to do it right so it'll work for your snake.

The temps on the cool side were not okay, as 70F is much too low, especially for a hatchling who will be more sensitive to stressers.

These will be my best guesses made on your information and my past experiences.
Because your hatchling sized snake only got a mouse pinkie, it probably used up all the few calories trying to digest with the low temps on the cool end. This is why the snake did not grow and thus did not need to shed. The roaming was likely due to hunger and seeking for a good temp. I would also guess that the vet saw a snake with wrinkles and odd scale patches and though it was dehydrated instead of that it was underweight and dehydrated. If the vet is not experienced with snakes, especially pythons, he might have no idea what a healthy snake should look like, much less the appropriate weight for a 7 month old snake or what size prey item he should have had.

But the good news is that you can now adjust your enclosure or change to a tub setup. You can make sure that when you do get a new snake, you get the right size prey item and keep it in the right temps and humidity. So it'll go well!

We were all new at this once. It was just your turn to be new. It's a pity that you got such bad info.

Thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to give me advice and help me understand everything better. I was really scared to come on here, but very glad I did. I think I'll do more research and purchase a pvc cage and try again in a few months or so.