Please help, very sick ball python!

Sorry. Even tho you didn't have him very long I'm sure its not easy. And as someone else said, without a good vet around maybe u should leave snakes alone until a good vet moves to town. I think it was already doomed by the previous owner, although I have no idea what it was.

The first two questions I asked before I got my first snake was do vets treat snakes and reptiles, and where cand I find one that does. I have two vets. One is for emergancies and the other is regular. The third was what can I do in a poorly insulated home in the winter if electric goes out.

I just found this thread. I am so very sorry for your loss. Brand new snake or not, it must have been devastating to watch that little one suffer like that. My heart goes out to you.

Please contact the person you got it from. There is always a slight possibility that they did not know the snake was sick, worse than that it could affect any other snakes they have and more could die that way.

It must be frustrating and hard to want to enjoy the company of an animal, only to have something go wrong and not be able to help it with proper vet care. Perhaps if you keep looking and asking, you might find someone. Or, perhaps you might find someone who wants to learn about snakes and is willing to cooperate with you and a qualified vet from somewhere else to help their education. I know that is something that does occur in remote places where access to the vet schools and such we have here is not possible.

I wish you all the best, whatever you decide to do from here.

Gale

If there was mucous around the nose/mouth, my guess would be a respiratory infection, even something like paramyxovirus which can produce sudden death. It can also produce neurological signs similar to IBD. But, we are all just guessing. It's important that everything the snake came in contact with is disinfected, and wrap any garbage carefully as well. You wouldn't want to possibly pass this illness on to wild snakes through contaminated items that wind up outside.

Definitely let the former owner know what happened. It's never easy to lose an animal. I don't think there is anything you could have done, and based on quickly he went downhill, I doubt a vet could have saved him, either.
His lack of responsiveness would seem to indicate that he was unconscious when he passed, so I don't believe he suffered a lot.
I'm sorry for your loss.