help help help

i woke up and look at my ball python nagini's tank and noticed she was on her back and slightly coiled. i touched her to make sure she was still alive, and she was.

after a bit she began to thrash around and open her mouth. at this point I was crying and freaking out. it seems as if shes having trouble moving her body.

she's now on her stomach and she responds to my hand in the tank (she almost bit me!) but she's still not moving much and i'm reallyreally worried.

i called a bunch of vets, each gave me a new number saying they don't deal with exotics. so i got no help.

i have no idea what's wrong.

How old and big is she? Has she eaten recently? And what are your temps and humidity like? Not sure I can provide advice, since I'm no expert, but answering these questions should be helpful... :(

Agreed, has she been bred?

How old is she?

Is she sick?

Honestly, if she isn't gravid, this is probably a bad situation.

Best of luck to you.

I bought her in July from a pet store, they didn't tell me exactly how old she was when I bought her (she was only about 15 inches). she ate a week ago (i was going to buy food tomorrow since i did not have time today since i have a lot planned). it's about 80 degree's in the center of the tank, so i'm assuming it's a lot hotter directly under her heating lamp. the humidity is 60.

Since you say "about" 80 degrees, does that mean you aren't measuring and/or controlling your temps? That could be part of the problem, especially if the heat lamp isn't on a rheostat or thermostat... if you aren't doing all of that, you should do so ASAP.

Hi,

What are you using as a substrate and have you recently treated for mites or changed cleaning supplies or anything?


dr del

You should have a digital thermometer to read both the warm and cool side. It should be 80 on the cool side and 90-94 on the warm side! You should get an under tank heater to heat the tank. They work much better for heating and they don't suck your humidity.

Nagini passed away. she started thrashing again and i was watching her. she coiled up and i started recording her in hopes to show you what was going on.

i stopped recording and went to touch her. no more response.

i'd like to thank all the vets in philadelphia for not helping me at all. i called every one. nothing.

I am sorry for your loss. Seriously consider having a necropsy done to determine the cause of death--place the body in the refrigerator, not the freezer, until it's time. You can find reptile vets listed on the ARAV website at www.arav.org. If there is a local herpetological society in your area, they also may have recommendations for local vets.

If you decide to get another animal in the future, you will want to know what steps you have to take to make your home safe for it, if any, and whether you should ever set foot in the store you got her from again.
If the cause turns out to be something infectious, you should notify the store. If they are responsible people, they will need to sterilize and quarantine everything, and check their suppliers to see where it came from.

If you have other reptiles in your home, quarantine them apart as much as possible immediately and sterilize everything, until you get a cause of death. None of us can give you an answer as to what happened--only a lot of guesses. A few guesses: IBD, poisoning, parasite migration into the brain. But it might have been some congenital problem, too--we can't know until a necropsy is done.

im sorry :(

I'm so sorry for your loss. :(

I'm so sorry... RIP Nagini. :(

So sorry to her about this.

Please get a necropsy done.
It sounds like signs of IBD.

IBD came to mind for me also.

yeah get a necropsy done to help figure out and if bois is pointed to don't get a nother reptile from the same store again I also notify the store and local beeter business bearu ( or SPCA ) as that means they are a carrier or they got supplier /sanimal that has this and it will spread.

I was reading this with my hubby and we both would like to say so so sorry to you. I cannot imagine how you are feeling!

Another vote for necropsy submission, and tell the pet store what's going on. If it's IBD (which is high on the differential list) they need to alert the source of the animal(s), and probably would be best to depopulate current snakes, as depressing as that is. Since you're in Philly, contact UPenn about a necropsy. While I hear their exotics department is being whittled down to nothing, they should still have competent pathologists on board. The necropsy needs to be done ASAP, and don't freeze as was previously mentioned.

I'm really sorry for your loss. :(