Emergency! Massive heat spike from having thermostat pulled free of the heat tape!

I just woke up to a horrible smell, my room was warm, the snake rack was extremely hot and my 6 year old normal male is dead! He was all curled up and extremely bloated...

I put him and his tub outside and now I pulled my female spiders cage and she is alive, but limp as a noodle :tears: I carefully soaked her in the some water to leech away the heat a few minutes ago (she had to over 100*F!!!) She is slowly becoming more responsive (such as flinching when you poke her side) but I need to the know if there is anything else I can do for her????

Right now she is cooling off beside me on the couch. :please:

My other two snakes are fine as they were on a different portion of tape controlled by a different thermostat. The one controlling the adult snakes heat tape had its sensor probe pulled free by my closet door and the tape easily felt over 100*F...

Ive read that snakes that go through heat like this can have some neurological damage; siezing, jerky irradic movements, star gazing, etc. I would take your remaining snake to the vet to get it evaluated, or at least give them a call and get advice from someone knowledgeable.

So sorry that happened to you. I hope someone will have some advice for you. I would probably call the vets office and ask.

Oh man!!! Sorry for your loss

Sorry for your loss ... that sucks :( I agree with Cinderbird about the vet for your Spider girl better to be safe than sorry

I just off the phone with a good reptile vet and she pretty much said there isn't much she could do for my snake. Only time will tell if she has long term effects or fully recovers. :(

Sorry to hear that.... I hope she pulls through for you....:tears:

sorry for your loss,
this is a little late but I would recommend that you add a dimmer switch to the line that controls your heat tape. i.e. wall socket - thermostat - dimmer - heat tape. set the dimmer so that the tape can only get slightly warmer than you want it to be. that way if you ever have another problem with the thermostat the heat tape won't be running at full power.

And thank you for the kind words everyone.

Ivy, my 1700g spider girl, is definitely out of it, she moves a little now and but no tongue flicking and she is very weak... She has fully cooled down and her cages temps are back to normal so I think it's time to put her back and hope she recovers.

I can't believe I lost my normal boy... Anubis was my first ball python :tears:

-Jason that's a really good idea, if my spider girl makes it and is able to function normally I'll definitely try that. If she doesn't do well or live I don't think I want to work with ball pythons anymore, at least not for the time being... I've put in so much and have had such terrible luck with it :(

:please: for your baby girl.

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Originally Posted by bad-one

And thank you for the kind words everyone.

Ivy, my 1700g spider girl, is definitely out of it, she moves a little now and but no tongue flicking and she is very weak... She has fully cooled down and her cages temps are back to normal so I think it's time to put her back and hope she recovers.

I can't believe I lost my normal boy... Anubis was my first ball python :tears:

-Jason that's a really good idea, if my spider girl makes it and is able to function normally I'll definitely try that. If she doesn't do well or live I don't think I want to work with ball pythons anymore, at least not for the time being... I've put in so much and have had such terrible luck with it :(

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I'm sorry for your loss and hope Ivy pulls through, but I don't think you should give up on BPs just yet. Life always has its set backs we just need to work through them. This was a horrible accident and if you enjoy your BPs you shouldn't give up on them because of it.

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Originally Posted by kinra

i'm sorry for your loss and hope ivy pulls through, but i don't think you should give up on bps just yet. Life always has its set backs we just need to work through them. This was a horrible accident and if you enjoy your bps you shouldn't give up on them because of it.

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x 2 :)

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Originally Posted by bad-one

And thank you for the kind words everyone.

Ivy, my 1700g spider girl, is definitely out of it, she moves a little now and but no tongue flicking and she is very weak... She has fully cooled down and her cages temps are back to normal so I think it's time to put her back and hope she recovers.

I can't believe I lost my normal boy... Anubis was my first ball python :tears:

-Jason that's a really good idea, if my spider girl makes it and is able to function normally I'll definitely try that. If she doesn't do well or live I don't think I want to work with ball pythons anymore, at least not for the time being... I've put in so much and have had such terrible luck with it :(

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If she dies, buy another one.

I'm not saying that to be a jerk. I've had a similar experience. I had to go out of town to a family funeral during the dead of winter, and my power went down for two days. When I got back, most of my reptiles were dead. A couple were dying.

Kaa, my first ball python and my favorite, held on for a long time. A couple of times it almost looked like he was free and clear, then he would get worse. Ultimately he quietly slipped away.

After that, I got rid of all of the reptile stuff. Didn't go to a reptile show for years.

It's only this year that I started feeling that pull of something missing. Almost reluctantly I bought a couple of young snakes, one of which was so damn nasty that I had to handle her a lot to get her settled down. I really enjoyed it.

I spent 15 years of my life not having the animals I enjoy working with. I could kick myself in the rear end now for not going straight out and buying another snake. All through life we lose that which is precious to us. We lose animals, friends, people, jobs, things....the list goes on.

I was a fool to deny myself that which I truly enjoyed because a bad thing had happened. Don't let the bad experiences be a prison that keeps you from enjoying the good.

My $.02 anyways.

I couldn't afford to replace Ivy if she passed. Anubis and Ivy are my absolute favorite snakes ( heck Anubis was my baby, I had hoped to keep him until he passed of old age). I've had a bad string of luck in the past two years so its not just this. In any case it's my decision to make, thanks for all the advice though, it's much appreciated.

In good news, I think Ivy may fully recover. :please: Her grip still isn't as strong as it should be but she is responsive and getting stronger. The only super wierd thing is she hasn't been able to stick her tongue out all the way and the forked part is sticking together. She gets her tongue out to the fork and that's it for tongue flick.

Is she taking water ok?

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Originally Posted by bad-one

In good news, I think Ivy may fully recover. :please: Her grip still isn't as strong as it should be but she is responsive and getting stronger. The only super wierd thing is she hasn't been able to stick her tongue out all the way and the forked part is sticking together. She gets her tongue out to the fork and that's it for tongue flick.

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I wonder if the forks stick because she is dehydrated? are you still soaking her? Sometimes animals don't drink as much as they should after they have something traumatic happen. I imagine all that heat dried her out pretty bad, poor girl! I'm wishing you both the best and speedy recovery for your girl!

As far as I know she hasn't taken a drink yet so dehydration would definitely make sense. I'll try soaking her today and see how it goes, I don't want to stress her out too much.

She is even more alert today. She slithers around in my hands and tries to flick her tongue at normal intervals (forks are still stuck together). Her movements are not jerky or odd (well no odder than her normal movements, as she is a spider). She isn't at 100% yet but the amount of improvement vs when I pulled her limp body from the tub is astonishing... I think I may have got her out of the heat just in time, that or she is far hardier an animal than I first believed. I'm trying not to get my hopes up yet though!

She sounds like she will make it. What killed my Kaa and Ndoki was that they developed horrible respiratory infections after they nearly froze to death. Now that more is known about treating sick reptiles they might have had a chance if the same thing were to occur.

Your snake sounds like what she needs is hydration, plenty of rest, and rats when she's ready for them.

Just a suggestion..try to feed a smaller meal than normal the next time you feed. Your girls digestive enzymes may have been damaged from overheating so it would be a good idea to give a little easier meal to down. I hope she pulls through. Sorry about your normal :(

I'm sorry for your loss. That is REALLY good advice for those setting up racks. You HAVE to anchor that probe well or you could have catostrophic results. I taped mine to the heat tape with the really strong aluminum tape. You would almost have to pull the rack over first.

I'm sorry man - try not to let it bother you too much and try to move on. I've be a wreck too.

Brittany, I've been thinking about you and about Ivy. I hope that she's recovering well. Please let us know.

That's terrible and I'm really sorry to hear that for you. Fingers crossed your spider pulls through and is none the worse for the experience...time will tell, as you said. Good luck and fingers crossed for you!

Thanks for that info, Jason, I hadn't thought of that. I'm building my collection up now and have an AP rack on order and that's a great idea to keep from having something happen. Sucks to learn from someone else's crappy experience but thanks for the insight nonetheless.

I think Ivy is going to be just fine! I'm going to try to feed her today ( a weaned rat instead of her usual small) and hope for the best. She hasn't had any odd neuroligal symptoms and is moving normally and appearing alert. She may still be a little dehydrated because the fork is still sticking together but at least she puts her whole tongue out now when she flicks it (which she didn't try to do before). :D

Thanks for all the support guys!

I'm so glad to hear that she's pulling though! :banana:

Maybe all she needs is a good meal to get those forks unstuck. :D

So, how is Ivy doing? Did she feed yet?

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Originally Posted by bad-one

I think Ivy is going to be just fine! I'm going to try to feed her today ( a weaned rat instead of her usual small) and hope for the best. She hasn't had any odd neuroligal symptoms and is moving normally and appearing alert. She may still be a little dehydrated because the fork is still sticking together but at least she puts her whole tongue out now when she flicks it (which she didn't try to do before). :D

Thanks for all the support guys!

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Just curious??? You feed your 1700g female a small rat normally? Just seemed small to me. Am glad to hear shes doing well.

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Originally Posted by Rat160

Just curious??? You feed your 1700g female a small rat normally? Just seemed small to me. Am glad to hear shes doing well.

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I feed my big girls small rats, I condsider up to 80g small, so technically it's a lerge small I guess

She hasn't fed yet but I do have some live fuzzy rats I'm gonna try (since a super small prey item isn't too intimdating). If that doesn't work I'll just stick to leaving her f/t rats lying in her tub like she likes it (doesn't like the zombie dance lol)

My "smalls" vary and can be up to medium size by some standards ;)

I was just thinking of you guys today. :) Im glad she's officially alright.

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Originally Posted by Rat160

Just curious??? You feed your 1700g female a small rat normally? Just seemed small to me. Am glad to hear shes doing well.

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I feed 3000g females small rats. Just cause its able to eat large rats 150+g dont mean they should. Anything larger than 80g is a waste of food and youll figure that out then your seeing large amounts of poop often.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

I feed 3000g females small rats. Just cause its able to eat large rats 150+g dont mean they should. Anything larger than 80g is a waste of food and youll figure that out then your seeing large amounts of poop often.

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you beat me to it Rich. :gj:

Good luck with her. Like it was already said, a dimmer is never a bad idea. I keep $10 lamp dimmers on my Helixes. I almost lost my collection in the beginning to a cheap thermostat that melted-but they were saved by a lamp dimmer that a friend of mine told me to start using. After that experience I would rather use a lamp dimmer than a cheap thermostat.

Finally, after several refused meals I decided to try what she has always liked- a defrosted rat (used a weaned size just to be safe) laid in her tub without any zombie dance.

I just checked up and she ate it! Took her a month but she is acting like her normal self so I think it's safe to say I got her out of the heat just in time :D

Anubis will always be missed, he was a wonderful snake and my first bp. I hope this thread and his loss has at least helped others prevent unneccesary and tragic losses :please:

Thank you so much for the advice and kind words everyone!

Congrats, that's so awesome that she ate for you!

Thank you for this information...I just had a similar experience with my 2 snakes while they were out of my care...I have soaked my little lesser to re-hydrate her, but it's only been 2 days so I am very cautious with my optimism...I figure once she eats for me then she will be semi-in the clear, so I am very happy to hear yours is doing fine! It gives me hope...anyway, I am very glad to hear that and thank you!

Final update 2.0 -

I just want to let everyone know that Ivy appears to have fully recovered. She is eating every time she is offered food, moving normally, pooping, peeing, and starting to get that breeding season feeding aggression ( the only time of the year she ever strikes) :D

Once again, thank you all for your support :)

Ps gardenfiend138 - I hope your little lesser is doing well :please: