My Ball Python Died

I decided to venture into the snake world a few months ago. I found a beautiful male ball python, and my daughter and I fell in love with him. He was sweet, and ate very well at his first feeding. He was fairly active and seemed to be a pretty happy guy. A few weeks ago we moved in with my boyfriend and his sons. I should mention I did not have central air in my apartment so he was kept in the living room...toasty and humid, I had to use the heat lamp minimally once the weather warmed up. :) Well with the air conditioning I was keeping his heat lamp on and knew I needed to get an under the tank heater, but thought the lamp was sufficient temporarily as I was planning to get him a larger enclosure. Over the weekend he seemed abnormally aggravated (hissing and snappy), and was "sunning" his neck in front of the heat lamp quite a bit. He was really active, but refused to eat. We woke up Saturday morning to a dead snake. I have no idea what happened. Could it have been the cooler temps? Am I complete idiot and missed something?

Sorry for your loss.. Sounds like he was a little stressed whatever it was. Was the heat lamp to close to him? I'm just asking because you said he was sunning in front of it.

I'm sorry for your loss. It could have been multiple things that caused it. If you decide to get another I suggest doing some more homework and reading over out caresheet.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Again, I'm sorry for your loss, it's always hard to lose a pet :(

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Originally Posted by DellaF

Sorry for your loss.. Sounds like he was a little stressed whatever it was. Was the heat lamp to close to him? I'm just asking because you said he was sunning in front of it.

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He had his hide to go into which stayed warm also. When I say sunning...it was strange. He would put himself in a verticle position with his neck in front of the lamp, and his head upside down so the underside was pressed to the top of the cage. He would test sometimes to see if he could get out, but it was secure. The lamp was far enough from the cage and positioned to one side...not the top, and I monitored the humidity and temp to make sure it wasn't to hot. That and I was concerned about the rock water dish getting hot and burning him...so I checked that regularly also. It took some toying with the distance to get the lamp the right distance to give a good temp in the enclosure.

What were the temps, you never mention exact temps in the enclosure.
With what are you reading your temperatures with?

Sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear for your loss. If you get another one do some homework and get everything set-up before you get a new one.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Sorry for your loss...

The "sunning his neck" behavior you are describing sounds to me more like stargazing. That could be signs of respiratory infection or possibly IBD. Did you notice any wheezing, clicking or popping sounds when he would breathe? Did you notice any bubbles or mucous coming from the mouth in the days before he died?

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

What were the temps, you never mention exact temps in the enclosure.
With what are you reading your temperatures with?

Sorry for your loss.

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90 in the warm area and 80 in the cooler once the weather warmed up that fluctuated with the temp of the room but never below 80, and like I said it took some toying once we got in the air conditioning, there were a couple of drops below to closer to 75 when we first moved, but I got that under control pretty quickly. I also now realize that the dial readers are not really all that accurate...so I will be getting a digital. He initially would spend most of his time in the hide where the cooler temp was, but then started spending more time for the passed couple of weeks in the warmer area, and way more active than usual.

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

Sorry for your loss...

The "sunning his neck" behavior you are describing sounds to me more like stargazing. That could be signs of respiratory infection or possibly IBD. Did you notice any wheezing, clicking or popping sounds when he would breathe? Did you notice any bubbles or mucous coming from the mouth in the days before he died?

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He did make some strange click noise...not often, but one time it was REALLY REALLY loud...I heard it from another room and went to see what was going on. I was long and drawn out. I thought it was just some noise he was making at the cat because he was irritated, scared...or thought it looked tasty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

Sorry for your loss...

The "sunning his neck" behavior you are describing sounds to me more like stargazing. That could be signs of respiratory infection or possibly IBD. Did you notice any wheezing, clicking or popping sounds when he would breathe? Did you notice any bubbles or mucous coming from the mouth in the days before he died?

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I just looked up IBD...that could be what it was. He had a bout with a small rat that he started to eat...got it about half way down and spit it out. Again...I guess my inexperience came into play, because I thought he wasn't hungry or was having difficulty getting it down.

If you used a dial, it could be that he overheated, or wasn't warm enough. So few people realize how inaccurate those are, after all, they do sell them at pet stores. It's a pity that stores sell items that are so important to proper husbandry and so inaccurate as to be useless at time.

The clicking would indicate a possible RI(respitory infection), which could explain him trying to get to the heat, and being agitated.

I doubt it would be IBD, as it usually does not take long at all to begin showing up. It also involves more than just a neck stretch and a single regurge(throwing up the rodent), most of the time.

Without a necropsy(an animal autopsy) you wouldn't know exactly why your pet died. Was the tank near a window? Was there a draft?

I'm very sorry your pet died. I hope you can find out why so you can set up differently for your next, if you choose to get another.

Sounds like improper temps were the problem. make sure you get the proper tools if your wanting to try again. Sorry for your loss.

I highly doubt this was a case of IBD

The problem with dial thermometers is they measure air temps, the surface temps can be way higher.
I had a similar setup, and once I purchased an infrared temp gun I was annoyed and surprised how much the temps varied. 92' f, air temp gunned in at 115'f inside her warm side hide. Her cool side (where she stayed) gunned in at 93'f, and air temp was 78'f.
Fixed now, with happy snakes.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

If you used a dial, it could be that he overheated, or wasn't warm enough. So few people realize how inaccurate those are, after all, they do sell them at pet stores. It's a pity that stores sell items that are so important to proper husbandry and so inaccurate as to be useless at time.

The clicking would indicate a possible RI(respitory infection), which could explain him trying to get to the heat, and being agitated.

I doubt it would be IBD, as it usually does not take long at all to begin showing up. It also involves more than just a neck stretch and a single regurge(throwing up the rodent), most of the time.

Without a necropsy(an animal autopsy) you wouldn't know exactly why your pet died. Was the tank near a window? Was there a draft?

I'm very sorry your pet died. I hope you can find out why so you can set up differently for your next, if you choose to get another.

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The neck stretch was pretty routine the last week or so. I will be getting a different temp gauge. :( I feel terrible about what happened. I'm currently working on improving the set-up and making sure i have all the kinks worked out before I venture out to get another. Is there any brand or anything specific I should look at for the gauge...anything to avoid, aside from the dial version obviously? My previous setup I used the coconut substrate, had one of the styrofoam rockwalls across the back and some plastic plants with the vine that I created one hide from as well as a log for his other. I read somewhere that the log probably isn't the best to use, so I am going to try something else, and go to a paper substrate. Any other ideas, tips, etc would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...0134781&sr=8-1

http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

I use aspen which is better for me than the coco fiber (I tried it) I had trouble with temps with the cocofiber. Aspen is also less messy, but newspaper or paper towels work well too.

http://tempgun.com/