my ball python died what happend

hi im new to this site and im in need of anwsers i had a baby bal python for 4 and a half months for the last 3 weeks it was having troubles shedding and would not eat for the three weeks and i tryed feeding him 2 days ago and he ate but i came home tonight and he was hidden in his hiding spot and wasnt moving i could tell he was dead its very upseting but does anyone know why he couldnt shed or wouldnt eat and do u think it could be stress from having a king snake in the same room but not near each other any info will help thank you

Temps, humidity, general setup? No one can give you any clue without knowing exactly what your husbandry was.

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Originally Posted by atown

hi im new to this site and im in need of anwsers i had a baby bal python for 4 and a half months for the last 3 weeks it was having troubles shedding and would not eat for the three weeks and i tryed feeding him 2 days ago and he ate but i came home tonight and he was hidden in his hiding spot and wasnt moving i could tell he was dead its very upseting but does anyone know why he couldnt shed or wouldnt eat and do u think it could be stress from having a king snake in the same room but not near each other any info will help thank you

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Did you mean to say he "was dead"? If so WOW Im sorry to hear this!!!! Maybe a little more info on this may help....How old was he? What was his temps on the Hot and Cold sides? How was his humility like? What did you house him in? So on!

It's kind of difficult not knowing about your husbandry or the background of the snake. If I had had to guess from your description I'd say dehydration, based on trouble shedding, loss of appetite, and not being able to digest when it finally did eat. The only way to know for sure is to have a vet do a necropsy (animal autopsy).

Trouble shedding is a humidity issue. The death is not related to stress from your other snake.

Its good you found this site. Its time to use it to study up and learn what you did wrong so you can have success in the future.

well i had a 20 gal tank set up for 92 degrees on the hot side and 82 on the cold side with 55 0 percent humidity a water dish that was filled with clean water everyday and he soked in it often i had two hiding spoys on half lug and under my lil tree like set up a 100 watt heat bulb and recamended heat lamp aspen bedding and muss grass if thats how its spelled on the heated side that i would mist to keep the humity levels rite and thermus on hot and cold side and a humity level stat any other info you guys need plz let me know

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well i had a 20 gal tank set up for 92 degrees on the hot side and 82 on the cold side with 55 0 percent humidity a water dish that was filled with clean water everyday and he soked in it often i had two hiding spoys on half lug and under my lil tree like set up a 100 watt heat bulb and recamended heat lamp aspen bedding and muss grass if thats how its spelled on the heated side that i would mist to keep the humity levels rite and thermus on hot and cold side and a humity level stat any other info you guys need plz let me know

If he was soaking, he probably was dehydrated. Could have come from parasites or an RI, did you see any symptoms of illness before he passed? Clicking/whistling noises, sitting with his mouth open, limp grip, etc? 55 is a bit high fora steady humidity level. What about his stool, were his evacuations particularly liquidy at all before his time came?

his stool was normal but the mouth opening has been happening for about 3 days we didnt know what it ment and the closes vet to me didnt look like he knew what he was doing and told me its fine and the 55 percent was only for 4 days trying to help him shed question tho are younger snakes harder to take care of heath wize bc iv never had a problem with my king snake and shes turning 11 next spring...

Well, there's no way to be sure what led to his death without a reliable necropsy, at this point. If you plan to use it again, I would double and triple check your humidity gauge, it may have been malfunctioning and fluctuating wildly, if he was both having trouble shedding and portraying symptoms of an RI. I'm very sorry for your loss.

As to whether young snakes are more difficult than older more established ones, with the right conditions they should thrive. The weather fluctuations recently could have led to any of his environmental factors to decline rapidly.

Again, I suggest a necropsy, if you haven't already disposed of the body. It'll tell you exactly what went wrong and what to consider next time. He may have had something else going on that you couldn't see or help.

well to all that has help me so far thank you and im glad i found this site. as for getting the body checked out i really wish i could but i dont have any money to pay for that rent killed me this month but i am plaining on getting a new bp but i will get new thermo stats and hofully nothing else gos wrong one other question should my lamp be centerd or on one side ive had this argument with plenty of ppl and i would like to here other ppls responses to this thank you again

Sorry for your loss :( If the lamp is the only heat source (I.e. not heat mat) then it should be on one side.
Be sure to clean and disinfect the enclosure and anything that goes in it if you're using the same stuff you had in with the previous snake.
I would also suggest different hides to reduce stress. They like snug tight fitting places, those half logs are no good.

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thanks for everything and from everyone

What type of humidity gauge and thermostat did you have?

There is only one person that can really answer your question and it is an herp vet, unless you have a necropsy done everything else is just assumptions.

There are many possibilities and only a vet can give you the answer you want sorry.

Sorry for your loss man...I've had one of my guys for 2 months now and I'm already attached to him...

I've been messing around with my tank and recently have a warm side of around 82-84 which is the air towards the bottom of the tank, warmer towards the top obviously and i do have a heat mat as well,that's set around 83-86 humidity is around30-50, when he sheds I bump it up a bit to like 60-70 as often as I can. He's eating eating anything and sheds no problem.

im sure your set upp had something to do with ya BP passing..My snake hates the cool side. Only time he is there is when he is exploring looking for Food or just being nosey

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Originally Posted by atown

well to all that has help me so far thank you and im glad i found this site. as for getting the body checked out i really wish i could but i dont have any money to pay for that rent killed me this month but i am plaining on getting a new bp but i will get new thermo stats and hofully nothing else gos wrong one other question should my lamp be centerd or on one side ive had this argument with plenty of ppl and i would like to here other ppls responses to this thank you again

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I hear ya on the money for the necropsy. They are really expensive. It sounds like you may have obtained him already with a problem. I don't know where you got him, but a snake can look healthy and really not be. They are good at hiding that they are sick, otherwise they would get eaten in the wild. This is why you have to be careful where you buy from.

A 100 watt bulb is usually recommended for a 40 gallon tank. If it was giving you a air temp of 92 then it could easily be over heating the tank floor. I have a 60 watt bulb on the cool side of a 40 gallon tank and it is hanging above the tank a few inches because it can overheat the tank floor too. I also have a100 watt che and it is hanging about five inches above the screen top. That makes it about 16 inches from the tank floor but it gives me a 90 hotspot. If your bulb was just sitting on the tank lid it was over heating the enclosure.

The worst thing about this thread is op's spelling that is giving me the worst migraine of my last 10 years :O

Not sure that was necessary, considering he came looking for help. Honestly I've seen worse spelling on here.

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If he was soaking alot you may have over heated him or come from parasites like mites they will dehydate him and with the bulb too that may have done it. i am sorry for your lose.:tears:

well to anwser where did i get him from i got him at pet smart first time buying any snake there i mostly go to the local breeder near me but i just didnt have the money at the time so i went to pet smart but i will put a link up of where i get all my snakes

the web site isnt for buying anything more for info the store on the other hand if u love snakes u would love to go there.. www.thezoollc.com

sorry for your loss, that is definitely difficult. In regards to buying snakes from breeders vs. petco, guessing it might have been a normal, you can definitely get one from a breeder at a much cheaper price. If you say that you have a local breeder, I would check there next!

Spelling is fine, it is the grammar and punctuation. In the future feel free to point it out but please direct it at the OP, not at everyone else reading the thread.

Sorry for your loss. It sounds like everything is correct husbandry wise. Why not try getting a thermometer gun so that you can take exact readings of the different sides of the tank on the substrate where the snake actually came into contact with the ground? I love mine!

From my experience, it sounds like he had a problem from the start, that maybe just wasn't obvious to you. Ball pythons are pretty hardy animals, and even if your husbandry was a little less than perfect, I don't think it was enough in and of itself to kill your animal. I've made worse husbandry mistakes as I've gotten better at this over the years, and my two oldest animals, Bryan and Kay, are still alive and with us 8 years later. They have survived through poor attention to both temperature and humidity early on, until I found some good websites that helped me understand what I needed to correct, and how. I got the temperature issues corrected early on, but I have to admit that dry conditions persisted for quite a while. That and for a while I thought it was just typical for ball pythons to have bad sheds. Needless to say it took me a while to get it right. On top of that, Kay came from a situation of total neglect before I took her in. She is a very healthy animal now and is a reliable breeder.

Not saying that they can't get sick from bad husbandry, because they certainly can - I did lose my very first one in 2005 (had him 3 years) to a URI which was almost certainly caused by temps being too cold. But no longer than you've had yours, I do think something else had to be going on for him to go downhill that quickly.