**graphic content**

Please help shed some light on y this happend to my bp? My snake has not been eating for a few months then she started to glow like she was about to become gravid! But i had not bread her because she was
Only at 1200g! Then her body went hard so i asumed she was going to slug out cz i thought she had developed eggs even thou she was not ready.So i just thought keep my eye on her. This morning said snake was dead?? She had
No signs of being ill other than not eating but ball pythons do that!! And the scene was graphic and the smell was unbearable http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...af9b3d455f.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...ffa244662b.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...eec587ba27.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07...65d2ea35ee.jpg
I just want to know y this happened and how to avoid it un future and are my other snaked in danger?? i am gutted she was a grate spider and hopping to breed her next season[emoji26]


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so she wasn't placed with a male at all? Why is her neck swollen? She wasn't in the middle of eating when this happened? I have never ever seen something like that in my life. I am guessing she prolapsed... just by the look of her tail but I am really not an expert or a vet... Sorry for your loss and hopefully someone has a better answer for you. You may never know unless you get the body examined by a vet.

X2 on going to a vet to have a necro done if you really want to know.

Put the body in the refrigerator, not the freezer, and get her to a herp vet for necropsy ASAP.

I would guess some sort of bowel obstruction that backed her up, but there is no way to know if it was from a tumor or parasites unless you have a vet take a look.

Not where local for me
To take the it to be looked at as im in the uk not many herpvets around!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jt balls

Not where local for me
To take the it to be looked at as im in the uk not many herpvets around!


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Well what's your plan if any of your snakes get ill or have issues? Having a herp vet is pretty important if you own reptiles and plan on breeding them.

If you aren't going to have a necropsy done you can open the snake up yourself and see if you can figure out the problem, otherwise you will never know.

Spoke to a vet. And from what i told him he said its sound like a massive burst abscess! Nut take him in just to be
Sure


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Well what's your plan if any of your snakes get ill or have issues? Having a herp vet is pretty important if you own reptiles and plan on breeding them.

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I'm going to second this. Usually Mother Nature takes care of everything and female snakes do just fine laying on their own, but when things go wrong for the female she usually dies without prompt vet treatment.

The neck has me wondering.....
Without a vet I would be the one opening that girl up to see whats going on inside.

Thats so depressing, im sorry for your loss... what makes me most curious is whats going on with the neck area with how swollen it looks and the color change

Sorry for your loss. It must have been hard opening the tub and seeing your girl like that.

When was the last time you checked on her? Looks like it was long enough for the soiled/wet paper towels to mostly dry out anyway. My first thought from hearing of the smell and seeing the pictures was simply decomposition. You might be surprised at how quickly a dead body can buildup gases causing such a bloat.

I agree if you can't get a necropsy done by a vet, you should at least try to find out what happened yourself. When was the last time you checked on her before this happened? Going from perfectly fine to that in a short period of time, it looks to me like her whole system went septic. Other than sudden organ failure, I can't think of anything that would kill one that quickly with no other symptoms, and that doesn't look like a heart attack. I've seen systemic sepsis in possums before, and it's kind of reminiscent of those pictures and can kill in a matter of hours.
Based on the amount of blood and other fluids involved my guess would be that she had some sort of bowel obstruction that perforated the GI tract. That's the only thing I can think of that might cause blood to come back up through her mouth and down near the tail like that. Plus, it would explain her going off food and the hardening of her abdomen before this happened.
That being said, I'm just throwing out theories based on one picture, and even if those happened to be correct there could be a dozen causes behind it, some of which are contagious and some that aren't.

If I were you, I'd keep a VERY close eye on any other snakes you've got. Look for even slight lethargy or decreased awareness, as sometimes that can be the earliest sign of a bacterial infection (I kind of doubt that's what this was, but it's possible, and better safe than sorry).

The state of the snake looks like regular decomposition to me. Especially if it died on top of/next to the heat tape, it takes VERY little time for the body to bloat and begin to leak out.

I would only go on the symptoms you have from before you found her dead. She could have had a blockage, which would make her bloat some and look swollen.

Without a necropsy, and frankly at this stage of decomp, you'll probably find nothing useful inside, it's nearly impossible to figure out. If you found a large lump of urates/poo in the mess of decomposed flesh, that might indicate a bowel blockage.

My manager said looks like bacterial infection that caused fluid blockage and when the snake passed the fluid released

I'm sorry for your loss.
Could she have eaten a rat with poison in its system?

Sorry for the loss. Try not to dwell on it. Some things are just out of our control. Without a vet it really is much harder to get definitive answers. Stay in peace and not pieces. Good luck. :(

I am a member of another board called reptileforums.co.uk If you are not already a member you might consider signing up in hopes that someone on there lives in the same area as you and could make a vet recommendation. Even if you are not in a position to take this snake in, what the others have said about having a vet lined up is absolutely right. If you are still in a position to, and are willing to, get a necropsy done they might be able to point you in the right direction. Be advised, there is a "moderation" period for threads posted by new members and they do not appear until approved. I understand that you want to figure this out with as little delay as possible, so if you would like to tell me where in the UK you are I would be happy to start thread over to try to find someone who could help.

I am by no means an expert and I agree with the others that without a trip to the vet it would be impossible to know for sure what the cause was, but it is true that if there was enough delay between her passing and you finding her the swelling may be the result of normal decomposition. The bleeding does seem unusual, but I can at least say that I have lost fish to septicemea and it is a nasty condition known for causing bleeding. In fish symptoms of bloodshot lips and eyes were early warning signs. I don't suppose she showed any other symptoms besides the hard lump and food refusals did she?

Thanks for all the in put ppl! I have spoke with a vet who specialises in reptiles. And his opinion, after explaining on the phone and showing him photos is that it is a intestinal tract blockage! The neck is stretching from bloating which happens post-mortem! The snake was not left longer than 24hrs but was in top of the heat tape which make a necropsy out of the question. It is my honest believe (not just to make myself feel better) that this is a act of nature and nothing i did wrong.i had no idea that she was even sick or suffering! No other symptoms other than the ones i mentioned! Parasitic infection i ruled out because she lost no weight! And a bacterial infection you would expect to c so sign like RI or slow tongue movement or even limp or weak body movements. I saw
Nothing like this and i am very vigilant wiv my animals. Just one of those things i guess


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Glad you got some answers. All we can do is try our best at keeping our animals healthy. Cleaning enclosures , changing water containers as frequently as possible and changing out waste products on a daily sometimes twice daily basis. Then there is still things we can't control. Good luck.:)

sorry to hear about your snake :(