Please help, royal python died!

Sorry if this is in the wrong place or has been asked before but I am new to this (posting and snake owning) but I am hoping someone might be able to help me by making some sensible suggestions. I recently decided to fulfill my life long dream of owning a snake and was advised by several more experienced individuals that either a corn snake or royal python would be best. I chose a royal for various reasons and attempted to educate myself as much as possible on how to take care of one. Having read endless care sheets, forums, advice guides and spoken to people with experience I purchased my first snake. I decided that I wanted something young enough to see grow but a bit more established than a hatchling. I ended up with a 10month old female who I was told was tame and use to being handled and always ate except when shedding. I went to get her to discover that she was just starting to shed and was warned that she may not eat that week but not to worry. I brought her home and placed her in a viv (as she had been use to in her previous home) with a ceramic heater and thermostat with hot spot of 91 and cold side of 80 with hides and water at both ends plus a cork bark hide in the middle and some artificial plants. I initially had a couple of days of struggling to keep the humidity up but with lots of spraying the humidity eventually stabilised at 50-60%. I provided fresh water each day and used a beach chip substrate. I tried feeding her after 5days (frozen thawed weaner rat as that's what I was informed she was used to having) but she didn't eat and I didn't worry. The skin had come off her head but didn't appear to be anywhere near ready to come of the rest of her and I did wonder if she was a bot dehydrated but she had plenty of fresh water and the humidity was good and I had read that it can take up to 3wks for a royal to shed and so I wasn't worried. She seemed quiet and didn't move around much but again I understood that this was likely when shedding so didn't question her behaviour, plus the times she was likely to be active dawn and dusk I was in bed. She was easy to handle and didn't seem bothered about being handled and I made sure I didn't over handle her. I tried again to feed her 7days after her previous feed and again she didn't have it but equally was still shedding (although not really making much progress on that front either) so I didn't worry although was starting to think perhaps I needed to soak her as advised in various places. That was Sunday and she seemed fine on Monday but by Tuesday evening she was dead. I have no idea why and I am not expecting others to be able to give me a definitive answer but ideas and suggestions would help. I know since the event from reading on here that the advise would be to have an autopsy but I was so shocked and upset at the time that all I could think to do was bury her. I loved her even after 13 days and feel quiet unexpectedly traumatised by what has happened. I would love another but I am terrified in case the same thing happens because I don't know why it did and I worry that it is something I did wrong but I have no idea what. Any advise, suggestion, help would be much appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

I'm not going to be able to offer any help, but I do offer my sympathy. Hopefully this doesn't deter you from sticking with the hobby. I think you'll be missing out if you walk away now. You got a snake and did all that research for a reason. Hopefully after a bit of time you get back at it so you can enjoy this amazing hobby and these amazing animals.
Good luck.

First of all, my condolences. It is extremely upsetting when a pet dies, especially when you don't know why. My suggestion for you is to seek out an autopsy to see if it can offer you any answers as to what happened. I hope everything works out for you.

Did the snake come from a pet store or a private breeder/seller?

I'm not an expert by any means, but if what you're saying is true, then it sounds like you did everything right and the snake may have already been sick when you brought it home. Its hard to say for sure without an autopsy though. I would buy from a reputable breeder if next time if you didn't do so this time. I have had luck at expos and most of the breeders there stand by their animals because that's their livelihood.
Anyway, I hope this helped.

So sorry to here that. You did absolutely everything right and there was nothing you could of done to prevent her from dying. The snake was sick when you got her wether the previous owner knew it or not. This is not typical at all and I hope it doesn't deter you from owning another ball python. If you'd like you can message me and I can send you a free ball python if your able to pay for shipping. I breed various morphs.


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Yeah, healthy snakes don't just up and die after 2 weeks. I would be asking for a refund/replacement.

Two weeks is not enough time for you to have caused this based on how you said she was set up. It sounds like she was sick when you got her, which is really sad, but at least it means you should be fine to try again when you're feeling up to it. Losing pets is never anything but devastating, even after a short time, but I hope you can get back on it one day! :) :please:

I also agree that this is not at all typical. It looks like your husbandry was just fine, so she must have been sick when you got her. I know it might take a little while before you feel like you're ready for another snake, but don't let this experience discourage you from giving up your dream of owning a snake. Royals are good hardy snakes in my opinion and though they are known to be picky eaters one rarely dies because of it.

Condolences! You did everything right (even more so with ceramic heater which is a bonus).
I would get a refund and get another snake somewhere else. She probably was sick. And while on this topic I would disinfect everything she was in touch with.
Was her mouth dry or bubbly? How about eyes?

Sorry for your loss.
But as asked earlier where did you get her from?
Did she show any signs of illness?
Also It doesn't take a snake weeks to shed it takes about a week total and when the old skin starts coming off it only takes a matter of hours. Something was wrong with her when you got her because even if you did everything wrong ( which it doesn't sound like you did) it would take a sub-adult months to expire from not eating or poor husbandry. Talk to whoever you got her from and see if they will do anything about it. And don't give up ball pythons are a great pet

Thank you for you kind words, I appreciate them. I hope in time I will ready to try again as I really do love them!

Sadly you unless you have a necropsy done you will stay in the dark when it come to the cause of death.

While it is unusual for an animal to just die it does happen, few years back I had an albino male (about a year, and had been in my care for 6 months) and I just found him dead one morning (healthy, shedding fine, eating).....cause of death aneryism.

So it can happen, does not mean you are at fault, there is also a chance the animal came in sick it's always a possibility as well.


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So I was going to reply to each response separately but I am not very good at this so will will respond to all with one message! Thank you all for your kind words I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I do feel somewhat reassured that I could not have known (with my general lack of experience) that she was unwell. It's a tough one because if I had any idea at all she would have been straight to the vet but my inexperience let her down. I will try to answer all of your questions as best I can. She was purchased privately from someone who said they were selling her after owning her for a few months because her daughter wanted a dog and she couldn't keep both so the snakes were being sold. Seemed plausible and when I went to get her she seemed genuine enough but I guess I will never know if she had any idea if there was something wrong. I like to think that she didn't. I am therefore not in a position to request a refund/replacement. I purchased her because like I mentioned before she was older and used to being handled etc so I though that might help us both, what with me being a complete novice. She did not have any mucus etc coming from her nose or mouth, both were dry and there was no noise when she was breathing. When I picked her up the skin had come off half of her head and one eye and about one week later it came off the other eye. Both eyes seemed bright once they could both be seen. I will be cleaning out and thoroughly disinfecting everything this weekend. Thank you again for your supportive words and advice.

A couple potential problems that some may disagree with me on. Log hides are not real great as the wood can harbor bacteria. Another potential problem is misting the tank. It can actually cause humidity spikes which can lead to respiratory infection. Out of curiosity did your snake have bubbles around its mouth or popping or clicking when breathing and lastly any excessive yawning? One last thing what type of humidity guage were you using digital or analog? Did you test the guage i wonder if your guage was off. When humidity is correct he should have shed in one solid piece. I am not trying to be critical of care just trying to help you with future care

I'm so sorry! Most likely she was already sick when she got to you.

After reading your story carefully, it seems like she already "finished" the shed and was having stuck shed/a bed shed that only came off her head but not anywhere else. This caused by low humidity. The 3 week process for shedding includes going in blue, not the actual process of pushing the skin off. It only takes an hour for them to push their skin off their head to tail from start to finish.

Not that this is the reason for her death, but just for future reference.

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Originally Posted by Nhsmoker

A couple potential problems that some may disagree with me on. Log hides are not real great as the wood can harbor bacteria. Another potential problem is misting the tank. It can actually cause humidity spikes which can lead to respiratory infection. Out of curiosity did your snake have bubbles around its mouth or popping or clicking when breathing and lastly any excessive yawning? One last thing what type of humidity guage were you using digital or analog? Did you test the guage i wonder if your guage was off. When humidity is correct he should have shed in one solid piece. I am not trying to be critical of care just trying to help you with future care

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I would say the previous owner was responsible for not providing the proper humidity. The snake starting a bad shed the first week the OP owned it can not be blamed on the OP. It would take longer than 5 days to cause a bad shed and longer than 14 to fix it.


As far as misting causing an RI, that is news to me. I mist many of my snakes daily and during a shed sometimes more and have never had an issue.

Agreed. For misting to cause an RI would have to have put ambient humidity above optimal range for an extended period of time. Increasing humidity is what's usually called for in an RI to help keep mucous loose, and because RIs quite often occur due to too low of humidity.

That said, it would still take more than two weeks for an RI to do in an animal in even just sorta okay condition. I've had my skinny girl going on the antibiotic merry-go-round for almost three months now, and she was sold to me as a problem feeder snake that had been in someone else's sub optimal care for about 9 months before that, and they didn't even notice she had an RI. While I wouldn't call her thriving at the moment, she's certainly not at death's door yet either.

I didn't mean to imply the op caused the problems. Misting causes humidity spikes and can certainly cause ri but I can't imagine it can happen in a couple weeks. I just don't believe misting is a great habit and find it unnecessary.

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

Agreed. For misting to cause an RI would have to have put ambient humidity above optimal range for an extended period of time. Increasing humidity is what's usually called for in an RI to help keep mucous loose, and because RIs quite often occur due to too low of humidity.

That said, it would still take more than two weeks for an RI to do in an animal in even just sorta okay condition. I've had my skinny girl going on the antibiotic merry-go-round for almost three months now, and she was sold to me as a problem feeder snake that had been in someone else's sub optimal care for about 9 months before that, and they didn't even notice she had an RI. While I wouldn't call her thriving at the moment, she's certainly not at death's door yet either.

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Just out of curiosity what antibiotics has your skinny girl been on? Did your vet do a culture or just prescribe a broad band antibiotic

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Originally Posted by Nhsmoker

I didn't mean to imply the op caused the problems. Misting causes humidity spikes and can certainly cause ri but I can't imagine it can happen in a couple weeks. I just don't believe misting is a great habit and find it unnecessary.

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What snakes do you own?

Any that actually require high humidity?

I do. GTP, ETB, and a BRB.

I mist them daily. I have for years and have no RI issues to report.

The only RI I've ever had to deal with was when I unknowingly bought my GTP with one. Luckily for the snake I knew what it was right away and got him to the vet. One set of injections later and he has been healthy and happy for years now. I mist him. I even must him directly as they will many times drink the water off their body. Still with all that I have not had any RI issues in my collection.

We did do a culture but it unfortunately came back as inconclusive. She was started on Fortaz; that was.... sooort of working, but not very quickly, and when we decided to tube feed her due to weightloss we switched to Obrax. Seems to be doing the trick, she's asymptomatic at the moment (no more wheezing, gaping, bubbles or excess mucus, or sitting with her head propped up like she was before) but she's only been on that for the last two weeks, so we're going to keep on with two more to make sure it's truly good and gone. Then it's just a matter of letting her chill for a bit and get back to regular eating.

Also yeah, a brief spike is not going to hurt an animal. that's like saying it must never rain in Africa because the humidity spike would make the wild balls sick. RI is an infection. There has to be an infectious agent there in the first place, and then other factors that lead to a weakened immune response, which allows it to take hold. Most commonly is continuous, prolonged too low or high humidity, continuous, prolonged too low or high temps, or continuous, prolonged exposure to too much stress from other factors.