death after assist feeding?

anyone ever experienced this before? or even heard of it? young BP. only had her maybe 2 weeks.

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I will always offer live food regularly before even considering assist/force feeding.

I have assist/force fed many ball pythons and I have not experienced a death afterward. I imagine it would be logical to expect a death if there is an undetected medical condition that is inhibiting the snake from eating in the first place.

Depending upon the body condition of the hatchling I will not attempt to assist/force feed until I think they are becoming too weak to take food on their own.

Note: I have never had the need to assist/force feed an adult ball python, they always seem to eat eventually...

I also figure the most likely cause is the ball python was suffering from some fatal ailment which was what was causing it to not eat... Not necessarily because of the assist feed.

the reason we assist fed is because we've had another baby BP refuse to eat. we'd been planning a vet visit but he didn't make it.
i figure this one may have had an underlying condition, as suggested...first 2 attempts were live no interest. then she tried really hard to get a fuzzy down (live) but ended up spitting it back out of her mouth 2 hrs later and it was still alive. tried a large pinkie and had no interest then this am assist fed.

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I've heard of it happening now & then. Personally I'm not a fan of 'assist' feeding ever, but I've had great outcomes with the more gentle method of tube-feeding
thinned (w/ a little water) chicken baby food to snakes...no bad outcomes ever, done many times. It's a skill I recommend picking up...sorry for your loss. I think it
probably was not a result of anything you did, but rather occurred in spite of it.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I've heard of it happening now & then. Personally I'm not a fan of 'assist' feeding ever, but I've had great outcomes with the more gentle method of tube-feeding
thinned (w/ a little water) chicken baby food to snakes...no bad outcomes ever, done many times. It's a skill I recommend picking up...sorry for your loss. I think it
probably was not a result of anything you did, but rather occurred in spite of it.

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we have syringe fed egg yolk successful to picky little corn snakes before. didn't even cross my mind for her. thank you for the reply.

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

we have syringe fed egg yolk successful to picky little corn snakes before. didn't even cross my mind for her. thank you for the reply.

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I've never used a syringe (alone), out of concern that the hard plastic could hurt a delicate snake mouth. I attach a human urethral catheter (flexible rubber and WAY thinner than anything a snake normally swallows) to the syringe to feed & have done this successfully with various sizes & types of snakes, even a young rattlesnake, & tiny hatchling desert glossy snakes (about 7" long). Snakes that are weak can digest the protein rich chicken baby food readily...I sorta worry about salmonella with raw eggs, though I know of others that have used raw eggs too. Sorry for your loss though...probably just wasn't about food anyway.

yeah i was just informed about some other symptoms i would have chosen vet over feeding if i'd known.

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Yes it happens especially considering how it was done, this is not assist feeding but for feeding BTW, there are better ways than what was done.

it wasn't shoved down her throat but rather placed in her mouth. [emoji849]
we will have necropsy results this evening.

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

yeah i was just informed about some other symptoms i would have chosen vet over feeding if i'd known.

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What "other symptoms"? Bummer...:(

she had some head wobble and jaw issues the evening before she passed yesterday.

necropsy results are in:
enlarged heart, fluid in abd, lungs ok, kidney and liver normal, functioning, urine in ureters as expected.
NO fat deposits. this snake in his opinion had not been eating at all. did not appear to be a hatchling so she should have had some signs of having eaten.
he ruled out anything we did or did not do, in his experience she was unwell to begin with due to heart disease and malnutrition.

many lessons have been learned, the hard and expensive way unfortunately.

At least you got some answers and it had nothing to do with anything you did. :gj: Sorry for your loss...

I'm sorry. Was this the super cinny you acquired recently? If so they're unfortunately known for having issues.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I'm sorry. Was this the super cinny you acquired recently? If so they're unfortunately known for having issues.

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yes! what issues??

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

yes! what issues??

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Supers in that complex (super cinny, super black pastel, 8-ball) have duck-billing and kinking problems. Many babies fail to thrive. If I produced one I'd keep it for a few months and make sure it was stable before selling it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Supers in that complex (super cinny, super black pastel, 8-ball) have duck-billing and kinking problems. Many babies fail to thrive. If I produced one I'd keep it for a few months and make sure it was stable before selling it.

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duck billing?
i am pretty angry she was for sale but i also feel responsible for buying her.

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

duck billing?
i am pretty angry she was for sale but i also feel responsible for buying her.

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This is a fairly extreme example.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...r-Black-Pastel

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

duck billing?
i am pretty angry she was for sale but i also feel responsible for buying her.

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Late to the thread SilentHill. First, don't blame yourself. You did everything you could. We've all been there with different outcomes. Shayna my BP is an albino spider and I lucked out, as she has no noticeable neurological issues, and will be 8 in a couple of months, but I don't know if I'd take the risk again. I was unaware of Spider issues when I got her.

Secondly, learn and move on. Beating yourself up doesn't help. You are a great Snarent and I wouldn't let this make you doubt yourself or your abilities or love for these animals.

I am really sorry this happened and my thoughts are with you, 67temp, and the little one lost.