Ball Python just dies?

One of my friends owns a ball python that I hatched last year from a WC female. He had her for a few months (6+) and she ate, drank, deficated, urinated, shedded, etc. regularly. Today I talk to him and he tells me that she dies about a day ago. He said he was in the process of moving and didn't see her for two days. He fed her before he left and he said he found her bloated and dead in her water bowl. First thing I thought of was associating water bowl with mites. I asked him if that was the problem and he says not that he was aware of. So I am pretty much at a loss. Anyone have any ideas?

did she maybe choke when she was taking a drink

im very sry to hear this happened to your friend and am very interested to see the feedback of some of the experts here :)

Did the water bowl have a lid on it? Or was the lip of the water bowl really close to the top of the tank?

what did he feed her? perhaps the food was bad?

Hard to tell why, but it does happen. Back in Nov. 2004 I bought a male albino from a very well known breeder. Things were going great eating, pooping, shedding etc... Then around March of 2005 I went down to the snake room and found him dead one morning. No warnings, no signs of illness. It sucks, it happens. He had already started to bloat so I didn't take him for a necropsy.

I did contact the breeder for advice, and let him know that I wasn't looking for anything other than some ideas about what may have caused it to happen. He didn't have any definitive answers but he did offer to partially compensate me for the loss. I never took him up on the offer as I had the snake long enough that I didn't feel it was his responsibility any longer. But, I sure did have a whole new level of respect for him as a breeder and a person after that incident!

One of the things you have to remember about reptiles, but especially snakes (so I’m told), is that they are not social/pack animals. They are solitary and fend for themselves. When you are fending for yourself, you can't show any sign of weakness because it is like painting a red bullseye on your back for predators.

When a snake is ill (even injured) they will hide it as best they can, and you won’t typically notice anything until it gets to the point of being extremely serious. I've even heard of BPs with broken ribs that act totally normal, and you'd not notice unless you felt them. It is entirely possible that the snake in question was suffering with some illness but just kept on a ‘business as usual’ act until it overcame her.

Either way, I’m sorry to hear about the loss. :(

maybe it was a fluke like an embollism or anyurysm or any number of unpredictable ailments

Like others said, there is really no way you'll know for sure but
one thing that comes to my mind when I hear it was in the water bowl is that maybe it was trying to cool down?

There are few things that will kill a snake faster then overheating. Is the heating equipment faulty causing it to spike? Was the cage near a window where the sun could have shone on it during part of the day? Min/Max Digital thermometers are nice to have because they record the highest and lowest temperatures during the day and can catch problems you may not see because you can't watch the cage all day long.

I hope your friend isn't put off by this experience, figures it out and tries again.

Mark

Ok, now what really gets me at a loss for words is that I was just checking on snakes and the sibling to the snake that died is now dead! She was perfectly fine no less than 3 hours ago, last time I checked on her. I'm thinking it might be something genetic passed from the mother. But this seriously just irks me. Both snakes were tremendous eaters did everything regularly, mine ate no less than a week ago. I'm just out of ideas.

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Originally Posted by kellysballs

Did the water bowl have a lid on it? Or was the lip of the water bowl really close to the top of the tank?

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He says he uses small water bowls that are at least one inch from the top of the rack.

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Originally Posted by Somed00d

what did he feed her? perhaps the food was bad?

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He says her last meal was a p/k rat pink.

Things happen.

Adam stated once he had a ball python eat fine, and die the next day. Turned out it had tumors everywhere.

I know kara lost a couple of goregous suri's due to some sort of genetic blood or liver disorder..I don't recall which. One of those things that nobody would have known without extensive vet testing and the loss of almost all of the boas of that litter.

Myself and my friend have been thinking a bit and we think it may have been internal parasites passed down from the mother, who was WC. Any other takes on that?

could just be some freak disorder that they got genetically. So sorry for you sad experience.

My first thought was to agree on the heat issue -- but then I read that he's feeding a 6+ month old ball rat pinks -- it likely could have starved to death.

That's strange...but it could come from something being passed on from the wc mother or the conditions they were in just after they were out of the egg. When there immune systems are more vulnerable.

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Originally Posted by Tosha_Mc

My first thought was to agree on the heat issue -- but then I read that he's feeding a 6+ month old ball rat pinks -- it likely could have starved to death.

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Unlikely, as the seller has just had a sibling die too from the same clutch.

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Originally Posted by RKO

Ok, now what really gets me at a loss for words is that I was just checking on snakes and the sibling to the snake that died is now dead! She was perfectly fine no less than 3 hours ago, last time I checked on her. I'm thinking it might be something genetic passed from the mother. But this seriously just irks me. Both snakes were tremendous eaters did everything regularly, mine ate no less than a week ago. I'm just out of ideas.

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sorry to steal the thread, but i was cleaning out my snake tubs today (like everyday) and all of my snakes seemed fine. then not even an hour later, i see puea in a funny position by her water bowl. i look in, and start to freak out, because she's dead. she hadn't eaten voluntarily since i got her, so i've assist fed her twice, but she was fine other than that, lots of tongue flicking, seemed to be thermoregulating just fine, and my temps are fine as well, water every day......so i got scared because all of my snakes are from the same breeder. i read this thread and started to calm down, thinking maybe i did everything right, she just died by freak accident. then i read the comments about the possibility of it being genetic, and started to get nervous again. since i found her almost right away im taking her in for a necropsy on tuesday ( i put her in the freezer) to see if they can figure out the reason. then if its something that the others might have (everyone cross their fingers that its NOT) ill take them in too. *sigh* i do feel a tiny bit better though, and im glad that i can come here and talk about stuff like this. im sorry for your friends loss, i understand exactly how they feel. :(

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Originally Posted by m0esgirl

sorry to steal the thread, but i was cleaning out my snake tubs today (like everyday) and all of my snakes seemed fine. then not even an hour later, i see puea in a funny position by her water bowl. i look in, and start to freak out, because she's dead. she hadn't eaten voluntarily since i got her, so i've assist fed her twice, but she was fine other than that, lots of tongue flicking, seemed to be thermoregulating just fine, and my temps are fine as well, water every day......so i got scared because all of my snakes are from the same breeder. i read this thread and started to calm down, thinking maybe i did everything right, she just died by freak accident. then i read the comments about the possibility of it being genetic, and started to get nervous again. since i found her almost right away im taking her in for a necropsy on tuesday ( i put her in the freezer) to see if they can figure out the reason. then if its something that the others might have (everyone cross their fingers that its NOT) ill take them in too. *sigh* i do feel a tiny bit better though, and im glad that i can come here and talk about stuff like this. im sorry for your friends loss, i understand exactly how they feel. :(

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i am so sorry your baby died. :tears: did she show any signs of sicness or anything? when you have the necropsy done do you think you might post the results? one of my biggest fears is having one of my snakes die and i would like to learn as much as i can from your experience.

that was what was weird. she seemed perfectly fine when i cleaned out her tub and gave her fresh water. no mites, she was moving around fine, in between hot and cold sides, lots of tongue flicking. she seemed completely normal. so now im freaked, but super glad that i wash my hands in between snakes. *sigh* i just hope its not ibd. i looked up the symptoms, and she didnt have mouth rot, she wasn't stargazing, could move from her back to her tummy, she seemed completely healthy! i wrote the breeder to see if he had any ideas about what might have caused her to die, or if he'd had any other letters about snakes dying with his other shipments. i will post the results of the necropsy when i get it though. *crosses fingers* i really hope its not my fault, or something i could have prevented!!! :tears:

im sure its nothing you did. it sounds like she was in perfect health. and as others have said, sometimes they just spontaneously die. dont beat yourself up about it

i cant help it, im sooo worried that its ibd. i mean i was cleaning her tub earlier and i didnt see any stargazing, no weird moving or extended tongue flicking, but the more i read about ibd, the more paranoid i get. i read that it presents itself quicker in pythons than boas, and i cannot lose all my babies! i've become attached, and it hasn't even been two months yet. it'll be two months on july 26th. jeez. pray to the bp gods that its not IBD. :tears::please:

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Since i found her almost right away im taking her in for a necropsy on tuesday ( i put her in the freezer) to see if they can figure out the reason.

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Just for future reference, freezing will kill most pathogens making it harder to determine if a parasite or a disease was the cause of death in a necropsy. Refrigeration is a better way to go as the vet will still be able to make a culture to determine if the body tissues were infected with something.

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Originally Posted by crystal

im sure its nothing you did. it sounds like she was in perfect health. and as others have said, sometimes they just spontaneously die. dont beat yourself up about it

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That is true.

However, when a breeder has animals that he has sold/given away dying and siblings in the same clutch dying... I would look for answers.

This could be nothing or it could be something at least we could learn something.

*getting back on track here*

thanks for the info about the freezer thing...i didnt know that! so would it be gross to 'thaw her out'? im sure that would get bacteria growing as well. and i dont know if any of her siblings have died yet, i wrote an email to the seller but haven't gotten a response yet. :( thanks for all the replies though, i do feel a little better than yesterday. gotta get over it, im sure its gonna happen again, even though i HOPE it wont. thanks again everyone.

well, i took her to the vets and they told me that since she was in the freezer, they werent even gonna do any cultures cuz they probably wouldnt get any results. they said that everything else looked normal from the outside though so i thought hey freak accident. bad news....it may be genetic. a sibling of hers died today. :( i wrote the breeder and asked him some questions after puea died, but never got a response. and i just wrote him again. pray to the bp gods that this STOPS!!! *sniffle*:tears:

im so sorry that you didnt find anything out. hopefully you can get a new snake and everything will be ok.

good luck and again im sorry.

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Originally Posted by m0esgirl

well, i took her to the vets and they told me that since she was in the freezer, they werent even gonna do any cultures cuz they probably wouldnt get any results. they said that everything else looked normal from the outside though so i thought hey freak accident. bad news....it may be genetic. a sibling of hers died today. :( i wrote the breeder and asked him some questions after puea died, but never got a response. and i just wrote him again. pray to the bp gods that this STOPS!!! *sniffle*:tears:

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Would it be worth it to try to quarentine the siblings? Perhaps it it
is something viral that might stop the spread?

:2cent: