Why did he die after having him 6 months

So i got and was feeding weekly my baby BP, he was very healthy but this last month was like to be any other time. 3 weeks ago he went thru his shed state but after for those three weeks i notices he wasn't shedding it off tho. and he looked to have the RAZOR BACK also so i took him out to take a look a noticed he was blowded in the belly and very weak. But thats when he died in my hands! So i guess im wondering what happen in shed?

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

So i got and was feeding weekly my baby BP, he was very healthy but this last month was like to be any other time. 3 weeks ago he went thru his shed state but after for those three weeks i notices he wasn't shedding it off tho. and he looked to have the RAZOR BACK also so i took him out to take a look a noticed he was blowded in the belly and very weak. But thats when he died in my hands! So i guess im wondering what happen in shed?

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sounds like you didnt take very good care of him. a BP should never look as you described if your husbandry is correct.


what was your humidity, what were hot and cool side temps and what was the ambient temperature. what were you feeding him and how often? and why oh why did you not take him to the vet if you noticed he was sickly? sorry to say but the blood is on your hands due to the circumstances you have described.

Did you give him water?

I have 7 other BP's tho and i take very good care of my snakes i keep there temps at 85-90 and feed them weekly and i didn't notice his sickness cause he hides under his log and your not to mess with them when there in shed so why was this time different and his last from the last 6 months i had him

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Did you give him water?

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Yup for all my snakes i change there water ever week so its fresh

Sorry to hear that :(, without a necropsy it would be difficult to determine the exact cause of death.

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

I have 7 other BP's tho and i take very good care of my snakes i keep there temps at 85-90 and feed them weekly and i didn't notice his sickness cause he hides under his log and your not to mess with them when there in shed so why was this time different and his last from the last 6 months i had him

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lets see a picture of what you keep him in.

and thye need to thermal regulate so you need ot provide a hot and cool side and proper humidity.

a log hide is also not a good hide. its probably stress related for sure.

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

Yup for all my snakes i change there water ever week so its fresh

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water should be changed every day. that way anything that could be festering in it (even if you cant see it) will be removed.

If he never shed his old skin, then it could have killed him
If he wasnt given proper husbandry, where it was too cool or too hot, or low humidity, it would have also given him trouble as well.

First question is, where did you buy him from, and had you ever taken him to the vet for a fecal float?

The bloating makes me believe it was either internal parasites, or his temps were to cool, leading to the prey rotting in his belly. Coupled with a completely stuck shed, this does not sound like he was given a good chance at all.

Sorry for the loss, but please tell us where you bought him, and what are the conditions were in his cage?

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

If he never shed his old skin, then it could have killed him
If he wasnt given proper husbandry, where it was too cool or too hot, or low humidity, it would have also given him trouble as well.

First question is, where did you buy him from, and had you ever taken him to the vet for a fecal float?

The bloating makes me believe it was either internal parasites, or his temps were to cool, leading to the prey rotting in his belly. Coupled with a completely stuck shed, this does not sound like he was given a good chance at all.

Sorry for the loss, but please tell us where you bought him, and what are the conditions were in his cage?

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my thought exactly. botulism. sounds to me, and im not trying to be harsh here im just laying it out as it is because i don't sugar coat or BS. that the snake's husbandry had some rather serious issues.

do you feed frozen/thawed? if the prey wasn't all the way thawed it could have rotted in its stomach.

Ive heard some BP's could be born with a internal disease or disorder that you would nvr even kno about up til the day they just die on you even tho your doing everything rite for them. So maybe this was the fault of mine.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

a log hide is also not a good hide. its probably stress related for sure.

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I have never heard of an established Ball Python dieing from stress..in three weeks.

I have a thought what were you feeding him.. Live P/K or F/T???

Can you please answer the questions that have already been asked...what were your temps, hot/cold side and ambient, humidity levels, etc. A picture of his enclosure would be helpful too. We are trying to help you but you have to answer our questions and not make excuses.

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Originally Posted by b@llz4life

so i got and was feeding weekly my baby bp, he was very healthy but this last month was like to be any other time. 3 weeks ago he went thru his shed state but after for those three weeks i notices he wasn't shedding it off tho. And he looked to have the razor back also so i took him out to take a look a noticed he was blowded in the belly and very weak. But thats when he died in my hands! So i guess im wondering what happen in shed?

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i think you should read everything there is for proper ball python care before getting another one!!!

What was his enclosure like?

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

I have never heard of an established Ball Python dieing from stress..in three weeks.

I have a thought what were you feeding him.. Live P/K or F/T???

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i didnt say he died from stress, just that a factor of his sickness and and its advancement to death was not helped by the stress.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

water should be changed every day. that way anything that could be festering in it (even if you cant see it) will be removed.

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I do not change my snakes water every day. At most I change twice a week, and at least once each week. Do you think that large breeders change their snakes water each day?

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

I do not change my snakes water every day. At most I change twice a week, and at least once each week. Do you think that large breeders change their snakes water each day?

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no but they also take a little more proper care. and let me rephrase that. every day may be overkill, a few times a week is good but 2 weeks that water is going to be pretty stale and if there is anything in it, it would be pretty polluted as well.

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

no but they also take a little more proper care. and let me rephrase that. every day may be overkill, a few times a week is good but 2 weeks that water is going to be pretty stale and if there is anything in it, it would be pretty polluted as well.

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I agree.

Please post pictures of the enclosure, how your giving them heat. hot and cool side temps and humidity and ambient air temps. then we ca atleast give you a educated guess on what the downfall was.

i keep humidity at like 50%, i fed him live mice and have him housed in a 20 gallon tank with my female albino with infrared heat lamp and i got him from http://thetyedyediguana.com

no under tank heater?
housed in the same tank all year round?
temps?

yes as babys i keep them house all year round

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

i keep there temps at 85-90 and feed them

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While people can try to make guesses on the cause of death (some apparently more accusatory than others right of the back without asking questions) the only way to truly find out what happened would have been to have a necropsy done especially if you are confident in your husbandry and know that nothing on your part could have caused this.

Also remember animals do die for no apparent reasons and while it is rare it can happen.

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

yes as babys i keep them house all year round

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:colbert:

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

i keep humidity at like 50%, i fed him live mice and have him housed in a 20 gallon tank with my female albino with infrared heat lamp and i got him from http://thetyedyediguana.com

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well first idea is the female dominated him, that couldn't have helped his situation. also if he was sick your albino is probably sick now as well.

a IR light is not usually a sufficient source of heat. how do you measure your temperatures and humidity? some ways are not accurate.

when is the last time he ate? and did you notice the female "cuddling" with him? this is not a good sign.

i use both Exo Terra Temp/Humid Guages and the Humidity is in the green

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

i use both Exo Terra Temp/Humid Guages and the Humidity is in the green

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:( those are these

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=9767

HIGHLY inaccurate... if it reads 90*F the actual ground temperature could be double that. they are not good to trust as your only source of temperature and humidity metering.

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

i use both Exo Terra Temp/Humid Guages and the Humidity is in the green

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If they are the "dial" type gauges, these are know for being a little off to WAY!! off. The better bet is the the digital ones from exoterra.

sorry he died, you should post a pic of him and enclouser, get your albino to a vet for a check up before she just dies on you to, if he had some sort of sicknes she might have the sicknes to,

o trust me i will if she dies on me il be pissed

I am so sorry for your loss. I hope you find the answers you are looking for. I can't help in that capacity but just know that you have friends here.

what do you use or ways you all keep your humidity up

I just mist them once a day when I notice they are going in to shed.

I Believe you said you had a 20 long tank with a lamp, Im guessing you have a mesh lid for it, the lamps suck all the humidity right out, I would recommend cutting a plastic garbage bag and laying it over the mesh to hold humidity in, away from the lamp, another thing would be to switch to a under tank heater and get rid of the lamp

I found something out this week. Okay, I got one of those glass tanks set up like a forest theme so I have a rock-like water bowl. It's some kind of plaster type material. I have had to change substrate to cypres, put half of the water bowl over the UTH, add damp moss, foil up 3/4 of the screen top and sometimes mist to keep the humidity to 50%. So then I found this plastic type water bowl whose color matches my decor better, so I replaced the rock-like one. It caused my humidity to jump up to 70%! So, I took out the moss and opened up the foil a bit and now it's back to 55%. So yeah, the water bowl material can affect the rate of evarporation of the water when half of the bowl is sitting on top of the UTH.

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

what do you use or ways you all keep your humidity up

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i have a humidifier(from wal-mart) that keeps the room at a solid 50% and i mist each snake everyday or every other day dependin on what their enclosures are at, during a shed i bump it up to 60%-70%

my snakes are in racks if i find a rubbermaid isnt holdin enough humidity ill cover some holes if there is too much ill drill a few more holes . . . if your using a tank with a screen lid there are a few things you can do to bump ur humitidy:

1. get rid of the heat lamp it takes moisture away not to mention ball pythons need belly heat and spend most their time underground in burrows and come out at night to hunt for food so they dont tend to need too much light.
2. place the water dish over the under tank heater(when u get one).
3. cover part of the screen top with plexiglass, garbage bag, shrink wrap etc....
4. mist as much as needed.


hope this helps, sorry for ur loss, there are alot of people that are willing to help so this doesnt happen to you again!

Snakes should be housed seperately, one tank - one snake.
Your humidity and tempurtures are probably way off, since you are using inaccurate dials, instead of a digital thermometer.
Pick up a digital thermometer, and perhaps get UTH to use instead of a lamp.
How are the other 5 snakes you say you have housed?

Id like to apologise, i came off a little bit harshly.

however i do stand by my opinion that issues of care were ultimately the cause of the untimely death :(

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Originally Posted by JeffJ

Id like to apologise, i came off a little bit harshly.

however i do stand by my opinion that issues of care were ultimately the cause of the untimely death :(

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And THAT is nothing but speculation on your part. :colbert:

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Originally Posted by B@LLZ4LIFE

o trust me i will if she dies on me il be pissed

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A very large part of her future health is in your hands. You should take her to a vet to be sure she didn't catch anything that may have killed your other BP.

Housing BP's in the same enclosure, even as babies, is just not a acceptable option. Each should have their own enclosure, there should be no doubt on your part about that. It may not have contributed to the death of your BP, but it can not be ruled out unless you have a necropsy done, and you don't seem inclined to do that.

When an animal in your care dies, it's a very good time to recheck all of your husbandry. Some things start getting over looked with time. Make sure you're doing everything you can for the health of your BPs.

And please get rid of those analog guages. You can never trust them.

Sorry for the loss of your snake.