At a Loss

I went to feed Artemas and Kalypso tonight and when I lifted Kalypso's hide I found that she has passed away overnight. I am at a loss. The only snake I ever lost in my collection was a big old female that passed of old age. I don't understand what I did wrong. All temps were controlled by thermostat at appropriate levels. I was having a very hard time getting her to eat. I received her October 15th and she had refused (October 20th, October 26th, October 29th: struck at food, but left it) to eat up until last week (November 6th) when she ate a live mouse pup. I don't have access to live rat pups here and she refused frozen. I feel like her death was attributed to her eating problems. I should've emailed her breeder earlier to voice my concerns. I emailed him anyways, but don't expect anything from him as its been nearly 4 weeks. I'm heartbroken. I just don't know if it was something I did wrong. She was out and about yesterday which had me hopeful that she would eat again tonight. I hadn't handled her since earlier in the week, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. She did have a wobble.

Artemas is healthy and ate two live mouse hoppers tonight. I never had a problem with him eating. I guess I can't find an answer unless I took her to have a necropsy performed. As I am getting knee surgery tomorrow I don't think this will be an option. So sad. She was my first morph female :*(

Did she pass the rat pup before passing away? Had she eaten before you received her? Reason I ask is if it was her 1st meal perhaps their were some internal issues and she was unable to pass the food. Really sorry for your loss, but don't beat yourself up about, lame stuff just happens sometimes.

So sorry for your loss :(

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The breeder is a pretty stand up guy who has been in the business for a long time. My transaction with him was really great. She had eaten before she was shipped to me. I assumed her issues with eating were in regards to not having the live prey as the first time I could get a hold of some she ate right away. I did not notice any poo in her cage as I emptied it out a little while ago. Bowel impaction maybe? I was tracking her weight. She was 68g when I got her and a few days ago she was down to 60g. I am stupid. I should've emailed her breeder to voice my concerns. At this point it's been nearly 4 weeks he doesn't owe me anything.

The breeder is giving me credit towards a new baby, $25 over my purchase price for her. He's not sure either why she passed but also suggested possible undigested food too. Is there something I could have done to prevent that?


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Very sorry to hear you lost one of your babies. Its never fun losing something you put so much time into.

The biggest impact on food digestion would be heat. If she had a good heat source like a t-stat controlled under tank heater or good ambient temperatures, it helps aid the digestion process.

Unfortunately its just the opposite when it comes to keeping a cage too cold. The digestive process is slowed and the food inside can start to rot, and literally poison a snake from the inside.

But like a poster posted above me, crap happens don't beat yourself up over it. Just learn from the experience and move on.

Sounds like she possibly had issues from the get to..but sucks ,sorry for your loss..RIP little buddy...