Unexpected death: RIP Vera (necropsy?)

[BHReptiles]

The fatty tissue and he explained that when he checked her exterior instead of having the healthy body shape of a slight triangle or circular she was actually shaped like what I would call an apple (ie fat actually bulging out from her spine, if that makes sense)? I feel bad that I've never noticed her shaped like this before (she always looked and felt circular to me) and tomorrow I'll be looking everyone over to see if they're showing this body shape. If any are (I'll be looking especially close at my adult King who's been on the same feeding schedule as Vera) I'll take some pics and they'll be going on a diet.

Thank you for sharing this. I too keep several corns and I usually feed on a 7-day schedule. I've always been under the notion that you feed weekly until they are about 300g and then breeding females are continued on this schedule and all others on a 10-14 day schedule. However, I will take this new information and see about modifying my feeding routine.

[Coleslaw007]

I'm sorry to hear this, she was a gorgeous snake and it's never easy. Glad you're getting some answers, very curious about the final report, I really hope it's nothing worrisome for the rest. Now you have me wondering if I may be overfeeding my corn?

If you don't mind, what vet did you go through? I always like to know the good ones around me.

[Kensa]

I wonder if this will cause any breeders to rethink their 'get my female up to breeding weight as soon as possible' mentality. If it could potentially lower the life expectancy of the snake and thus reduce the number of clutches a breeder could have, I am sure it would impact profits.

Thanks for sharing the necropsy findings. It has me thinking of slowing down my feeding schedule. Just because a snake takes an offered meal doesn't mean it necessarily needs said meal I guess. Time to do a little research methinks.

[Daybreaker]

Thank you for the support guys.

I'm sorry to hear this, she was a gorgeous snake and it's never easy. Glad you're getting some answers, very curious about the final report, I really hope it's nothing worrisome for the rest. Now you have me wondering if I may be overfeeding my corn?

If you don't mind, what vet did you go through? I always like to know the good ones around me.

I've always read that the norm was every 7 days (hence what I've been doing), but I will sure be doing the 10-14 day schedule now for my older colubrids and bull snake.

I went to see Dr. Johnson of Exotic Animal Hospital in Mesa. I highly recommend him: maybe in a way it was a good thing that my local vet was out as he isn't as knowledgeable with snakes as Dr. Johnson. I haven't shared this yet as I've been monitoring her but I took my other corn snake female (one I got as an adult) to him for surgery a couple months back (which was a success): long story short she had to be spayed because she became egg bound after been paired a full two years previous with the previous owner. If anyone is interested I can write up some info on this and post it in the corn section.

I wonder if this will cause any breeders to rethink their 'get my female up to breeding weight as soon as possible' mentality. If it could potentially lower the life expectancy of the snake and thus reduce the number of clutches a breeder could have, I am sure it would impact profits.

Thanks for sharing the necropsy findings. It has me thinking of slowing down my feeding schedule. Just because a snake takes an offered meal doesn't mean it necessarily needs said meal I guess. Time to do a little research methinks.

I would hope most know that feeding too much too frequently is harmful to the snake's health and life span, but that's why I was so shocked to hear about her weight since I was feeding the same as what I've read many times over. Vera was never to be a breeder: she was a pet and fed accordingly (or so I thought) and never got spoiled with seconds or fed sooner than her 7 days.

[Coleslaw007]

I went to see Dr. Johnson of Exotic Animal Hospital in Mesa. I highly recommend him: maybe in a way it was a good thing that my local vet was out as he isn't as knowledgeable with snakes as Dr. Johnson. I haven't shared this yet as I've been monitoring her but I took my other corn snake female (one I got as an adult) to him for surgery a couple months back (which was a success): long story short she had to be spayed because she became egg bound after been paired a full two years previous with the previous owner. If anyone is interested I can write up some info on this and post it in the corn section.

Thanks, good to know as many good vets as one can.

I would be interested in that thread, outta always good to learn about medical issues and experiences.

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[Daybreaker]

Thanks, good to know as many good vets as one can.

I would be interested in that thread, outta always good to learn about medical issues and experiences.

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When I get home from work I can do a write up on it: it was a very (stressful) but interesting experience.

[BHReptiles]

When I get home from work I can do a write up on it: it was a very (stressful) but interesting experience.

I too would like to read it. I'll be breeding one of my corns in March and I would love to read this perspective on problems when breeding.

[Daybreaker]

I got the results on her tissues today:

Looks like she had no virus or the like that could jeopardize my other snakes, so that's good. It did show that she did have an intestinal infection and pneumonia. They were unable to tell what came first (they believe she probably got an intestinal infection that then in turn made her come down with the pneumonia that then affected her heart). The pneumonia could in turn be the reason why I saw her open mouth breathing near the end. They are unsure how these infections came about so it may have been one of those unfortunate things that happened: I will be keeping an eye on my others though for a good while. Everyone else still isn't showing any signs of illness.

[Mike41793]

Weird... I hope everyone else stays healthy!

[Coleslaw007]

I'm really glad to hear it's nothing you need to worry about your others over. It's scary that they can be sick and never show any signs.

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