Unexpected death: RIP Vera (necropsy?)

[valhalha30]

stuipid observation, but, i've been sneezing a lot lately, not near thier tank, but, still, a sneeze is airborne..... could i have given them a sickness? I'm not sick, but my allergies are going nuts... is it possible that I made at least him sick? but if so, why aren't more of my reptiles getting sick too?

so far, i have no answer to why my snake passed, just possibilities... and i don't even know if was perhaps developmental at this point.... i am paranoid that it's viral, and that perhaps my girl contracted it, but, there isn't any signs of respritory infection (nose is clear, mouth looks normal, no raspy breathing, no blotchy red stomach, and her hisses sound loud and healthy like usual) no signs of Septicemia/intestinal infection.
BUT, I caught her with her mouth open on two seperate occasions, maybe i just witnessed yawns. With the sudden death of Bread, and no signs of any illness days prior to his death, im starting to think it was just something unique with him on the inside.... i'm keeping a constant eye on Butter, and the other snakes, but, the similarity to Vera's symptoms and Bread's are spooky. So i'm not ruling out anything just yet.

She is sexually mature, and so was he, and one week i skipped feeding (I was on vacation) and the next week Butter ate, but he didnt... and then the week after that, neither of them ate, so i just thought that it was breeding time.... then he died... but she seems ok, even the vet said so.... so idk whats going on anymore... im losing it.

[Daybreaker]

no necrospy was done. they are such unique snakes. even the doctor said that maybe because it was so unique on the outside that he was also unique on the inside... God i hope he's right.

I don't really understand what this means.

stuipid observation, but, i've been sneezing a lot lately, not near thier tank, but, still, a sneeze is airborne..... could i have given them a sickness? I'm not sick, but my allergies are going nuts... is it possible that I made at least him sick? but if so, why aren't more of my reptiles getting sick too?

so far, i have no answer to why my snake passed, just possibilities... and i don't even know if was perhaps developmental at this point.... i am paranoid that it's viral, and that perhaps my girl contracted it, but, there isn't any signs of respritory infection (nose is clear, mouth looks normal, no raspy breathing, no blotchy red stomach, and her hisses sound loud and healthy like usual) no signs of Septicemia/intestinal infection.
BUT, I caught her with her mouth open on two seperate occasions, maybe i just witnessed yawns. With the sudden death of Bread, and no signs of any illness days prior to his death, im starting to think it was just something unique with him on the inside.... i'm keeping a constant eye on Butter, and the other snakes, but, the similarity to Vera's symptoms and Bread's are spooky. So i'm not ruling out anything just yet.

She is sexually mature, and so was he, and one week i skipped feeding (I was on vacation) and the next week Butter ate, but he didnt... and then the week after that, neither of them ate, so i just thought that it was breeding time.... then he died... but she seems ok, even the vet said so.... so idk whats going on anymore... im losing it.

I think you may need to see a different vet. Your vet doesn't seem to be able to offer you any insight: has he offered to run any tests or speak with a fellow reptile specialist as to what you guys can do? And no, I don't believe you got them sick. It could have been "one of those things" about the one that passed (like Vera) or it could potentially be more serious (ie a disease or contagious illness). Have you gotten any new snakes lately?

[valhalha30]

I don't really understand what this means.

They are triple hybrids, there is litreally no other snakes like them known to herping... and the vet thought perhaps because of the strange genetics (and perhaps inbreeding from a parent's parent) could have caused a internal developmental issue. I didn't get a necropsy, because I was so distraught at it's death and didn't want the vet to cut Bread up... which is probably stupid now, in retrospect...



I think you may need to see a different vet. Your vet doesn't seem to be able to offer you any insight: has he offered to run any tests or speak with a fellow reptile specialist as to what you guys can do? And no, I don't believe you got them sick. It could have been "one of those things" about the one that passed (like Vera) or it could potentially be more serious (ie a disease or contagious illness). Have you gotten any new snakes lately?

You're probably right, but he was highly recomended by a breeder friend of mine. He told me what to look for, and showed me everything to keep an eye on using my snake as a physical example. He didn't offer any extra tests or specialist help, he seemed knowledgable... and I'm glad I didn't get them sick... I hope it's just one of those things.... and no, no new snakes... havent even been to a reptile show in a month, so I couldn't have contracted anything recently.

[valhalha30]

I have also made attempts to call a few other breeders that I know well and see if they have any insight on what could have caused his death....

I guess I should also ask, do snakes have strokes, and what do they look like?

[Daybreaker]

You're probably right, but he was highly recomended by a breeder friend of mine. He told me what to look for, and showed me everything to keep an eye on using my snake as a physical example. He didn't offer any extra tests or specialist help, he seemed knowledgable... and I'm glad I didn't get them sick... I hope it's just one of those things.... and no, no new snakes... havent even been to a reptile show in a month, so I couldn't have contracted anything recently.

Did the vet offer or recommend a necropsy on the one that passed? If not, then I would say for sure get another vet: this one doesn't seem to be trying to help you figure out what's going on or isn't knowledgeable enough to know how to help you. It may be one of those things but I would get another vet's opinion. A necropsy would have really told you everything you needed to know as now we can only speculate. If you have another to pass (I hope you don't) for sure get a necro done (and you store the body in the fridge, not the freezer and the faster the necro is preformed the better)

[valhalha30]

Did the vet offer or recommend a necropsy on the one that passed? If not, then I would say for sure get another vet: this one doesn't seem to be trying to help you figure out what's going on or isn't knowledgeable enough to know how to help you. It may be one of those things but I would get another vet's opinion. A necropsy would have really told you everything you needed to know as now we can only speculate. If you have another to pass (I hope you don't) for sure get a necro done (and you store the body in the fridge, not the freezer and the faster the necro is preformed the better)

he did, and I declined.. like a dumbarsse.. he was really booked that day and probably had a lot on his plate, but still, I agree that he should of tried to help me more... but if he found nothing wrong, and I confirmed that they behaved and looked normal, then i supposed he assumed there was nothing more to do..... not thinking this could possibly be viral.... I just accussed Bread's unusual genetics for his death, especially since Butter shows no signs of sickness... she just wont eat, probably more to do with the stress of being to the vet and having her tank cleaned, her brother passing, and my frequent handlings to check her out..... I hope no one else passes, but if they do, I'll be wiser and get the necropsy done. Another dumb question, but, does that cost anything? Not that I'm concerned with money when we're talking about my snakes' health, but, I am curious..

and about snakes and strokes? what do they do/behave like? is it similar to how a human strokes out?

[Coleslaw007]

Yea, necropsy definitely costs, and it's not cheap. I had a ball necropsied and it was around $450 if I remember correctly.

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[valhalha30]

Wow... well, I should've gotten him necro-ed.... but, I didn't want him to be all cut up and stuff.. even if it were the best decision, I couldn't bear to see him like that.... it would just really throw me off the wall after having him pass, you know?

[valhalha30]

Oh also, as to the experiance and knowledge of the vet I went to... after talking to other local herpers who use him, I found out that he is the vet to the local city zoo's reptiles (and we have a good track record of having healthy, long living reptiles) and a few other zoos in other states... and he is highly respected, and I've been told umpteen times from my friends and local breeders that he knows what he's doing... so, I've been reassured that I was in good hands, and that if he thought there was no issues with either snake, then there is a high percentage chance he is correct.
It's been about 2 weeks since Bread passed, and his sister is looking and acting normal........ considering how different Bread was to his clutch-mates, his breeder and I talked and thought perhaps he was just developmentaly flawed... he was a newspaper color instead of gold, like the rest of his clutch... and he was hyper-active since hatching.... unlike his clutch..... considering they're all hybrids, who knows what kind of genes and traits were doing what in his body. His breeder told me that he had a few snakes in the past that had stokes and died, so he said that could be a possibilty too..... he said that if my other snakes are fine, especially Bread's sister, than it most likely is a isolated case and it was indeed, just "one of those things"....... as much as it sucks to lose not only one of my favorite snakes, I at least have a better idea on diseases, infections, and developmental ailments due to research, and by what members of this forum said.
Still, nothing can replace an adored member of the family....

[NYHC4LIFE8899]

Sorry for the loss