really bummed

[mlededee]

last night i lost one of the poss het pied girls that i hatched out last year. this is my first snake loss and i just feel really bummed about it.

she had struggled from the time she hatched--she wouldn't eat at all for the longest time and had to be tube fed for a while. the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her, she just wouldn't eat no matter what we tried. i resorted to tube feeding for a while and finally she did start eating pinkies on her own. she had just started taking them well (without the pinky having to be left with her overnight, in the dark, etc.), hitting them right after i put them in her tub and gaining decent weight.

she had some shed issues and would start getting belly rot if her paper towel substrate was very moist at all, thus some of the problems shedding. this last time she went into shed i noticed a spot on her side that looked kind of bubbled up, like there was fluid under her skin. i decided to wait until she shed and to see if it went away.

it did, but somehow while she was shedding her skin actually tore in two places which looked just horrid. i cleaned her up and put triple antibiotic ointment on the tears but the next day her entire body was puffed up and the tears were oozing pinkish fluid. it was like there was fluid under much of her skin that was slowly oozing from the tears and her skin suddenly seemed very delicate--almost like it might tear in more places.

i freaked and made an appointment to see the vet (this was yesterday). by the time of her appointment there were a few more small openings in her skin (about the size of one scale each) and her sides were bright pink and red almost like she had been burned, but it was underneath her skin.

the vet was quite alarmed, to say the least. he took samples of the fluid and determined that she had a systemic infection. he told me several times that her "prognosis was very guarded" but being naive i kept telling myself that she was a fighter and she would pull through. he gave me some injections (can't remember off the top of my head what they were) to give her over the next 5 days as well as some silvadene cream for her skin and instructed me to call back after the 5 days to make a check up appointment.

i took her home and administered the first injection and applied the cream. by the time i got done with that i could tell she wasn't acting quite right--normally she would be sqiurming around but by then but she was just kinda laying there letting me finish put the cream on. still i was feeling naive about the situation.

when i checked on her several hours later she was gone. i think that the stress from the vet visit and the injection were the final straw. i know she wouldn't have survived without seeing the vet for diagnosis and medication but it just kills me that it caused the stress that i think weakened her to the point of death.

sorry this was so long. i guess it's kinda my way of trying to deal.

[Freakie_frog]

Oh sweet heart I a so sorry to hear that.

[slartibartfast]

Awww, how awful. :-( I'm so sorry for your loss...she was a pretty little thing. Sometimes no matter what we do, we lose them...I've done the same thing with kittens (I foster a lot of orphans) and there are some that even with all the care in the world, they just don't make it. The important thing is that you gave her a chance.

[lillyorchid]

AWWWWW poor girl! At least she is not longer is any type of pain and won't have any more problems.

[Holy Balls]

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like she was a fighter. Take care !

[rabernet]

Emily


I am so sorry for your loss - I remember when those ladies hatched last year!

Is there any way to figure out what caused this?

[JLC]

Awwwww Emily! I can feel your sadness.


It sounds to me like she had some sort of auto-immune deficiency from the beginning...and it was only with your tender care that she survived as long as she did. And even though it was short, she had a far better life with you than most snakes ever know.

[lord jackel]

Emily...I am so sorry for your loss, she was a very cute girl. I hope you feel comforted she is in a better place and out of pain

[frankykeno]

Awww sweetie, I can't imagine how crummy you feel right now. Take heart though in that you tried your best with her, you did everything possible as did your vet. Some of the little ones just are never meant to be. It's nature's way but sometimes hard for our human hearts to understand. Thank you for sharing her story with us.

[darkangel]

I am so sorry... She was beautiful and lucky someone cared for her so much to try and treat her.