Early Birthday...I need some love and some answers

[AMPearce]

So today is the 9th my birthday is tomorrow and this morning I woke up to a terrible odor in my bedroom. After taking out the trash and some other things I realized the odor was coming from moy closet where I keep my four bp's. Daisy and Sparticus are 07's I've had since babies (Sparticus is a spider), Nefertiti I bought last year as a sub adult and my purchase a few months ago Cleopatra a 2200g proven breeder. Anyways I notice that Cleopatra's tub is slightly agar so I open it up and she's not in it. This was the first time one of my bp's has escaped so I was freaking out. I looked around and could not find her until I open up Nefertiti's tub to see a very fat and very dead Cleopatra...

I have never heard of bp's eating each other and the husbandry was all good (I really don't need people telling me what I did wrong right now). Has anyone else ever heard of this? I just took Sparticus out two nights before and nothing happend to him. Also if anyone knows how to get dead snake smell to go away please let me know. I almost threw up when I open Nefertiti's tub. Also Cleopatra had been eating large rats once a week and would eat more if I would have let her. She was extremely cage aggresive but after I would get her out she would be fine. She had not slowed down at all on the eating even though she had been breeding with Sparticus for about a month.

Anyways, I am pretty upset about all of this I went from four pythons and expecting up to a dozen (Nefertiti and Cleopatra had both locked with Sparticus) to just two pythons and Daisy is only 1000g so I'm not going to bed breeding her yet. I also had plans to get a female pastel either '08 or '09 when I got my birthday money and probably a hypo and a het sometime at the begining of the year. Now I'm wondering if I should just give away my last two and move on.

On top of all of this I was diagnosed with depression two weeks ago, so I guess happy early birthday to me. I could really use some love right now from the bp.net community and some help getting rid of dead snake smell.
Thanks guys.

[AMPearce]

****Correction: I just found Cleopatra under my armoir, I think I mistook the identity because Nefertiti must have swollen up after passing and they were both in shed. I apparently was just a coincidence that Cleo escaped on the same night. I still don't know what to do because now I know there must have been something else going on and I might have two other sick pythons. Nefertiti had gone completely off of food but I thought that was because of breeding. I think a vet visit is going to be in order for my survivors.

[olstyn]

That's terrible, but, at least you only lost 1! Here's hoping that the others are either not sick or that a vet visit catches whatever it is early enough to save them.

[Big Gunns]

How are you heating these snakes in your closet?

[AMPearce]

How are you heating these snakes in your closet?

UTH's under all of the tubs and a ceramic heat emitter to raise the ambient temperature in my closet to about 82 degrees. Hot spots stay about 90. I had lowered the ambient temp. for breeding season though. I don't think that could of had anything to do with it. I have had some issues with keeping humidity up in the past but it has been pretty steady in the 50-60% range the past few months after I added an automatic mister. Then again you know alot more about python's then I do BGs so if you see something wrong with that I am open to some help because I don't want to loose any more snakes.

[adam_degel]

thats a huge bummer! sorry.. but thats life i guess.. you gotta roll with the punches.. dont give up though, its too easy..

i'm a little confused though, was it the male or female that died?

and what makes you think your other snakes are sick?

oh and happy bday.. dont take any depression pills, you dont wanna walk around like a zombie for the rest of your life.. just tell yourself that with 50% of the good things in life comes 50% of the bad with it..

[AMPearce]

thats a huge bummer! sorry.. but thats life i guess.. you gotta roll with the punches.. dont give up though, its too easy..

i'm a little confused though, was it the male or female that died?

and what makes you think your other snakes are sick?

oh and happy bday.. dont take any depression pills, you dont wanna walk around like a zombie for the rest of your life.. just tell yourself that with 50% of the good things in life comes 50% of the bad with it..

Thanks man. I was a female that died (Nefertiti) sorry if that was confusing with one python escaping and the other one dying on the same night. I am worried the other ones might be sick because I had been pairing Sparticus my male spider with Cleo and Nefertiti (both females). Since Nefertiti died with out me really noticing anything to odd I am worried my two others could have whatever she had with out me noticing with them either. I don't want to get rid of them but if this is something that I should of noticed and prevented then maybe my other guys would be better off in the care of someone else.

[Kaorte]

thats a huge bummer! sorry.. but thats life i guess.. you gotta roll with the punches.. dont give up though, its too easy..

i'm a little confused though, was it the male or female that died?

and what makes you think your other snakes are sick?

oh and happy bday.. dont take any depression pills, you dont wanna walk around like a zombie for the rest of your life.. just tell yourself that with 50% of the good things in life comes 50% of the bad with it..

Depression is a medical condition that requires treatment in order to keep the right balance of chemicals in your brain. Why would you tell someone to not seek treatment?

OP: I would take all of the snakes to the vet and get a necropacy(sp?) Done to determine the cause of death. Don't give up on them though! Karma will come around and give you something awesome for your birthday!

[adam_degel]

Depression is a medical condition that requires treatment in order to keep the right balance of chemicals in your brain. Why would you tell someone to not seek treatment?

OP: I would take all of the snakes to the vet and get a necropacy(sp?) Done to determine the cause of death. Don't give up on them though! Karma will come around and give you something awesome for your birthday!

cause there's lots of different forms.. usually some counseling and a different outlook on life could help someone with minor depression, now bi-polar syndrome is a bit more serious and thats where the chemical imbalance comes from.. but i guess thats the problem with our society.. we all just run for the pills that say they can fix us...

anyways.. do you think that that maybe there was a complication during the breeding process that may have been triggered? do your other snakes seem the same or are they acting different?

[Kaorte]

cause there's lots of different forms.. usually some counseling and a different outlook on life could help someone with minor depression, now bi-polar syndrome is a bit more serious and thats where the chemical imbalance comes from.. but i guess thats the problem with our society.. we all just run for the pills that say they can fix us...

Bi-polar disorder and depression are two completely different disorders.

My friend was being treated for depression for years with no impact on her condition. She was then diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder. They got her on the correct medication and there was a 180* change in her day to day mood.

There is a difference between being sad and being diagnosed with depression. If you are diagnosed, you and your doctor are the only people that can determine how to make you better. This can include medication, counseling, therapy, or a combination of those things.

Telling someone to not take their pills because they will turn them into a zombie is not a smart thing to say to someone who was recently diagnosed.


Sorry this is so off topic OP. This is just a subject that irks me a bit..