Hi Everyone,

I owned a male ball python, named Maurice, since 2010. He was captive bread and I got him when he was only about 12 inches long or so, definitely just a baby. Over the past 7 years, he always ate well (live mice, then rats) and I always monitored his feedings to make sure he was never bitten or subsequently injured by his prey. His tank is consistently between 73-78 degrees, with a heated area that gets to about 88-90 degrees. Maurice was just over 3 feet long, and typically ate small rats. The pet stores here rarely have rats in stock because they are gone by the end of the first day they arrive. If I can't get him a rat, I always feed him 2 small mice, back to back. He never had any issues with this.

On Thursday of last week, I had to leave home for a business trip and did not return until midday on Monday. Prior to leaving, I fed Maurice his two mice and made sure he had plenty of water, checked his temps, etc. Everything seemed totally normal. When I arrived home on Monday evening, I checked on him and didn't notice anything unusual. On Tuesday morning, I noticed a very strange smell coming from his tank. When I went to check on him, I noticed that he had regurgitated at least one of the mice (it was not digested, so it's possible that he regurgitated it not long after I left and I did not notice it because it was in one of his hides). That's when I noticed the smell was coming from him. I picked him up and noticed he was limp, and there was a drop of some liquid coming out of his mouth. I don't know if he was dead at this point, but there was no movement or breathing. I was, and am, completely devastated.

I owned Maurice for nearly 8 years and he had never been sick or had any noticeable health problems. I know it would just be speculation, and the only way to be sure would to be to pay for a necropsy (I won't do that, he doesn't deserve to be cut up). Can anyone speculate what may have caused my baby boy's death?

Sincere thanks,

Brandon