Why did my juvinile BP die? :(

[Katchu]

Hey guys!

So I got my first ball python three weeks ago, I have a rosy boa and have had her for 3 years now, no problems. Before I got him I cleaned everything in the cage including the cage with a 3% bleach solution. I got the snake from a pet shop (my first wrong decision in this situation) and he was "about a year old" (unsure store employee quoted). Anyway, before I got my baby I made sure to do a ton of research on BPs and the care and I really should've realized this when I got him, but he was in the middle of a terrible shed. He was shedding in pieces and his eyecaps were retained. When I got him home I put him in my 10 gallon tank and let him get used to it before handling him. When he got comfortable with me I soaked him and got everything but the eyecaps off since he was head shy. He ate regularly for the next two weeks, furry mice that were thawed and he had no problems. He was incredibly sweet and social with my friends and whoever. Wanted to check him out. He would love to roam around my room and explore places in my bed. I got the eyecaps off by using the tape method, which obviously was a huge relief. About 3 days after his third feeding, I noticed that his tail had become terribly bloated and his anus was puffy. I soaked him for 5 minutes thinking it was constipation, dried him off and put him back in the cage. The bloating wasn't the only problem though, he lost motor function in his tail. He would no longer wrap up into a ball and no longer use his tail to hang onto my hands and branches in his cage. He would flop around and fall without realizing why he fell. I checked his mouth to see if he had any respiratory problems and it was a grayish color. He would breathe heavily randomly. This all happened the day he died, giving me no time to take him to a vet and no time to figure things out. When I came home from running errands he was in the same position he was in when I had left him. I knew something wasn't right. I opened the cage and poked him, rubbed his scales, nothing. I picked his limp body up and tried for signs of life but there was nothing. My sweet little man was gone. I was too heartbroken to take him to a vet to figure things out so I've buried the body and left the tank, which eventually I will clean and everything.
I want to believe that what killed him was IBD, but when I got him he seemed fine, and after cleaning his cage completely I can't find any mites. Also, does IBD kill snakes that quickly? I mean it happened over a span of only 2-3 days. He was eating perfectly and acting perfectly before he got bloated and breathed heavily.
His tank was ten gallon, I just ordered a twenty gallon for him because he had been getting to two feet and i wanted him to have a big environment. He had, on the warm side, a log to lie under and to bask on top of, a light that i would change at night to an infrared bulb and aspen shavings. On the cool side I had a skull hide, a medium sized water bowl that he bathed in before he got bloated (maybe that hints something?), a pile of moss and two leaf plants for him to climb on. The cool side was always at the 50% humidity mark but when he had his shedding problem I would mist the cage up to 70% occasionaly, the warm side was always mid to low 80 degrees fahrenheit.
I just feel terrible.
Please help me understand?

[Viper0hr]

I am no expert by any means, but could that have been impaction?
Did he poop at all in the time you had him?

[Katchu]

He hadn't pooped since I got him but I assumed that it was fine since I had seen people who had let their snakes go two months without pooping but were fine.

[Albert Clark]

Sorry for your loss. Always sad and hard to accept the death of any animal especially those in our care. I noticed you said you thawed the mouse but didn't get how you warmed it up for the snake? Also i would look to husbandry possibilities before considering IBD as a cause just bc IBD is usually a long shot. How were you heating the enclosure is very important and the regulation of the heating? These snakes need temps in the low 90's to properly digest and thermoregulate.

[LittleTreeGuy]

First, I'm sorry for your loss.

Now, unfortunately you will not know the cause of the snakes death unless you take him to a vet and have tests done. That's the only REAL way to know.

Several things concern me and since this is only your second post, I'm not sure if you're being serious here or not.... You said you did a lot of research, so I'm surprised this is only your second post here and even more surprised you've done some of the things you say you have done.

1. For a BP you've only had for three weeks, 2 feedings, handling by you and your friends, and soaking him sever times, all while just putting him in a new home, could be extremely stressful for a bp. It's good practice to pretty much leave them alone, with little or not handling for the first week in their new home, and then ease into the handling over a week or two with brief handling sessions that increase in frequency and duration as time passes.
2. Soaking a BP really isn't going to help them. If they have stuck shed, increasing the humidity in their enclosure to 70% will allow them to take care of this themselves in the majority of cases.
3. Putting tape anywhere near a snake is a huge No-No in my opinion, and in the opinion of many snake owners.... especially their eyes. The risk just far outweighs any benefit.
4. The warm side needs to be around 90-92F at all times while the cool side can be around 75-80 degrees. Giving identical hides on both the warm and cool side will prevent the snake from favoring one side or the other and in turn, moving from hide to hide as his body needs thermoregulation.


Now, I apologize if that comes across as harsh/mean, I don't mean it to be. Your snake could have very well had some issues and you got stuck with a sick snake from the start. Like I said before, unless tested, you have no way of knowing. I would recommend, if you decide to purchase another ball python, you continue to research them and more importantly their husbandry requirements. Best of luck.

[PitOnTheProwl]

LTG pretty much hit it out of the park.

That is a lot of stress for a new snake.
I would guess toward an impaction and possible dehydration from before you got it.

[Katchu]

Sorry for your loss. Always sad and hard to accept the death of any animal especially those in our care. I noticed you said you thawed the mouse but didn't get how you warmed it up for the snake? Also i would look to husbandry possibilities before considering IBD as a cause just bc IBD is usually a long shot. How were you heating the enclosure is very important and the regulation of the heating? These snakes need temps in the low 90's to properly digest and thermoregulate.

I thawed the mouse in a zip lock bag submersed in warm water until i felt it was warm enough. For heating it was usually in the high 80's, low 90's, always on the same approx. spot. I used a heat lamp for the heating and on cold days i would use a small UT heater.

[Katchu]

First, I'm sorry for your loss.

Now, unfortunately you will not know the cause of the snakes death unless you take him to a vet and have tests done. That's the only REAL way to know.

Several things concern me and since this is only your second post, I'm not sure if you're being serious here or not.... You said you did a lot of research, so I'm surprised this is only your second post here and even more surprised you've done some of the things you say you have done.

1. For a BP you've only had for three weeks, 2 feedings, handling by you and your friends, and soaking him sever times, all while just putting him in a new home, could be extremely stressful for a bp. It's good practice to pretty much leave them alone, with little or not handling for the first week in their new home, and then ease into the handling over a week or two with brief handling sessions that increase in frequency and duration as time passes.
2. Soaking a BP really isn't going to help them. If they have stuck shed, increasing the humidity in their enclosure to 70% will allow them to take care of this themselves in the majority of cases.
3. Putting tape anywhere near a snake is a huge No-No in my opinion, and in the opinion of many snake owners.... especially their eyes. The risk just far outweighs any benefit.
4. The warm side needs to be around 90-92F at all times while the cool side can be around 75-80 degrees. Giving identical hides on both the warm and cool side will prevent the snake from favoring one side or the other and in turn, moving from hide to hide as his body needs thermoregulation.


Now, I apologize if that comes across as harsh/mean, I don't mean it to be. Your snake could have very well had some issues and you got stuck with a sick snake from the start. Like I said before, unless tested, you have no way of knowing. I would recommend, if you decide to purchase another ball python, you continue to research them and more importantly their husbandry requirements. Best of luck.

oh it did come off as very harsh, but thanks for your help. I took the body to a vet to get him checked out which he was then diagnosed with IBD. Call my husbandry horrible, but I knew what I was doing. My mother was a herp breeder. I got a sick snake from the start, and now that I know that I know I did nothing wrong with him. He was a very happy and curious snake. I never saw him stressed out at all. When friends held him ig would be for a few minutes at the least. I also don't need an account on here to have a ball python, I just find the fact that you stated that so ridiculous. I know you don't agree with tape, but with moisture and tape that isn't sticky anymore, many breeders take the eye caps off. Eye caps can become infected so i took a drastic measure to remove them since he had had them on for a few weeks. Soaking a ball python in warm water CAN help it move its bowels so I really don't understand. Also, I did mist the cage up to 70% humidity during his shed.

[Albert Clark]

That's good to hear. However, I am not going to make any guesses on the cause of the death but highlight to you the necessities of these snakes. The number one husbandry factor is temperatures and humidity. Any extremes of temperature can be problematic especially over time. All heating devices need to be regulated by dimmers, rheostats or thermostats. When I mention "extremes" that also includes overly high temps as well as temps that are too low. As well humidity percentages are important and need to be continually tweaked. Most of us have lost animals at one time or another, it happens but don't let it overwhelm you.

[ladywhipple02]

Previously you stated you had already buried the body. Did you exhume him to take him to the vet for a necropsy?