if they died....

[popcorn]

i know that no body wants this to happen but eventually it will..sorry if i posted in wrong page..ok what if your snake died..what would you do? burry him in backyard? call animal control? take to vet or trash him? this is a question that ve been going on and off in my mind..i really m curious about it..if you were gonna take to vet and put any animals to sleep due to their old age or sickness...do they charge any fees?? thanks please take this seriously as none of us would like to see our animals died...thanks again

[BigByrd47119]

I suppose that many would opt for euthanasia of one form or another. I would personally use home euthanasia if it was a viable option.

As far as what to do with the remains? You will likely get different answers from different people. Large breeders (and I do mean LARGE) may very well simply throw them away. I personally would try to bury the snake because I don't breed in any way or shape and each of my snakes is a pet. Some may not have this option however due to their localities.

[bitsy]

It's definitely a serious issue and it's a good thing to be planning for what is - let's face it - the inevitable. Corns tend to live about the same length of time as the more robust cats or dogs on average, so many of us will experience this kind of loss. It's good to have a plan before it happens.

If you have a backyard then burial is always an option, depending on your local laws about such a thing. In the UK, you're supposed to dig a hole six feet deep to bury animals, which isn't exactly practical - try digging a six foot deep cat-sized hole! Most people ignore that rule and I doubt anyone in power has ever bothered checking unless there's been some sort of health hazard as a result.

I live in an apartment and I don't have a garden though. When I lose a Corn, I wrap it very well and include a note in a plastic baggie giving the species marked NON-VENOMOUS in very large letters (don't want to alarm the garbagemen) and put it in the trash. Although I love my snakes dearly, I've seen dead bodies of people and animals before and I don't feel any kind of emotional pull about them. To me, they're just "bookmarks", showing where that person/animal *used* to be.

I've tried flushing hatchlings that don't make it, but they're light and they float, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Vets will charge fees for both administering the euthanasia drug and also disposing of the body. Sometimes this is just the sensible way to go, but they will give you back the body to bury if you ask them and this avoids that part of the charge.

[Susan]

As mentioned, it depends upon your location and available options. Some vets, like mine, don't charge to euthanize small pocket pets or injured wildlife. We don't normally see anything but dogs and cats in the hospital, but upon occasion, a client will have one of these pets as well and require our services at the end of it's life. The amount and cost of the solution is minimal and my vet considers it a courtesy considering the other options clients have to end the life of these pets. An adult snake may not be considered a pocket pet, and some vets may not have a clue about how to even euthanize it quickly (the solution can be administered into the abdomen, but it takes much longer for the pet to pass). As bad as it sounds, over the years, in addition to my time working at a wildlife rehab, injecting from the base of the skull directly into the brain works very rapidly. Finding a vein or the heart on some creatures, such as birds and turtles, is almost impossible.

As for the remains, if home burial is not an option, my vet, again, will not charge for these pocket pets. They simply get put with either the "surgical remains" or another pet for communal cremation. The crematory doesn't look in the cadaver bags to see an extra small body making the journey over the rainbow bridge with another pet. I think they are keeping each other company until it's time for them to greet their owners.

And if this isn't an option either, as bitsy said, a trip with the sanitation department to it's mass landfill/grave is fine. The pet isn't there anymore, just an empty body.

[Dreamsnake]

When my first snake died he was only a hatchling so I scratched out a hole in the empty field next to our lot for nature to take its course. It was winter so I thought a bird or fox could find him easy enough without coming too close to humans.

When I thought I had to put Nim down after her 4th regurge I was going to take her to the vet clinic that took care of my cat. I just don't think I can end her myself I've spent so much energy keeping her alive. Nim is two and still the size of a hatchling so I didn't think they'd charge me, but I'd be willing to pay a reasonable amount.

She's holding down pinks again and even got a little longer after her last shed. I have a fighting snake.

[Karoni]

I would bury mine in my backyard. I don't know what I'd do if I had to put one down. :(

She's holding down pinks again and even got a little longer after her last shed. I have a fighting snake.

Dreamsnake, I hope one day, Nim will be a big, healthy adult snake and you'll tell the story of how her life was when she was little and everyone will marvel.

[Naagas]

I have lost two snakes and threw them both out with the trash.
I think burying is a creepy tradition and they were too big to contemplate flushing.

I honestly wanted to keep the remains to make a skeletal model out of... but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the process of actually making the skeleton. So, out with the trash and a small hole in my heart.

[BigByrd47119]

I honestly wanted to keep the remains to make a skeletal model out of... but I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the process of actually making the skeleton. So, out with the trash and a small hole in my heart.

You might find this (http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1144.pdf) website interesting then. It pertains to skulls in particular, but the same practice should work with any bones I would think. They offer several methods with which one can remove flesh from bones (if thats the hang-up).

As far as assembling, well there are bound to be some forms of information on it out there somewhere. I would actually recommend contacting a museum that houses skeletal models and see how they do it. My very limited knowledge leads me to believe it takes patience, a very small drill bit, more patience, and some very thin wire. Did I mention patience?

[Naagas]

You might find this (http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1144.pdf) website interesting then. It pertains to skulls in particular, but the same practice should work with any bones I would think. They offer several methods with which one can remove flesh from bones (if thats the hang-up).

As far as assembling, well there are bound to be some forms of information on it out there somewhere. I would actually recommend contacting a museum that houses skeletal models and see how they do it. My very limited knowledge leads me to believe it takes patience, a very small drill bit, more patience, and some very thin wire. Did I mention patience?

Thank you so much!
I was trying to find information like this, but my search efforts failed. I wish that I hadn't been so hasty about getting rid of the remains (but I doubt the GF would have liked a dead snake in the freezer).

I know some may find it creepy, but I was attached to Tausara and I thought that having her there as a skeletal model would keep her kinda present.
Kinda like in the book/movie Hotel New Hampshire. With the stuffed dog.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087428/

(Note on the movie: you will wonder, upon watching it, if someone slipped you some acid and you didn't notice. It is beyond bizzare.)

[dan803]

When my first snake died he was only a hatchling so I scratched out a hole in the empty field next to our lot for nature to take its course. It was winter so I thought a bird or fox could find him easy enough without coming too close to humans.

When I thought I had to put Nim down after her 4th regurge I was going to take her to the vet clinic that took care of my cat. I just don't think I can end her myself I've spent so much energy keeping her alive. Nim is two and still the size of a hatchling so I didn't think they'd charge me, but I'd be willing to pay a reasonable amount.

She's holding down pinks again and even got a little longer after her last shed. I have a fighting snake.

I don't mean to hijack but my poor little girl has the same issue. Random regurge either from being opaque or high temp. The next time I offered a pink, 11 days later she didn't want it. I waited 5 more days and offered a head, which she wouldn't take on her own so I force fed. She is really small. She spit it out a few minutes later. I'm not sure whether or not to consider it a regurge.

The good news is that she has kept down two heads and one whole pink since then. The bad news is that I have been force feeding because she won't eat them on her own. She's really small. I feel like she hasn't even grown in 4 months even though she shed 3 times but maybe it's just me.

[WingedSweetheart]

As mentioned, it depends upon your location and available options. Some vets, like mine, don't charge to euthanize small pocket pets or injured wildlife. We don't normally see anything but dogs and cats in the hospital, but upon occasion, a client will have one of these pets as well and require our services at the end of it's life. The amount and cost of the solution is minimal and my vet considers it a courtesy considering the other options clients have to end the life of these pets. An adult snake may not be considered a pocket pet, and some vets may not have a clue about how to even euthanize it quickly (the solution can be administered into the abdomen, but it takes much longer for the pet to pass). As bad as it sounds, over the years, in addition to my time working at a wildlife rehab, injecting from the base of the skull directly into the brain works very rapidly. Finding a vein or the heart on some creatures, such as birds and turtles, is almost impossible.

As for the remains, if home burial is not an option, my vet, again, will not charge for these pocket pets. They simply get put with either the "surgical remains" or another pet for communal cremation. The crematory doesn't look in the cadaver bags to see an extra small body making the journey over the rainbow bridge with another pet. I think they are keeping each other company until it's time for them to greet their owners.

And if this isn't an option either, as bitsy said, a trip with the sanitation department to it's mass landfill/grave is fine. The pet isn't there anymore, just an empty body.

Wow I wish there were vets like that around here. The one closest to me is a total rob shop. I bought a mouse who ended up being pregnant and I don't know if it was from inbreeding or what but the babies were insane. They were fighting before they had their eyes open. I managed to give them all away except for one that I tried to keep. He groomed himself so much he had no hair and was just one big scab that he could hardly walk. Yet he kept grooming and bitting himself. To make a long story short after a vet visit and the vet told me he was lonely. To get another mouse (which I did and the lonely one promptly killed his "friend") and charged me $40. Then when I took him back to have him put down I was charged $50. All for an animal the size of a small hopper.

To the OP I let my animals live out their lives and die naturally if they are not suffering in anyway. Then I bury them. I live on a farm though so lots of land with no neighbors. I have a pet grave yard of sorts under an apple tree of all my pets that I've had since I was a kid. I know if I move I can't take them with me but I don't really care about that. I gave them a resting place and let the earth reclaim them.

[Dreamsnake]

Nim has always taken food on her own. If she refused to eat I'd consider it as a signal that her will to live had expired and take her to the vet.

I once had a rabbit that just stopped eating and drinking. I mashed up cooked veggies and force feed it every day, but it wasn't enough for it to survive. After two sad weeks the animal dropped dead from starvation. I never want to put an animal through that again.

[dan803]

She was perfectly healthy for months with me. She isn't weak or anything either. It came up so suddenly I bet she'll just snap out of it and start eating on her own again.