Severus died

[rushrulz]

I left my cat and snake with pet sitters while I was away at a conference. I got a call Saturday afternoon to say the snake had passed away. :(

So...I don't know what to do next.

I don't know the cause of death. It was probably my fault somewhere.

[sbourget]

If you want to know the cause of death, take it to a reptile vet for a necropsy, just don't freeze it before hand as that can destroy important evidence. I'm terribly sorry for your loss. Best of luck figuring out what happened.

[rushrulz]

Well, he's frozen. I told them to put him in the freezer if anything happened. I mean, it'd get a bit unpleasant otherwise.

[starsevol]

I'm so sorry for your loss.
In the future though, don't freeze as it destroys cells. Refrigerate instead It will keep the body fine for necropsy and not let it decompose.

[rushrulz]

Well, I don't think I'd have a necroscopy done, anyway.

[Nanci]

I'm so sorry about Severus. I had a pigeon once- I got him in the middle of the worst year of my life. (Both parents died, tornado got the house, kid's horse died right in front of us, broke my leg in a horse accident) Through it all that bird was there, and I'd go out in the barn and cuddle him every morning when I got home from work. He'd fly to the end of the driveway to greet me, landing on the windshield or flying in the window. We went to a Christmas party in December and he flew to the end of the driveway with us and then turned back to the barn. I never saw him again. Everyone was like, "Oh, get another one, you'll feel better" but I was too hurt- no one could replace him in my heart. Two years later my daughter got me a baby pigeon for Mother's Day without consulting me. Ten years later, that bird is still my best friend, and yes, it _does_ feel better to have another one, even if it isn't the same one. Please don't wait as long as I did to get a new friend.

((((RR))))

Nanci

[TheHated]

I'm sorry for you loss my friend. R.I.P Severus

[rushrulz]

As I feared, his death is on my head. No vet was necessary to diagnose the problem--it was digestive in nature.

He hadn't gone to the bathroom for a little while, as far as I know. But he'd generally seemed OK, and I thought maybe I just hadn't seen the waste amongst all the aspen (and he was small, so what he produced was tiny). Plus I was busy trying to get ready for my trip and all...yadda yadda, excuses excuses.

In the week before my trip, he'd been "moody," staying in his warm hide all the time. But it had gotten cold suddenly, so I thought he was just trying to keep warm. All in all, I don't know all the details of what caused what, which came first, etc., but the gist is that I never quite found the balance between underworrying and overworrying.

[Rorryy]

Really man it is tramatic when something like this happens but it doesn't mean it's "your fault" There are soo many factors to consider. GOOD luck and Good health to you and the rest of your critters! I had more to say but it really doesn't matter. CHEERS RED LEADER!

Angela

[Weebonilass]

We recently lost my daughter's corn who had been with us for 5 yrs. She was deathly ill when we took her in, although it seemed like she had just recently started dropping all the weight. There was nothing we could do for her and it was killing me that I might have been able to prevent it. The vet did do a post-mortum on her (although not a full necopsy). He said there was some very weird stuff going on and he really couldn't say what happened, except that there was nothing to indicate that it was how we were caring for her.

After awhile of thinking about it, I believe it was probably the results of damage of a parasitic infestation she already had when we first got her.

The vet said that it was very hard to treat exotics because they tend to hide their symptoms until it's really too late to do anything. With Lady G, she would have needed to a blood transfusion and since it's hard enough to even draw blood on a snake, a transfusion would be next to impossible... first of all where would you find a donor????

Please don't beat yourself up on this one. Just realize that if you've given him everything else the book said to, then it was just one of those things. Small comfort I know :( Good luck with your next companion.... I have no doubt that there will be one :)

[rushrulz]

Well, at this point, I'm not laying it all on myself. A lot of things were involved, I'm sure. But I certainly play a part in an animal's survival. And next time, I'm not going to have a "I'll deal with it tomorrow" approach to any suspected problems.

As Kathy said in her book, who knows what kinds of stresses we subject a snake to without knowing it? (She had a good point about a varied diet, which they rarely get in captivity.) They have a steady supply of food and a perfect little environment, but it's probably healthy for them to go without food occasionally or have little imperfections in their world. It's what keeps them on their toes, so to speak. That "random feeding times" technique that some people use sounds like a good idea.

There's been some suggestion that I go for a yearling or adult next, as it will be more established. But I still have a mess of pinkies in the freezer. Hmm.

[Weebonilass]

Well, depending on the size of the yearling, you could probably feed multiple pinkies to it at a feeding until they were gone. Not sure how many you have, but at 3 or 4 a feeding they might go pretty fast. I always waited around 15 minutes between feedings, although in the wild if a snake found a nest of pinkies, I have no doubt they would gobble up as much as their bellies would hold at one time :)

[Eremita]

You have my condolences as well. Losing a pet is always hard, whether the death may have been preventable or not. I do encourage you to get a new snake, though. You've got a fine little snake-home to fill, and they're so interesting, even if at times frustrating.

-Sean