Palmetto death

The vet just called and said she decided to do the necropsy tonight rather than wait. It turns out the snake was impacted (she said she didn't find any evidence of substrate, so he didn't eat any aspen). There was apparently a lot of puss around the impaction and stuck to the intestinal walls, and there were signs of infection.

So, that would definitely explain why he regurgitated and then refused my second attempt to feed him, and since he must have been feeling so ill that could be why he wasn't drinking.

The impaction would have had to occur from the last time he was fed before coming to me, but since there was no substrate, the vet said it seems he just wasn't able to digest , or possibly there was an infection already hindering digestion.

To me, I don't think this was anyone's fault, and nothing either myself or Travis could have predicted happening. Definitely just a very unfortunate fluke.

Originally Posted by Karl_Mcknight

Just looking at the picture above, That snake looks terribly Malnourished to me. It's way too skinny, the skin is wrinkly, you can plainly see its spine, all the things that most people say you should not be able to see. My guess is the snake starved to death, but you won't know anything for sure unless you have it looked at by a professional.

+1 exactly what I said to myself when I saw the pic and before I'd read any comments.

So sad

OP, Sorry for your loss....

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Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words and what it said to me was severe dehydration due to an internal issue. Not starvation.
Common sense would tell us that someone like Travis Whisler would not starve such an expensive animal then send it out to a customer. Don S. would not have entrusted such an expensive project to Mr. Whisler without the highest of regard in his ability to take care of such a rare corn morph.
Personally, I believe this was stress induced. As I have stated over and over in so many posts the importance of minimizing stress in newly acquired reptiles and amphibians. Stress can upset the animals balance of good and bad bacteria. As most snakes fair well with the stress of shipping there are some that don't. The snake could have been harboring that infection while in the care of TW Reptiles but was controllable while the Palmetto lived in it's well balanced and stress free tub. The shipping to the OP and its new living quarters was probably enough of a stress factor to tip the scales negatively.
I had the displeasure of seeing the effects of stress on puppies, kittens, fish, birds, reptiles and ME when I owned my pet store.
This is just one one those instances that was unforeseeable by Mr. Whisler and probably unpreventable by carnivale.

Yeah, sounds like "just one of those things" that happens sometimes. The sad truth about working with animals is that sometimes they just die regardless of how well they are cared for.