My first loss... RIP Hatchling #7, aka "Pretty In Pink"

[Floof]

I finally got around to feeding the hatchlings today (most of them were 3 days late for their every-5-days feeding; another was a week late after refusing a couple meals). I've been pretty lucky so far; 10 of my 11 hatchlings ate right off the bat, and only one of those had to be fed live. Even the live-feeder agreed to take a f/t pinky for me for her second meal. As well as that, it would appear I got a nice ratio of 4.5 females to every male... Unless I have some males that didn't want to evert their junk, I only have 2 males as opposed to 9 females.

All of this luck on my first year of breeding... Well... I knew something was going to go wrong. Especially after reading the abundant threads about heartbreak, failure, and attacks by Murphy throughout this breeding season. Considering how well everything was going, though, I didn't expect to have to deal with Murphy until next year.

Murphy decided he didn't want to wait that long.

I decided to offer a pink to my one nonfeeder today, since I'd finally gotten around to poking airholes in the lids of some tiny (2-inch diameter) tupperware "tubs", in which the little one wouldn't be able to avoid her prey. So, I tossed in a thawed pink, added the snake, and put her aside while I finished feeding everyone else. By that time, she still hadn't eaten. So I rewarmed and brained the pinky, and left her for another few hours. About half an hour ago, she still hadn't eaten, so I pulled her out and decided to try my hand at the "coaxing" method (as I call it). I rewarmed the pinky, and began wedging it into her mouth. I succeeded three times, but each time the little snake spit it out and went back to exploring my hand... As I went to try another time, figuring I just needed to wedge it a little farther in so she couldn't drop it, I noticed her body felt weird against my hand.

A closer look revealed 2 major kinks about midway down her body--and two smaller ones. I can't help but wonder if handling her a bit roughly (between these feeding attempts and sexing her yesterday night) and leaving her in the cramped tub for several hours just aggravated this, because there didn't appear to be anything wrong with her before... Until today, she seemed to slither fine whenever I checked on her, and I never felt anything "weird" when I handled her.

Anyway, I took a weight (5 grams--she lost a couple grams during her fast) for reference's sake, proceeded to snap pictures and take videos of her now erratic movement, bit the bullet, and stuck her in the freezer.

I hate myself for having to kill her, even though I know she wouldn't have lived.. <=( It doesn't help any that this is the first death in my collection.

Thanks for reading, and I apologize for the lengthiness.

RIP "Pretty In Pink".

Pictures and video to come soon. Just have to get them loaded onto the computer and such. For now, some pictures from her hatch day... I guess I never got any post-first shed shots.

 

[Medevil_Nuke]

Another sad day that mother nature takes from us.

 

[Floof]

Photobucket isn't liking my camcorder's video format, so those will have to wait. For now, here are some pictures. I know kinks aren't pretty to look at, but I feel like sharing... =P

 

[funnynonsense]

Thanks for posting this-

Even though I hear about it all the time, I've never seen that before. I'm very sorry you had to lose one this way.

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Funny.

I'm glad the pictures helped you. Other than the occasional post around here, this is the first time I've seen it, too. I'm glad I know what to look for when it comes to kinks from here on out, but it certainly doesn't help the loss.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I'm so sorry, Taylor. My condolences.

 

[dionythicus]

That's too bad. Sometimes kinks show up a week or more after hatching, just like sometimes kinks that were present at hatching will work themselves out. I had one that was bent the wrong way when it hatched, but now you can hardly tell there was ever anything wrong and it eats fine. The first loss is the hardest, but you did the right thing.

 

[funnynonsense]

I'm just curious now - and I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask on this thread Floof.

But what causes this in snakes? I understood it was caused by incubation temperatures being high or something to that effect. My problem with this is that all your other snakes are perfect. Is it possibly a genetic problem or are there other factors that can cause this? If you used a heat lamp in the incubator was this egg maybe closer to the light?

Floof - I understand if you don't feel like answering, and I apologise again if its inappropriate on this thread.

 

[Floof]

Thanks for the condolences, everyone.

Funny, I'm guessing it was an incubation issue. This one must just have been weaker than the others from the start (looking back at my records, she was certainly the smallest at 6 grams hatch weight). The first couple weeks of incubation, the eggs were kept on a shelf in my room with no real temperature control. When I figured out that temps weren't going to stay stable enough for my own comfort, I went ahead and got a poultry incubator and set it at 82*F. The only cause I can think of would be that first couple weeks, since the other 10 are all healthy and feeding well.

Another thing to take into consideration was that there was one egg with the beginnings of a killer mold on it at hatch time (I lost 6 other eggs to this same fungus, which was aggravated by moss that was too wet). I'm not sure which snake came out of this egg, but it's very possible that it was Pink.

I don't mind answering any questions you have. It helps my mind work through it and have that much more knowledge for next time. =)

 

[Memphios]

Sorry this happened Taylor I hope the next time it all works out

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Taylor (woah, freaky!). =)

 

[danielle]

So sorry man I know how hard that decision is, but you did the right thing

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Danielle. I'm glad to hear I made the right decision, how ever hard it was.

 

[Carinata]

sorry about your loss

 

[Cornflake1]

Even though I hear about it all the time, I've never seen that before.

Same here. Have never seen it. It is a shame that you lost one, very sad

 

[Floof]

Thanks, David and Cornflake.

 

[GillianC]

I'm sorry. My first clutch had at least three hatchlings that developed kinks like that. I refused to give up on them, and they actually grew out and all of them are visibly normal now. Like yours, they wouldn't eat at first. The ones that had already started eating never developed any major problems like that, but like I said, once I got them going they grew out. At any rate, I wish you better luck with your next clutch, and again I'm very sorry about the loss.

 

[Floof]

Thanks, Gillian. I wish I could've gotten the little one going, so I could at least see if she had the ability to thrive with it, but she wouldn't eat even when I stuck the pinky in her mouth. My last two options were force-feeding and starvation, and, between that and the kinks, I couldn't put both her and myself through that. I'm glad you were able to get your kinkies going, though. Congratulations for that. =)

 

[Caryl]

I'm sorry for your loss. I went through my first corn snake loss this summer, and it was awful. Sharing with caring friends here helped. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[GillianC]

You're welcome. Mine probably weren't nearly as stubborn as that, although I know a few did have to be force-fed for a time, but I don't think it was the same group. I'm just glad only one of yours ended up that way. Force-feeding is definitely not a hatchlings favorite experience! And thank you.