snake deid...

[methodcomptech]

we had only had our snake for about 2 months, so, it was just a baby. my wife and i had been feeding him frozen pinkys, adn everything seemed fine. yesterday was the first day we didnt take him out of the terrarium since we got him, and he did regurgitate a couple weeks ago, but, we thought it was just cause the pinky was a little larger than the other ones and that maybe he had trouble with it. he ate fine the next time we fed him. i realised this smorning he was our in the lamp light, and normally he wasnt, so, i went ot get him some fresh water, like i do every morning, and he didnt move. i thought that was a little wierd since normally he would start to move around when i would put water in there. so, i went to pick him up, adn he was completely lifeless.

i just am looking for a reason that this may have happened so that if we get another snake, it doesnt happen again.

 

[susang]

we had only had our snake for about 2 months, so, it was just a baby. my wife and i had been feeding him frozen pinkys, adn everything seemed fine. yesterday was the first day we didnt take him out of the terrarium since we got him, and he did regurgitate a couple weeks ago, but, we thought it was just cause the pinky was a little larger than the other ones and that maybe he had trouble with it. he ate fine the next time we fed him. i realised this smorning he was our in the lamp light, and normally he wasnt, so, i went ot get him some fresh water, like i do every morning, and he didnt move. i thought that was a little wierd since normally he would start to move around when i would put water in there. so, i went to pick him up, adn he was completely lifeless.

i just am looking for a reason that this may have happened so that if we get another snake, it doesnt happen again.

I'm sorry about your snake. I know you are under stress but what you say about the light doesn't make sense, are you saying he was up in the light??? No one may be able to tell you why it happened except maybe a vet. But things like what were your temps in the viv, what kind of water did you give it? After regurg how long did you wait to feed again? susang

 

[methodcomptech]

I'm sorry about your snake. I know you are under stress but what you say about the light doesn't make sense, are you saying he was up in the light??? No one may be able to tell you why it happened except maybe a vet. But things like what were your temps in the viv, what kind of water did you give it? After regurg how long did you wait to feed again? susang

not up in the actual light. S: i mean he was in the area of the tank where the most light was shining. he normally liked to be under the log though. the temp was normally between 80-85 F. he only got purified bottle water, and after regurgitation, we fed him 2 days later. we tried the same day, since we didnt see the mouse under the log at first, but, he wouldnt eat it, so my wife looked in the tank and say what looked like a half digested pinky, so, we decided to wait a couple days to feed him again. but, the next time we fed him, he ate just fine, and nothing seemed wrong.

 

[susang]

Several things: corn snakes need a gradient temp a warm side between 80-85 and a cool side between 70-75 with the center going from warm to cool. It sounds like you fed in the viv, this could be a problem as the snake may have ingested sub-strate, many people feed in a separate tub just used for feeding to avoid this problem. Were the piks properly thawed and warm enough for the snake? What kind of light?
Now the big problem when a snake regurg's all of the good stuff in the stomach used for digestion also comes up. It is best to wait at least ten days before feeding agian. There are all remedies for regurg, do a search on regurg.

 

[methodcomptech]

Several things: corn snakes need a gradient temp a warm side between 80-85 and a cool side between 70-75 with the center going from warm to cool. It sounds like you fed in the viv, this could be a problem as the snake may have ingested sub-strate, many people feed in a separate tub just used for feeding to avoid this problem. Were the piks properly thawed and warm enough for the snake? What kind of light?
Now the big problem when a snake regurg's all of the good stuff in the stomach used for digestion also comes up. It is best to wait at least ten days before feeding agian. There are all remedies for regurg, do a search on regurg.

the warmer side was by his water, and it was a little lower temps on the other side where his log is. i dont know the type of light, it was one that petco recommended for this tanks and snake.
and yeah, i didnt realize we needed to wait so long before feeding after regurgitation. i thought since he did that, he would need to eat asap since he would be hungry. i guessed wrong i guess. the pinkys were completely thawed, adn a little warmed to give the impression that they were alive. my wife is just really torn up about it. i feel so bad for her. i am going to call the shop when they open.

 

[Corny Noob]

I am sorry to hear of your loss, but before you do get another snake if you are I suggest making sure your set up is 100% first, which means getting accurate readings of the tempatures via digital thermometers as well as making sure you understand regurgiation protical.
Not to mention if you were handling him every day that's probally why he threw it up. They need at least 48hrs to digest before handling again.
Although I'm not quite sure why you're calling the shop, if it's been 2 months there's nothing Petco can do for you (used to work there)

 

[methodcomptech]

I am sorry to hear of your loss, but before you do get another snake if you are I suggest making sure your set up is 100% first, which means getting accurate readings of the tempatures via digital thermometers as well as making sure you understand regurgiation protical.
Not to mention if you were handling him every day that's probally why he threw it up. They need at least 48hrs to digest before handling again.
Although I'm not quite sure why you're calling the shop, if it's been 2 months there's nothing Petco can do for you (used to work there)

it was barely a month, but yeah, they have a 15 day policy. i also wasnt aware of the 48 hour rule. we tried to handle him every day because that is what we had read on another site. i am disappointed that i didn't know about this forum till now. this place could have been very useful, and if we get another snake, then, we will definitely be active here. i also have one of the regular thermometers mounted in the tank, but, i will look into the digital ones if you guys feel they are better.

i really appreciate the feedback, but, any real idea as to why he passed?

 

[methodcomptech]

i forgot to mention that he was fed in a separate container. it was something asked above.

 

[Rich in KY]

I, too, am sorry for your loss.

Was he showing any other signs of stress? What type of substrate are you using?

You will probably never know exactly why he died. It is sad.

 

[methodcomptech]

I, too, am sorry for your loss.

Was he showing any other signs of stress? What type of substrate are you using?

You will probably never know exactly why he died. It is sad.

i am not sure if it is a sign or not, but, it seemed to be taking a little long for him to shed his skin. :S he was about 1 foot long, and in a 10 gallon snake terrarium tank. we were going to get a 20 this week, but, not now. we need to learn more about snakes first i guess.

 

[Rich in KY]

I am not sure about the shedding being an issue.

Was he digesting the mice he ate? Meaning was he pooping?

 

[Corny Noob]

Well if it's been more than 15 days they can't do squat unfortunatly, except try to push another snake on you to make more money :/

But yes, digital thermoters really are more accruate.
And I can only assume that the reason for death was due to the regurgiation/stress.
I'm also assuming since it was on pinkies it was a tiny little thing. At that age even one regurg can be deadly.

 

[ssmith_1187]

I too am sorry to hear about your loss. I lost a snake back in January of this year but didn’t hesitate about getting another one.

While snakes are truly wonderful animals and in the grand scheme of things, require the absolute minimal care of any pet that I’ve owned…it’s really important to read, study and understand the information regarding their care. They aren’t like a dog or a cat that can easily live in our environment. While snakes aren’t hard to take care of, they do have some nuances that need to be addressed.

I would recommend Corn Snakes, The Comprehensive Owner’s Guide by Kathy and Bill Love. You can order it off of her website at www.cornutopia.com

Please do not hesitate to ask any more questions in the future.

Regards,
Steve

 

[susang]

i am not sure if it is a sign or not, but, it seemed to be taking a little long for him to shed his skin. :S he was about 1 foot long, and in a 10 gallon snake terrarium tank. we were going to get a 20 this week, but, not now. we need to learn more about snakes first i guess.

In my intial post I said it may be only a vet could tell.
I agree with corny and others do some research. The ten gallon viv had nothing to do with death and getting a 20 will only add to the stress of the new snake you get. An adult corn requires a 20 long a hatchling a 10 gal. These creatures are shy, loners, you only had one hide. If you had done research you have known about gradient temp, minimum of two hides one on cool side and one on warm. You don't even know what light you have. While I use lights and UTH (not on the same vivs) UTH is better and pet store should have told you that. If you had the water under the light what temp was the water? :shrugs:
You are jumping in again without knowing what you are doing AGAIN. If you do research or read Kathy Love's book, great. Please don't rely on pet shop to give you correct iformation. They usually give bad advice especially the chain stores. JMO susan

 

[SnakesRule1234]

In my opinion, it could have been parasites or something else, since I assume you got him from a pet store. Next time, get one from a breeder and do your reasearch that you are 200% sure you are ready.

 

[ssmith_1187]

Before I got my first snake, in addition to reading just about everything I could, I set up my viv as if a snake was in there.

This gave me an opportunity to answer the following questions:

- What type of thermometers should I use to give me the most accurate readings?
- Where exactly should I place the thermometer/thermostat probes?
- What type of material (if any), and what size should I use to cover the top of my viv with the to maintain the proper humidity?
- How deep does my substrate need to be?
- What wattage of ceramic heat emitter should I use to maintain the correct ambient air temperature? (My downstairs where I keep my snake tends to run in the mid-upper 60’s)

My viv was setup and "running" for 3 months prior to me getting my snake and placing him in there. This gave me the opportunity to fine tune those subtle nuances I talked about. When things took a turn for the worse with my first snake, this minimized the areas we (me and the breeder) had to look at to try and help him along. In the end we both determined that it was a failure to thrive situation.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Steve

 

[wisconsin]

humidity

make sure the humidity is the correct setting too. 40-60%
also i wouldn't keep the water on the warm side-water on the cool side make more sense to me
good luck

 

[methodcomptech]

thanks for the input everyone. my wife had really wanted a snake, so, she found a site to read up on them, and didnt get to good of advise there considering the advise you guys are giving seems to be a lot better. we had really just jumped on the idea of getting one since she had been saying since i met her almost 4 years ago that she loves snakes and wanted one. it is unfortunate that we didnt learn more first because she was really upset when i told her what happened.

so, time to do some real research and then consider another one. i dont think i will be going to petco again though. they had terrible advise. so, thanks again. your feedback is greatly appreciated.