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What on earth??? Seizures?

albertagirl

Sharan
First of all, this is a beautiful snake. Does anyone know what it is?

But secondly, and more importantly, what on earth is wrong with him?
Some people in the comments suggested IBD or fire ants? My first thought was pesticides? It's like he's having some kind of seizure that just gets worse and worse. I'll warn you, it's disturbing. Please don't watch if you will be upset by watching a snake having some serious problems. I'm a little upset to be honest. It's hard to watch! I just really want to know what happened to the poor guy, if anyone has any more educated guesses than already commented on the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wU-mSfpVUY
 
That video has been around for along time...
I recall that the snake is a black racer and the cause was heat stroke.
Sad to watch for sure !!
 
Wow!

Thanx for the update Daddio, though I don't know if knowing that this poor snake croaked from heat stroke actually makes me feel better! I would have thought by the way he was jumping around, that it was the fire ants for sure, but when a snake that isn't a stargazer flips its head upside-down like that, that's usually an indication that it's a goner for sure. Also brings back bad memories of my own black racer who passed away from parasites from small frogs and anole lizards. It happened EONS ago but the memory of something so traumatic makes it seem like yesterday! He wouldn't eat mice anymore due to a minor case of stomatitis (mouth rot) which I was actually treating with a vitamin supplement and probably would have been successful if I had waited a week or two more, but a friend of mine showed up with a jar full of small frogs he'd captured while fishing at a lake. I had no idea back in them days about parasites and since he hadn't eaten in a while, I tried feeding him the frogs, which he took so enthusiastically! A couple of days later, he did the same thing with his head upside-down as the snake in the video, minus the flipping around violently and I noticed several of the little leeches or whatever the hell they were coming out of him after he had croaked. Broke my heart. But live and learn! Which is why I would NEVER EVER feed any of my sneaky ones amphibians of ANY kind!

But thanx for sharing.
 
That video has been around for along time...
I recall that the snake is a black racer and the cause was heat stroke.
Sad to watch for sure !!

Heat stroke can do THAT??!! :eek: That was violent!
Thank you for answering daddio207. I'm so glad I asked, since heat stroke is something that could also happen to my snakes, even all protected in their cages no matter how careful I am about quarantine and chemicals and their food sources. I wonder how hot a snake would have to get to start seizing like that?
 
That video is a graphic demonstration of the importance of thermostats on UTH and/or lamp heaters. It's horrible to think that could happen. It ought to be a sticky. Cripe. I'm really bothered by it.
 
That video is a graphic demonstration of the importance of thermostats on UTH and/or lamp heaters. It's horrible to think that could happen. It ought to be a sticky. Cripe. I'm really bothered by it.

Not only that but my cages are near windows where a couple of times a year the sun does hit them. I make sure the curtains get closed for those hours, but what if I forgot one day? When I see pictures of vivs *right* in front of the windows, I always wonder how they keep their snakes from greenhousing to death?
 
I have some of my vivs stacked in front of Windows. I bought that reflective film and put it on the window glass to deflect the heat. I also have blinds and cute curtains. It's a nice backdrop without the heat. The film helps the room stay a little cooler in the summer, too, so I closed off the AC to that room.
 
I'm guessing it was already disoriented from overheating and somehow wandered onto hot pavement, only making it worse. You can see how it becomes increasingly more confused, twisting and turning aimlessly before curling into a defensive coil, it's last attempt at defending itself from this unseen attacker. :/
 
Yeah, things like this are unfortunately a part of life but that doesn't mean they don't suck the high hard one! Extremely sad for that poor little black racer! :crying: When I see stuff like this, I totally understand where the existentialists are coming from (as in, "LIFE SUCKS THEN YOU DIE!").

This particular one conjures images of Kafka on wheels! :headbang:
 
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