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a death

D

Drey

New member
Hi all,

well..i've just lost my first and only corn snake, drey. found him dead today. it's sad..i want to get another corn but i dont know if im capable enough, as in my confidence has taken a blow. Basically, he was doing fine, exhibiting no signs of abnormal behaiviour, gaining weight and all. The only 2 signs were that a couple of days ago, he was moving around with his mouth open for a while. Plus he's been off his food for about a month, but he has never been a regular eater, so i wasnt too worried as he seemed to be gaining weight. I noticed a dark mass in his underbelly today when i found him, what could that be due to?? it cant be impaction as he was on newspaper substrate. another reason that i can think of is that i brought home a new boa a couple of weeks ago, and though i followed the quarentine procedures, it might not have been enough.
opinions really appreciated here..
:(
 
So sorry to hear of your loss.
You can take your snake to a vet and ask them to carry out a necropsy. At least then you might have some answers about cause of death.
Take care....
 
If you are seeing a dark mass in his underbelly, it could be a tumor. I would follow Angeladams advice and take your snake to a vet. Might cost you a little money, but you will know for sure what happened.

Don't let this deter you to keeping snakes. One of my first corns passed on me too. About 3 years ago. And, I know that it was partly my fault as I didn't catch the fact that half a shed was still on the snake (appearently this can cause the snake to dry out and get something akin to the Flu). I didn't stop there. I just learned from my mistakes, and now I have 11 snakes at home. 10 CB Corns, and one Wild caught West Texas Rat.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that. I lost my first snake too, and it took me a while to get up the confidence to get a new one. But, once I did, I ended up with 5. Everything is a learning experience, so if you take the snake to the vet and find out what is wrong, you can make sure the same thing doesn't happen in the future. Even if you can't take the snake to the vet and never find out what might have gone wrong, just remember that sometimes pets die unexpectedly. Once you get the confidence to get another snake, you'll find that it is easier to deal with losing the first one.
 
thanks guys..

thanks guys..you've made me feel alittle more hopeful about ever getting another corn, really appreciate it. anyway,i've asked around, and that green smear i saw under the belly scales seems to be bile due to a rupture of internal organs? any ideas what might have lead to that??

Drey
 
The green spot is bile that leaks from the gall(SP?) bladder~ it happened becuase he/she was dead~ doubtful it was the cause of death. As I understand it~ the green spot develops no matter the cause of death. ~I'm not a vet or anything~ so I may be mistaken~ but I did lose several corns in a row when I first started~ spent hundreds at vets and on tests that proved nothing~ and all the dead ones had the green spot. I was told it was the gall bladder leaking bile.

Also~ I now suspect that the problem when I started was environmental~ possibly water supply, but I suspect a combination of environmental factors (I was living in very old military housing at the time and insectisides as well as other chemicals may have been present without my considering them)~ none of the vets I visited ever suggested this~ but when I moved to another location I stopped losing corns.

Don't give up. Sometimes you just hit a run of bad luck~ or you get a baby that was not meant to make it~ or there is some environmental factor no one has considered as of yet~ but eventually you'll figure it out.

Good luck~ sorry to hear of your trouble. Don't obsess over the green spot.
 
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