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Sudden Death of male corn - Insight please

R

repti_girl

New member
So today my snow corn was acting a little funny in his bin so my fiance went to check on him and when he opened the lid he found him regurgitating his last meal, which was consumed last week. Apparently it wasn't a complete fuzzy (it was an extra treat last week for him) it was just the casing -skin only.

So my fiance looked at him and realized he was covered in his own puke and decided to give him a bath before putting him back. Normally this isn't an huge issue he sometimes puts up a fuss, and this time was no different, he started freaking out, so thinking that it was just him being himself, Frosty was left in the bath; he normally calms down within 30 seconds or so. 5 minutes later he was found belly up, cyanotic, dead.

Now some history about Frosty:
He was picked up at an expo last year, his weight has fluctuated since then. We thought that there might have been some underlying issues since he has regurgitated before.
Recently he had a shed where he scratched himself on some wooden decorations in the tank and there was an abrasion across his back - no signs of what seemed like infection. Cleaned with antiseptic and kept cleaned after finding injury.

He was eating well, 2 weeks ago had 2 small adult mice F/T, then 2 fuzzy last week (great big poops ~ that's why he got the fuzzies)

We are at a loss, and completely devastated. We offered him to the University for Necropsy as they are a Vet College and they declined ~ we can't afford a full one, so we will never find out i guess.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas.

RIP Frosty
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Sorry for your loss. Just curious though, if he'd had a history of regurge, why did you offer him "treats"? Adult male snakes don't need that much food.
 
take him to an acutal vet. was everything in his tank normal clean parasite free? snake mites? disinfect the tank and get a new one :) frosty 2:) im sorry for your loss. usually temps can off set digestion and cause to regurgetate. was temp normal for both sides?
 
I'm sorry for your loss. *hugs*

2 adult mice in one week? That's an awful lot of food. Then to move on to 2 fuzzies is just odd. Maybe I'm not reading that right... anyway, I don't think that killed him but it's a thought.

Did you leave him alone in the bath? Or watch him the whole time? I say never leave a snake alone when giving it a bath, especially when it's showing signs of being sick.
 
The adult mice were really small and we were trying to keep weight on him, he hadn't had a feeding issue in several months we thought we were getting over what ever it was..

He was never alone in the tub, and it was less than an inch of luke warm water... just enough to make sure he was warm and clean before going back home...

And temps were great, we will be rechecking everyone else though we have 3 more and no mites.

He did have that abrasion and I'm wondering if he got an infection and just couldn't handle everything, maybe also an underlying issue that was never seen since he was a hatchling...

Thanks for the hugs though, we shall move on.

What a post for my very first on this site...I will share more...we have a gravid corn now...
 
Sorry for your loss. Never an easy feeling when a pet dies.
Hard to say, but judging by the pictures, he wasn't that big of a corn snake, so I'm not sure I would have been feeding two adult mice. Even if they were smaller adults, I generally class an adult mouse at 20+ grams, so he was getting a minimum of 40 grams in a feeding.
Part of his regurge history might also be due to the stress of been cohabbed with another snake, as seen in your second picture. Most people here would advise against cohabbing corn snakes.
Just a note on your definition of luke warm. What may seem luke warm to you, may be dangererously high for the snake. He is cold blooded immersing him into water that is much warmer that his surroundings causes a rapid change in body temp. Just something to think about in the future.
I sometimes swim my snakes for excercise, never after a meal though, and especially never after a regurge. But the water temps I like to use is about 80 degrees F. which is maybe slightly warmer than an inground swimming pool.
 
Im sorry for your loss. You probably should take him to a vet, but one that specialize in herpetology.
 
Trying to figure these things are is really difficult. It isn’t practical for you to list all of the environmental and heath issues that may have contributed to the unfortunate death. So understand that anything said here will be nothing more than a guess.

I think ComoxCorn has probably hit on the best answer. If the water felt warm to you it was too hot for the snake. It is hard to judge temperatures with the feel of your hand but 80 to 85* would be comfortable to the snake and cool to you. Should you try this again I would strongly suggest you use a thermometer to check the water temp.

I don’t think the abrasion sounds likely, it wasn’t mites, that doesn’t make sense. The snake obviously had some eating digestion issues that may have contributed. From what you have told us I think water temp is the most likely problem.
 
Given that he was found regurging, I think (and as Wade says, this can only ever be a guess) that there was some sort of pre-existing health issue that was compounded by the shock of a bath. From your description, he was stressed by bathing under normal conditions. To be honest, even a bath at the correct temp immediately after a regurge, might have proven too much of a shock to his system if there was some other problem.

If I ever need to clean my Corns, I make an old washcloth or towel damp (with lukewarm water) and let the snake run through it. This avoids the need for a bath, especially for those that are routinely stressed by it.

I'm so sorry for your loss. You're obviously very caring and trying to figure out what happened is very commendable. I sadly don't think you'll ever have a definitive answer.
 
I too am sorry for your loss and hope to continue to see you around the site, it is a great site, lots of friendly people, helpful people and lots of great information.
 
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