R.I.P. Salaam

[Cthogua]

My girlfriend and I bought an adult Ball Python a few months ago from a private breeder (who later turned out to be a dick, and doubtfully really cared for his snakes) Anyway, he wouldn't eat, which we read is fairly common with Ball Pythons at first and that eventually it would get hungry and eat. After about 2 months of not eating we decided to get this nutritent paste called 'Rept-Aid" and force feed him. That didn't really seem to make any difference. Anyway, this morning I noticed the water level in his bowl hadn't gone down at all over the past 2 days (normally he drank quite a bit). When I checked around his enclosure I found him dead, curled up in some of the foliage He was pretty skinny when he died, but I have read that they can go a year or more without eating. Anyway I feel pretty shitty about it...we had discussed taking him to a vet, but had been warned against it by a number of "snake people" as most vets don't really know much about snakes and can further stress the snake out or even hurt it...I wish we had now either way

Anyway here is a picture of a healthy Salaam from when we first got him

[corky13]

hmmm...sad thing...
what are your plans regarding the investigation of its death ? Or do you know why it died ?

by the way it looks like you using it to paint something ^^ nice photo

[Cthogua]

Well after it not eating for a while we contacted the breeder and asked if he had ever had problems with the snake. It was then that he decided to reveal that he had been having alot of problems with the snake (when we bought it he said it was perfectly healthy) that it had mites and some digestive problems prior but he "thought that was over" The reality of it I think was that he sold us a breeder snake he got tired of taking care of. He looked pretty healthy when we got him, but went downhill so rapidly I doubt the breeder didn't know something was wrong. From what I've read most reptiles carry a certain amount of parasites in their digestive tracts and if their health suffers for one reason or another the parasites can get an upper hand and flourish. He probably had a bad internal parasite infestation already when we got him, and it eventually killed him. Like I said we talked about taking him to the vet a couple of times and were always talked out of it by the people that we know that have snakes. They said that there didn't seem to be any difference in the survival rate between ones they took to vets and ones they just let try to heal on their own...I wish we had taken him now, but I guess thats a pretty useless wish...

[corky13]

hmmm...damn
do you think the breeder has more snakes in his snakefarm who could be suffering from misstreatment ? If hes not treating them right you maybe want to inform the police <_< at least it would work in my country...(i hate people who mistreat their animals/pets...)

[DSillustration]

aw, thats a shame.

i have a corn snake.
their life expectancy is 11 years...
my little guy, akira, is 13 years old right now.
ive had him all 13, raised him from a few months old.

i always hate to think that one day im just going to find him dead in his tank like that.

sorry to hear about that, cthogua.

[BenB]

That sucks. Those are awesome snakes too.

[Flynn]

Hindsight is always a bugger like that Cthogua. Atleast you cared enough to worry mate, Id hate to wake up and find the other other family member dead ;(

Anyways im not much of a snake fan, I take more to dogs

[magicgoo]

Awww, poor snakey. Sorry to hear about your loss. Maybe a new turtle or frog will help?

[Cthogua]

Thanks everyone for the comments, I was really sick this morning about it

but...we have to very healthy and happy frogs They're White's Tree Frogs and are spoiled rotten. I never realized how incredible of a creature they are...the metallic golden eyes blow my mind. Here's a picture of my girlfriend with Gollum...we have another one named Smacky...anyone who's a mitch hedberg fan will know. That's Quinn the budgie in the background, we bought him and later realized that one of his toes had been bitten off by one of his bin-mates at the pet store, but he gets around just fine.

[0kelvin]

Would it be in bad taste to make a Snakes on a Higher Plane joke?

But in all seriousness, sorry for the loss man. Losing a pet is always tough. He looked really cool, had some great markings.

That's a cool frog! Hehe, Smacky the Frog, it took me a second to recall the reference, that's great.



0kelvin