My Garter Died Don't Know The Reason (Grapic Pics D-up W)

[Charlet_2007]

well i went to feed all my snakes and checked on my garter snake.. he had been in a sleep like state for about 2 weeks didn't thank nothing of it.. well i went to hold him and he looked like he had turned a really beautiful blue-green color.. I picked him up and he was dead.. i don't know what happened he was fine other wise.. Here the pics.. when feeling him it felt like he was hollowed out.. and he also has a hole on his belly.. :confused::confused:..

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301860.jpg\

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301862.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301863.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301864.jpg

[Charlet_2007]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301866.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301867.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301868.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301869.jpg

[Charlet_2007]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301870.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301871.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/zoie18_2001/S6301872.jpg

[gregmonsta]

Sorry for your loss ... that hole is very strange ... is there anything in the tank that could have caused it?

[Charlet_2007]

not that i saw i'm going to comb it when i get gloves today but right now its got a mesh lid on it that it cant get out if what ever it is, is in there..

[Stefan-A]

Damn, sorry for your loss. :(

Really interesting.. Try to look for any small, sharp objects (wood splinters for example) in the tank, while you're at it. Anything that could have been ingested.

They do feel sort of hollowed out when they're dead, I'm not sure it actually is.

[adamanteus]

Sorry to hear your bad news, Natalie.
The other discoloured scales look like scale rot.... as for the hole, could it be decomposition? Has he been dead long enough to smell bad?

[Charlet_2007]

no it hasn't.. i checked on it here like a day or so ago.. it was fine moving around and such just its been really calm which was weird.. didn't think nothing of it because my king gets calm when it starts to shed so i thought it was the same thing..

something else i thought as really wired is the color of it use to be black, orange stripe and yellow now its a really pritty blue-green, black and orange stripe.. whats with the blue-green color?

[adamanteus]

It certainly does look like some kind of puncture wound. I think there was also some scale rot going on there though, but I guess the hole killed him.

[Charlet_2007]

it was right at 2 foot long :(

[Sid]

Very sorry to hear the bad news. I agree with James on the scales and the change in coloration is quite normal when a Garter dies.

[Lori P]

Bummer, Natalie! So sorry for your loss. That hole is so odd. :-(

[Elliot]

Sorry for your loss. :(

[garterchick]

sorry for your loss, lori

[Charlet_2007]

yeah we laded him to rest by my little dog Panda Bear and my cat Max.. I feel soo unnerved right now.. it's like i wish i could have done something to stop this but like i said he was ok the day before so what ever happen, happened really fast..:(:(:(:(

[KITKAT]

The hole reminds me of a parasite that aquarium fish can get, which eats its way out from the inside of the fish.

Since garters eat fish sometimes, I wonder...:confused:

[Charlet_2007]

well this snake ate toads.. i couldnt get it to eat anything else.. :( but it might have.. i don't know tho i wanted to take it to the vet but its layed to rest now..

[KITKAT]

Well, I know how bummed you are, and I am sorry for your loss...

I am pretty bummed now too, because Trinity (red sided garter female baby) is still missing, and it has been a couple of weeks now.

There is an up side to keeping pets, and a down side... and any time you keep a pet, you will experience both at times.:(

[Charlet_2007]

yeah at least theres still hope for yours tho... mine is no more.. :(:(:(:(

[drache]

I'm so sorry, Natalie
I've had snakes die unexpectedly and it's awful
that hole does look like something caused by a parasite
it looks so defined
if it was caused by the festering of an internal injury, I think it would look messier

[Charlet_2007]

yeah i agree.. this has left a hold in my heart... maybe with time ill get another one but right now i dont know...

[anji1971]

Oh Natalie, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Very sad.:(:(

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The blueish green color was probably because he appears to have been going into shed at the time of death.

This snake looks as if he were mauled. Do you have a cat? had he recently escaped his enclosure? He also looks a bit on the thin side on some of your pictures, but not all. This could be because he was dead and deflated, or because he was underfed or was harboring parasites. He also has some scale rot on his ventral scales. Scale rot is usually a result of poor husbandry. Was this your first garter? If so, you may have made some beginner's msitakes. Any amount of humidity in a garter's cage can be disastrous for him.

How long did you have the snake, and how where you keeping him? Did he have a nice dry enclosure with a large clean bowl of water? A thermal gradient? How often did you feed him and what was he getting? If you used fish, what kind of fish? If you can tell me these things I may be able to further help you out as to what brought about the demise of your little guy :(

Were you possibly keeping him on a bark substrate? If he were to ingest a piece of bark and then try to use his muscles to work it down, he could have punctured himself from the inside out.

[tikichick]

I am so sorry for your loss! That hole looks like a worm or some kind of parasite to me. I read an article last month about frogs giving snakes parasites, so I'm thinking that was the culprit. Regardless, RIP little dude :(

[adamanteus]

In Europe, toads are sometimes parasitized by the 'Greenbottle' fly (Lucilia sp), in a condition known as 'Toad Fly'. I don't know if this occurs in the US.

The eggs are laid on the toad and the larvae burrow into the flesh (usually on the back) and eat away at the toad until it dies. Perhaps a maggot of this type would be able to burrow it's way out of the snakes' gut. Lovely!

[Stefan-A]

L. bufonivora, yes. I considered the possibility of a relative that would attack reptiles, but didn't find any. Even we have our own parasite, Cochliomyia hominivorax.

I don't think it's likely, though.

[adamanteus]

I was thinking of Lucilia bufonivora, swallowed with a toad, burrowing it's way out of the snake, rather than a similar species attacking the snake directly.

[Stefan-A]

Yes, I understood that. :)

[adamanteus]

The blueish green color was probably because he appears to have been going into shed at the time of death.

Actually Shannon this kind of colour change in death is quite normal in snakes, they can appear brighter than they were in life.

This snake looks as if he were mauled. Do you have a cat?

I think there might be many more than one neat injury had the snake been mauled by a cat.

Any amount of humidity in a garter's cage can be disastrous for him.

To be more accurate, some degree of humidity is essential. Without this the snake will not slough correctly. Scale-rot can be caused by damp and/or dirty substrate.

If you used fish, what kind of fish? If you can tell me these things I may be able to further help you.

I'm pretty sure that poor choice of feeder fish isn't a factor in this snakes' death.:)

Hope you don't mind, but I felt there were one or two points there that might mislead some of our less experienced members.:)

[Charlet_2007]

Originally Posted by aSnakeLovinBabe http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/images/green/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/general-talk/2388-my-garter-died-dont-know-reason-grapic-pics-d-up-w-3.html#post39376)
The blueish green color was probably because he appears to have been going into shed at the time of death.

Actually Shannon this kind of colour change in death is quite normal in snakes, they can appear brighter than they were in life.

This snake looks as if he were mauled. Do you have a cat?

I think there might be many more than one neat injury had the snake been mauled by a cat.

Any amount of humidity in a garter's cage can be disastrous for him.

To be more accurate, some degree of humidity is essential. Without this the snake will not slough correctly. Scale-rot can be caused by damp and/or dirty substrate.

If you used fish, what kind of fish? If you can tell me these things I may be able to further help you.

I'm pretty sure that poor choice of feeder fish isn't a factor in this snakes' death.:)


We have an outside cat. he stays strictly outside..

I fed him toads no fish.. he wouldn't eat anything else whether it be fish or pinky's even scented he wouldn't eat them..

I used reg potting soil.. nothing in there to harm him and i sifted it before it went in his tank to make sure.. I use it for my T's all the time..

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

allow me to clarify that by humidity I meant damp bedding. I know they need humidity, just they need it in the right places. I have about 50 garters.

But one thing, I have never seen a garters eyes become cloudy upon death!

[adamanteus]

Indeed, you're correct, the snake appears to be preparing to slough. But the 'beautiful blue green colour' mentioned in the first post is a natural phenomenon associated with death.