Rook is gone :( What could have caused this?

[thinkmore]

I write this with a very heavy heart. I got up this morning to find our dear sweet Rook limp and unresponsive in her tank. Rook (the person, Shayna) is still sleeping, as it's her day off. She will be devastated.

There was obvious signs of thrashing around her tank, and Rook's mouth was full of dirt. She's only one year old.

Sunday morning she had upchucked Friday's fuzzy. That's when I realized we had forgotten to turn the heating system back on in the house the previous night. The tank was only mid-60's... it seems the undertank heating pad was not working. Rook was otherwise fine though at the time. We couldn't get out right away to buy a new heater, so thought we could get by temporary by using a 40 watt red light bulb on a corner of the tank for a few nights. As long as the heat was on in the house, it wouldn't get really cold anyway. We use a regular 60 watt bulb for extra heat for her during the day. She usually prefers the cooler end of the tank anyway.

She was out and around quite a bit yesterday and the day before. Last night we offered her a fuzzy, which she refused. This morning her tank was a mess and she was limp.

What could have killed her? Once cool night? A few nights of red light in one corner? Until recently there was a light on in a corner of the room 24/7, and it never bothered her. She was a strong, healthy snake.

It's going to be a long day :(

[jitami]

I'm so sorry... I wish I had answers for you... hopefully some of the more experienced can help in that department... :(

[Snake lover 3-25]

so sorry for your loss:( but i don't have the answers to your questions:(

[drache]

I'm so sorry - what terrible news
I can't even guess what might have caused this
I have had snakes die of mysterious causes a couple of times and it totally sucks

[Stefan-A]

I'm sorry for your loss.

What kind of diet had the snake been on?

[Rook]

Rook ate a varied diet of fuzzy gerbils, earthworms and fish(platys, guppies, zebra fish, salmon strips etc..) we bred all her food ourselves(well aside from the salmon strips obviously)

[Stefan-A]

It wasn't anything obvious, then. It does sound a bit like whatever it was that claimed my male parietalis just over a year ago. At least the last stages of it and the diet wasn't all that different. Fuzzy mice, safe fish and the occasional worm.

[infernalis]

So sorry for the loss, been there too many times myself.

As for temperatures killing your snake, I doubt that very much, last night it fell to 38 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I saw several snakes hiding under some wood scraps, they were basking this morning and most likely out hunting right now.

It may be coincidental, but I have seen a few snakes die in the same fashion you described, vomit one day and mouth full of dirt the next.

I wish I could offer some biological reason that it happened that way, but without the necessary skills (or desire) to cut them open and investigate I cannot.

One theory is possible internal parasite(s) or traumatic stress???

Again my deepest condolences, it's always hard.

[gregmonsta]

Sorry for the loss.

[thinkmore]

Thanks for all the condolences. I kept holding and rubbing Rook for a long time, hoping somehow she'd come back to life. It's just so hard to believe she's gone.

She's CBB, can't imagine how she could ever have been exposed to parasites. Nothing unusual around the house either. I did just finish staining the deck, but that's outside. Suppose it may remain a mystery unless someone has any more ideas.

[count dewclaw]

So sorry for your loss. :(

[infernalis]

She's CBB, can't imagine how she could ever have been exposed to parasites. Nothing unusual around the house either. I did just finish staining the deck, but that's outside. Suppose it may remain a mystery unless someone has any more ideas.

So far my 3 biggest mystery losses this year have been CBB snakes from the most known breeder in the USA.....

Don't understand it myself, we have bunches of wild caught snakes, and they thrive???

One theory that does make the most sense, animals that are kept in "sterile" environments from birth have weaker immune systems than snakes that have had exposure to parasites and pathogens throughout life.

[Zephyr]

I'm so sorry; I don't think it was temperature. Perhaps it was just a sporadic, natural cause. We'll never know.
I'm very sorry though; I too had a snake die last night; thankfully it wasn't a garter.

[jitami]

Sorry to hear that Kyle :(

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

awwwe... hon im so sorry!

This has happened to the best of us... I have lost more than one snake for seemingly no reason, my most recent was Behemoth, my 6 foot corn/black rat snake... my bestest friend passed away suddenly last week. He was fine that night when I left... and when I returned home in the morning, he had passed in the night and had blood coming out his mouth and nostrils.

I am guessing that he was much older though... when I got him 5 years ago, he was already that size and you could just tell he was an older snake.

It is always very hard to lose a snake... especially one that is young and seemingly very healthy.

Did rook happen to be an amel checkered garter? I hate to say it... but I avoid keeing these guys at all because so many people have so heavily inbred them that their overall health is very poor and they often die young.

[thinkmore]

One theory that does make the most sense, animals that are kept in "sterile" environments from birth have weaker immune systems than snakes that have had exposure to parasites and pathogens throughout life.


This is probably the best theory, and so true. I see it time and time again, in many animals and even people (just compare my kids to their perpetually ill cousins... same allergy-prone genetics).



Did rook happen to be an amel checkered garter? I hate to say it... but I avoid keeing these guys at all because so many people have so heavily inbred them that their overall health is very poor and they often die young.


She was a regular albino checkered. They've been around for a while, but who knows how inbred they are. The less common morphs are so exciting, but the inbreeding needed to create them certainly does nothing for their health.

Now the search is on in earnest for our next garter. Something is missing without at least one.

[Stefan-A]

One theory that does make the most sense, animals that are kept in "sterile" environments from birth have weaker immune systems than snakes that have had exposure to parasites and pathogens throughout life.
On the other hand, it shouldn't present any sort of problem until you expose them to parasites and pathogens. Or carriers.

[Sid]

Very sorry to hear of your loss.:(

[infernalis]

On the other hand, it shouldn't present any sort of problem until you expose them to parasites and pathogens. Or carriers.

That's exactly the point Stefan, without microscopic inspection of every food item, how could we know what exactly is in the food we feed them.

Example, I have heard of more than one incidence of pre-packaged frozen pinky mice that "smelled funny" indicating that at least once the package had thawed out and was re-frozen.

Scott Felzer told me he had snakes die from eating earthworms! I asked if they were red wigglers, and he said absolutely not.

Some owners have lost snakes from feeding toads, yet in the wild Garters dine on toads all the time.

That same batch of "tainted" fish that wiped out 3 of my most expensive morphs was consumed by all the WC snakes with no ill effects.

Freezing food is no guarantee that parasites or bacteria will be dead, most just "hibernate" until better conditions are presented.(like a nice warm snake under a basking lamp)

I know that one first hand from eating ice once when I was younger:eek:

[reptile3]

I am sorry for the loss of Rook!!! I know how is feels to loose one. I lost my ball python- SImba back in 2004. She is buried in the backyard

[Lori P]

Oh no, I am SO sorry for your loss of Rook. I feel crushed, too.... I feel like I knew her, we watched her grow up here!! Rook is the snake that got me so interested in albino checkereds... I'm really very sorry. One day, when I get an albino, I will name her in Rook's honor.

[thinkmore]

One day, when I get an albino, I will name her in Rook's honor.


Aw, that's sweet. We look forward to pics of the new Rook :)