I'm sorry to hear of your loss EK56.

If I had any suggestions, it would be to feed less prey, more often. Gartersnakes love to feast, but aren't really built for large meals; it probably wasn't the problem but could have been.

As per Virginia's concerns about contagious factors etc. If you want to know what happened your best chance is to have a necropsy done; have the body refridgerated and contact your veterinarian.

And while I know in most cases BlueSirtalis may be right, there are a lot of cool things that could have been done to try to remedy the situation... I guess first and foremost since blood loss appears to be the major cause of death, would be a blood transfusion. I've done these in birds and reptiles and lucky enough, most people probably have blood donors as well (because who only has one snake ). Bloodwork, imagery, endoscopy and surgery are all options to diagnose and potentially treat.

Ian