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.