I feel really depressed right now. I apologize for making such a depressing post. Tux passed away last night. He was my favorite snake. He was perfectly fine last night before we went to bed. He didn't seem to want his dinner but he ate less than a week ago so I thought nothing of it. I went in this morning to check on everyone and he was gone.
The horrible thing about it is that we don't know what was wrong with him. In order to find out what was wrong with him, I would need to bring him in for a necropsy within 24 hours of his death. There are very few competent exotic animal vets in the area. The ones that do exist charge extravagant amounts. And the closest one is over an hour away.
I am worried that whatever he had could pass on to my other animals. I have heard horror stories of "silent" viruses that sweep through reptile collections, slowly picking off every herp in the home. Unfortunately, reptile diseases are not well understood. Even those "competent" exotic animal vets may not be able to do anything. And they would charge me thousands of dollars just to tell me they will do nothing (don't you love that?).
But he might have just passed away without any real cause. He wasn't out of what I call the "danger zone". He was still a baby (he was only 16in long). And baby herps are very vulnerable. Sometimes they drop dead without warning. Adult herps can do this too, but they are less likely to. I am terrified every morning when I walk into our reptile room because I know that there is a chance that someone may not be alive. Mammals can be cryptic when they are sick. But they usually don't just "drop dead" for no apparent reason. It is very unlikely that Dib will go from being my happy, healthy kitty cat to a corpse. Most mammals show some change in behavior, some warning that they are sick. With reptiles, sometimes they will have a noticeable change in behavior, but not always. It is usually very subtle. They stop eating, shedding, or pooping. Or they may become lethargic or lose weight. But Tux didn't do any of those things.
So I am sad. I want my snake back :( Tux was so sweet. I was raving about how awesome he was yesterday. Most cal kings are snappy as babies, and have trouble eating pinkies (because they eat lizards when they are little in the wild). Tux ate like a champ, and he wasn't snappy at all. He was amazing.
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| RIP :( |
But there is nothing I can do to bring him back. All I can do is hope that none of my other animals will meet the same fate :(
aw, I'm so sorry! Snakes scare the crap out of me so hearing about a snake in terms of a pet with a personality is rather eye opening. I hope the rest of your pets are okay :-)
ReplyDeleteOh honey, I'm so sorry!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone :)
ReplyDeleteWe talked to a few of our other reptile-loving friends. We will never know exactly what was wrong with him, but it seems like he may have been born with some sort of genetic disorder. We went back and thought about how much he had grown (not very much) vs. how much he ate (very well. 1-2 pinkies a week). We didn't think much about his size when he was alive because he ate very well and seemed to have normal sheds. We were told that sometimes baby snakes take awhile to grow, and as long as they are eating they should be fine. But Tux only grew a few inches over the 6 months we had him (in comparison, Merlin the corn snake grew several feet over the same time period). In retrospect, that lack of growth is a bit extreme. We started measuring our snakes at the beginning of each month, starting a few months ago. We will definitely continue to do this to monitor their health.
But again, we will never know exactly what was wrong with him. I have yet to notice any problems with my other animals. So far, it doesn't seem like tux's problem was contagious.