R.I.P Milo..

[pugsly]

Evening all...

Today was probably the worst day I have had since I got into reptiles..

I came home to find my male bredli one of my favourite snakes, dead in its enclosure. Just last night alexr was around and I showed him it, nothing wrong with it, moved fine, breathing fine, tongue flickers etc. Today, dead.

I had no idea what had happened but after talking to a few people now it seems it was a possible heart attack, from which after opening up the snake seemed apparent, there is a blood clot and a lot of fatty tissue, which states the case of over feeding.

This guy was 18 months old and 5.5 feet. He usually ate 2 medium rats every 10 days. Or one large rat. Never refused a feed from the day I got him, I thought this feedign pattern was ok, but clearly after seeig the insides it is not.

To all those who feed there animals to speed there growth let this be a warning, my female is half the males size as it eats half as much, and is still sitting happy in her enclosure.

I can post the photots of what I saw on the inside if you like, but its not for the sqeemish, definately a lesson learned the hard way and I will be cutting down my feeds for all my pythons from today..

Rest in Peace Milo...

[cam]

RIP milo

[ssssnakeman]

thats sucks steve, a tragic but educational lesson.
it was a heart attack? would be interested in seeing the pictures.pm if theyre to graphic
sorry for the loss
baz

[pugsly]

Vet was closed, spoke to a few experienced people who have had the same thing happen, and thought that would be the only cause as it was just so out of the blue. You can see pretty clearly a blood clot and 'heaps' of fatty tissue surrounding the heart..

[ssssnakeman]

you will get him to a vet still to varify that though?its normal to have a certain amount of fat around the heart..the name for it escapes me at the moment and if a vet saw him they could tell you weather the blood clot was related to the cause of death. or caused by the post mortem surgery.
baz

[CodeRed]

Man that sucks. Is that the bredli you brought to the Mac Herps show?

[pugsly]

Here you go..

Yes will still get to the vet though..

[Snow1369]

Sorry to hear mate! R.I.P Milo!

[pugsly]

Yeah he was mate

Here is some good advice for everyone..

Only something like 5% of wild pythons examined have had any trace of food in there tract what so ever and have evolved over hundreds-thousands of years to live like this, when feeding every 10 days or so the animal always has food, and waste inside at all times and develops layer upon layer of fat, also remeber that in captivity they become conditioned and dont need to seek food as othen as its always just given to them. try feeding let the snake completley pass all food, then leave for 1-6 weeks and feed again, chop and change all the time.
your animals will live longer, breed better and become far more active as they are not just sitting around digesting food all the time. some people see their snakes roaming and have to feed them cause they think they are hungry, dont let them roam for days/weeks its good exersize for them and they need it.

Cheers
Steve

[alexr]

Very sorry to hear about that mate... what a shock!.

[bobthefish]

You should never see the skin around the scales of your snake, unless it is swollen with food, and then only at the place where the food bulge is. My boa, 31 years old, gets fed once a fortnight. She's a bit over 4 foot, more slender than a python, by about 1/2, and she never eats more than a mouse at a sitting, and then only a mature, not a fat mouse.

Sorry Puglsy, you weren't to know mate. There's too much misinformation about weight and snakes out there!

Cheers, and enjoy your next bredli!

[pythoness]

so sorry to hear about milo. R.I.P.
snakes can live on very little food, as little as one feed a year, i guess we do over feed, i for one will be cutting down the feeding.
sorry again for your loss.

[cam]

My boa

I beg your pardon

[hazzard]

Both my male and female bredli's are 5 years old and have only just reached 5/1/2 feet. Beautiful head size in relation to body.

I was talking about this with Rick Shine not long ago. He said a lot of adult diamonds in the wild are lucky to eat 12 times per year (equates to once a month) remember that 4months of this they don't eat at least.

I feed most of my snakes over 15 days apart, sometimes a month. I have had tremendous breeding success and large clutch sizes.

My first pair of macs that took 5 years to breed had continuous clutches of 17, 22 then 27 eggs respectively. Many of my mates have adult maccies larger than mine in two years (in a rush to breed them).

I'm in research and all wild snakes I see have beautiful body proportions, large heads and sleek bodies.

I know a person that has a gravid woma at 13months of age and a gravid blackhead at 15 months of age. I've warned him what can happen, I guess I'll just wait and see.

Nevertheless I'm sorry for your loss. Bredli are my favourite snakes, and I have some pretty impressive ones. It's heartbreaking to see those pics.

[ad]

Hey Pugsly,
Tough break mate,
All the 'power feeders' now have something to view and a valid testimonial to counter their arguements,
Taking that extra year to get your animal to breeding age isnt that bad a thing.
Congrats on posting the thread and your stance on it and sorry again you lost Milo.
Cheers
Adam