kwaka
Not so new Member
To all experienced elapid keepers,
First and foremost, I am the Snake Co-ordinator for Wildcare, and am responsible for collecting elapids to train people with. I have been caring for injured elapids near Canberra for the last few years and haven't lost one without obvious reason (injuries), so I am puzzled.
I am extremely upset by the recent death of a tiger snake in my care - it was a good healthy specimen, caught in chicken wire in February, healed nicely, shed late August/early September, had a fuzzy rat 9/9. Moved to a different smaller enclosure to accommodate some bigger browns that were coming in, heat source was a marble paver with heat cord under it that I made on the cheap, had temps last time I checked varying from 28-34 degrees - no thermostat as that was as hot as I could get it, even buried under a few layers of newspaper and marine carpet.
I fed Nettie an X-breeder from Dolittle farms that has been in the freezer for 9 months, never thawed until used. 3 days later, noticed a smell, thought it was poop, but she was dead. She was draped around the paver, not on it - she wasn't pinned at all, but the mouse was still undigested - big lump, but not too big - she had taken similar prey items in Feb before she clocked off for winter.
She died with an undigested mouse inside her, and not on the heat source. I double checked the paver to ensure it was working after disposing of the body, and the temps were ranging from 34-38 degrees!!
So, possible causes of death are:
Really upset about the loss, as apart from the heat stone being hotter than it was last time I checked, I am doing everything the same that I have done for upwards of 30 elapids over the last 3 years.
Any other ideas for cause of death (apart from some undetermined internal injury) that I haven't thought of? Or even if you agree that the heat stone was the issue?
First and foremost, I am the Snake Co-ordinator for Wildcare, and am responsible for collecting elapids to train people with. I have been caring for injured elapids near Canberra for the last few years and haven't lost one without obvious reason (injuries), so I am puzzled.
I am extremely upset by the recent death of a tiger snake in my care - it was a good healthy specimen, caught in chicken wire in February, healed nicely, shed late August/early September, had a fuzzy rat 9/9. Moved to a different smaller enclosure to accommodate some bigger browns that were coming in, heat source was a marble paver with heat cord under it that I made on the cheap, had temps last time I checked varying from 28-34 degrees - no thermostat as that was as hot as I could get it, even buried under a few layers of newspaper and marine carpet.
I fed Nettie an X-breeder from Dolittle farms that has been in the freezer for 9 months, never thawed until used. 3 days later, noticed a smell, thought it was poop, but she was dead. She was draped around the paver, not on it - she wasn't pinned at all, but the mouse was still undigested - big lump, but not too big - she had taken similar prey items in Feb before she clocked off for winter.
She died with an undigested mouse inside her, and not on the heat source. I double checked the paver to ensure it was working after disposing of the body, and the temps were ranging from 34-38 degrees!!
So, possible causes of death are:
- heat stone too hot? - reluctant to get on it in her last days, although she was in her hide on the heat stone on several observations, and she died draped around it.
- not enough heat to digest? By not being on the heat stone, she wasn't getting a lot of belly heat, but one would think that being in contact with the heat stone would have been sufficient for digestion - overnight temps are almost double digits and the garage keeps enough heat to be warm.
- Dodgy mousicle - it was properly warmed before giving it, and she scoffed it quickly - it had been 4 weeks since her last feed, so she was ready for it. I have used Dolittle for mousicles for the last 2 years, used dozens of them for rescue snakes and never had one that smelled weird - I also use their X-breeders for my stimmy. Longest I have had a mousicle in the freezer is 12 months in line with their recommendations.
Really upset about the loss, as apart from the heat stone being hotter than it was last time I checked, I am doing everything the same that I have done for upwards of 30 elapids over the last 3 years.
Any other ideas for cause of death (apart from some undetermined internal injury) that I haven't thought of? Or even if you agree that the heat stone was the issue?