why did my milk snake die?

[Mark Liflander]

a milk snake that i've had for over a year died recently, and i'd like
to better understand what happened to her. flo was a healthy milk snake,
just over a year old, who had eaten pinky mice her entire life (as long
as i had had her at least). she hadn't eaten in about two weeks (longer
than usual), mainly because i was having bad luck finding that small
pinky mouse in the pet store to feed her. so i finally decided to buy a
fuzzy mouse, because that was all that was available and i knew she was
hungry. i figured if the fuzzy mouse was too big, she wouldn't eat it.
she ate it, and ended up with a big lump in her belly. the next day when
i came home from work, flo was lying motionless with her head cocked off
to the side. she had died.

i feel lousy about this, because it seems that she died as a result of
eating a mouse that was too big.

what happened? i appreciate any informative, constructive response to
help me understand what happened. please don't scold me, i feel bad
enough already.

thank you,
mark;)

[jon]

Kuhlinayn wrote:
>
> Mark Liflander <ml...@haven.ios.com> wrote:
>
> I am sorry to hear about the following.

>
> >a milk snake that i've had for over a year died recently, and i'd like
> >to better understand what happened to her. flo was a healthy milk snake,
> >just over a year old, who had eaten pinky mice her entire life (as long
> >as i had had her at least). she hadn't eaten in about two weeks (longer
> >than usual), mainly because i was having bad luck finding that small
> >pinky mouse in the pet store to feed her. so i finally decided to buy a
> >fuzzy mouse, because that was all that was available and i knew she was
> >hungry. i figured if the fuzzy mouse was too big, she wouldn't eat it.
> >she ate it, and ended up with a big lump in her belly. the next day when
> >i came home from work, flo was lying motionless with her head cocked off
> >to the side. she had died.
>
> >i feel lousy about this, because it seems that she died as a result of
> >eating a mouse that was too big.

> you killed it!
> Doubtful on that. I don't know how big Flo was, but by comparison, I
> have seen my own snakes (say the size of your pinky finger) eat mice
> that are the size of your thumb and bigger without a problem. Most
> snakes will regurgitate it if the prey is indeed too large. Without a
> necropsy performed by a vet, it is hard to say, but I think it is just
> coincience that she died after eating.
>
> Providing that you didn't freeze her, and placed her in the
> refrigerator, you can get a necropsy done to find out the cause of
> death.
>
> Todd

[Kuhlinayn]

Mark Liflander <ml...@haven.ios.com> wrote:

I am sorry to hear about the following.

>a milk snake that i've had for over a year died recently, and i'd like
>to better understand what happened to her. flo was a healthy milk snake,
>just over a year old, who had eaten pinky mice her entire life (as long
>as i had had her at least). she hadn't eaten in about two weeks (longer
>than usual), mainly because i was having bad luck finding that small
>pinky mouse in the pet store to feed her. so i finally decided to buy a
>fuzzy mouse, because that was all that was available and i knew she was
>hungry. i figured if the fuzzy mouse was too big, she wouldn't eat it.
>she ate it, and ended up with a big lump in her belly. the next day when
>i came home from work, flo was lying motionless with her head cocked off
>to the side. she had died.

>i feel lousy about this, because it seems that she died as a result of
>eating a mouse that was too big.

[dev...@epix.net]

Mark Liflander (ml...@haven.ios.com) wrote:
: a milk snake that i've had for over a year died recently, and i'd like

: to better understand what happened to her. flo was a healthy milk snake,
: just over a year old, who had eaten pinky mice her entire life (as long

I had a similar thing happen this summer as well. My Milk snake (Cain) I
had for 11 Months, ate twice a week, shed once a month like clockwork.
Cain was the greatest Milk snake I ever owned and never had a problem.
Then , he started to go into a shed cycle (as expected) but never
completed it, he started looking terrible, I was soaking him assuming the
shed got stuck. Took him to the vet and at the time he was not in too bad
of shape. (I didn't wait long) He somehow had a bcterial infection! SO the
vet prescribed shots which I gave him (the vet is over an hour away)
The problem cleared up but he still wouldn't eat. Then he started
developing a respitory problem (probably from daily soaks which was needed
due to the medication) Called the vet, she told me to resume the shots (it
was Amikacin BTW) I was giving him his shot, he flinched and the needle
went in too far, day later he was dead...

I can accept the fact the shot killed him, but why he got sick in the
first place is beyond me, I have since purchased a female Milk and hope I
won't run into the same problem.

I know how it feels, It still puzzles me to no end since my milk, like
yours was so good. I do not think it was the large fuzzie you gave him, he
either couldn't get it down, or he would throw it back up if it was too
large.

Mike

[katiesca...@gmail.com]

Oh my god. It sounds like I wrote this, that is literally word for word what happened to my milk snake. I thought he was going to shed, I tried soaking him over and over and it never seemed to help. I made an appointment with the vet it was too late. Your post helped me so much, thank you.

[darnellj...@gmail.com]

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