Sudden death of my retic

[IW17]

Well yesterday just sucked. My 4 year old male platinum retic, died abruptly. I saw him in the morning before work basking, and both my girlfriend and her daughter saw him cruising his cage being his normal self in the afternoon, after school and work. Fast forward a few hours, I hope into the living room after dinner and I knew instantly he was gone. It just happened. His eyes, and scales were perfect, and his body was completely limp. I'm thinking something along the lines of an aneurysm. Disease or other illness should produce some symptoms. He was eating, drinking, and moving around like normal. Last week when I had him out he was strong and active. I've contacted the only local vet that deals with exotics but they don't offer a necropsy.

Long story short, this sucks.

[Piggybuns]

Oh my goodness... My condolences on your loss. :c

[RAD House]

What a bummer, My condolences.

[Minkness]

Oh man....that really does suck. =(
I am so sorry....my heart goes out to you and yours.

[JellyBean]

Oh no! So sorry for you. It's hard when you don't have the "why" :no:

[sattva]

Your right! That does suck... Wow I am so, so sorry...

[SWDK]

Wow! What a terrible shocker. Sorry about your retic passing.

[Plumbstring]

I'm so sorry this horrible. I'm sorry for your loss I've lost a ball python like this over night.

[EL Ziggy]

I too am sorry for your loss IW.

[Tsubaki]

Wow that's a real shock! My condoleances to you, it's horrible to lose pets I know what you're going through:(

[Albert Clark]

My deepest condolences go out to you and yours. Sudden death is a reality in the people world as well as the animal world. It has been a plague for centuries and has been written about extensively in the medical literature. Again, I'm truly sorry.

[dave himself]

Gutted for you mate its one of the worst feelings in the world when one of our pets suddenly pass on :(

[Andy_G]

That's really rough. Sorry to hear that.

[IW17]

I appreciate the kind words. I've had animals pass before, but never a healthy young adult. It's a real bummer too that he was by far my favorite snake. The only thing I'm happy about was it must have been a quick death. Nothing long and drawn out. It's definitely going to take some time for me to fully adjust. I'd like to put his cage somewhere else so it's just not sitting there empty, but unfortunately we don't have any other space for an enclosure that size.

[macandchz]

i'm so sorry about your snake. it is so hard to lose a pet. my heart goes out to you.

[JellyBean]

A favorite blanket draped over the cage... New end table for the time being (hugs)

[savvylr]

So sorry for your loss :(. Losing a pet really sucks. My condolences.

[UserNameIsValid]

Sorry for you loss

[IW17]

Thanks everyone. I've been a little quiet lately. Works been busy and I've been kind of adjusting. This too shall pass. I'm trying to look ahead and come to terms that there wasn't anything I could do. I've still got my tiger retic and he's doing great so I'm looking at the bright side.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I could have sworn I commented on this when it first went up. No wonder it hasn't been showing up in my notifications....

Anyways, vets don't do necropsies (at least none I've talked to), they send them to labs to get them done. Some vets will, however, charge you a fee for them to send the body to a diagnostic lab, which will be charged to you on top of the lab's fee. Next time you need a necropsy look for a veterinary/animal diagnostic lab in your state.

Also, my condolences. I lost a BRB last year, and she was the first and only snake I've lost. It's terrible losing a pet you expect to have 20+ years.

[IW17]

Thanks bigsnakegirl. I'll look into that. Fortunately I've never had the need until now. But just in case, I'm going to look into it, in the event I'm ever in this situation again.