What just happened... [Archive] - sSNAKESs : Reptile Forum

Uncle_Rev

11-09-11, 02:46 PM

Monday afternoon I went to the local mom and pop pet store and picked up 2 pair of rat pinkies for my corns. I do this every couple of Mondays (when my micro breeding colony is not churning out rodents) and I feed both of my corns one to two each depending on what they take down. Neither took a second pinky, which is not uncommon so I put the other two down then tossed them in the freezer.

This morning both corns are dead.

Both corns are kept in separate tanks, both have identical heating, both are around 6 months old. Each one lives on a different floor of my house and I have Germ-X in damn near every room and use it.

The pinks were only 2 days old at most and that is the only new thing I introduced to the corn snakes in the past 3 months. Both had seemed to almost have completely digested the pinkies and could pass for being wholey alive under normal inspection.

I really have no idea what I did wrong. I am trying hard to impeach my own husbandry, but all my other herps are doing awesome. This is sucky and it aggravates me to no end.

snake man12

11-09-11, 02:50 PM

Were they completely thawed? Were they fed live if so the rats could have scratched the esophagus of the snakes but I don't think this would case death

youngster

11-09-11, 02:52 PM

That's really odd. So sorry for your loss :(

Gungirl

11-09-11, 02:55 PM

alessia55

11-09-11, 02:56 PM

Aw this is so sad! Nothing comes to mind to me to tell you what might've happened :( I'm so sorry for your loss... I hope you can figure out what happened...

Uncle_Rev

11-09-11, 03:35 PM

Sorry for your loss. I would think maybe the mice at the pet shop had something on them that caused your snakes to pass. If the shop was to clean the mouse tank and not wash it well maybe the pinks had a chemical on them?

Firstly,

Thank you all for the awesome energy. Another reason this forum rocks. I just called the pet store and asked the owner/manager if he had changed his routine or vendor with the rat pinks, he said no and asked why, I told him both of my corns were dead and told him of the circumstances and conditions and he hung up on me. So I am kicking around the notion of if I want to shell out for the necropsy or not if I really want to know what happened.

I really have my shorts in a knot over this. I had good heating, humidity with corns was minimal, no drafts, different tanks, food was warm not frozen, my tanks have not been cleaned with any chemicals in the past two weeks, kinda fresh water (I never change out things when any of my snakes are digesting unless there is an emergency.)

Again, I really have never encountered this sort of thing before so I want it to be a teachable experience.

spots

11-09-11, 03:46 PM

Sorry for your loss. kinda weird that the manager hung up on you! (Unprofessional)

snake man12

11-09-11, 03:47 PM

You should go to the store and threaten to take it to court

alessia55

11-09-11, 03:48 PM

You should go to the store and threaten to take it to court

I agree. I'd take it to small claims court. Losing two snakes is hard, and it's infuriating that it may be the store's fault and that they don't even want to talk about it.

brylecc1989

11-09-11, 03:57 PM

Sorry for your loss Rev. The description of your husbandry sounds spot on. It seems that these pinkies would have to have been tainted in some way. I would at least go for a face to face talk with this pet shop, perhaps ask to have a look at the chemicals they use to clean their tanks. Depending on their reaction, you could probably tell if its their fault. Sorry again man. Let us know what you decide

Terranaut

11-09-11, 04:03 PM

Uncle_Rev

11-09-11, 04:13 PM

Don't beat yourself up over it. You obviously had everything correct and the only common thing is the feeders. You still have another in the freezer from the same batch? Keep it have it tested. Don't threaten the pet shop until you have proof. Then go get them. I think you'll find something wrong with the feeders like bacteria or something. Sorry for your loss. I'd be heartbroke :(

Holy macaroni, THANK YOU. I never thought about having the frozens tested for chemicals or whatnot. Believe it or not, I found all this after my night shift, so the thought to take a look at the frozen pinks never occurred to me. I was already brain tired as all hell before this happened.

A friend of mine is the herp doctor for the iguana rescue in Kissimmee. I left him a message, I think I am going to go ahead do a necropsy. If for nothing else, piece of mind.

Well off to catch a couple of hours before I start my next shift, this entire pain in the rear ordeal has been a real kick in the shorts.

Gungirl

11-09-11, 04:23 PM

Please Let us know what the results are!

CK SandBoas

11-09-11, 04:32 PM

I am so sorry for your loss! If i was the manager of that pet store, i would definitely want to find out if there was an issue with the feeders i was selling. It's the difference of keeping and maintaining repeat customers, or basically being known as the pet shop that is potentially selling bad feeders.

It's a shame more people won't step up to the plate, and accept responsibility for something like this, instead of hanging up, and hoping it goes away.

Terranaut

11-09-11, 04:37 PM

Your very welcome. Good luck!!!

stephanbakir

11-09-11, 05:47 PM

Best of luck, sorry for your loss.

KORBIN5895

11-09-11, 05:56 PM

My money is on the feeders. It would be worth getting them tested first. If you plan on raging action if it is the feeders get the testing done right so the courts can't claim a conflict of interest.

alessia55

11-09-11, 06:10 PM

Have you asked your vet if he's able to test the pinkie mice for chemicals that may be the cause for the death of your snakes?

jaleely

11-09-11, 10:45 PM

i'm sorry! : ( How did you thaw the food? How bizarre. i think it's def the pet shops fault. if you thawed with water, i can't think of what would be on the food that wouldn't be washed away...i have no idea. I'm sorry!

aj099

11-09-11, 11:39 PM

really sorry for your lose mate. i cant imagine that happening to my boa`s
this is really scary that this happend if i were you i would raise living hell on the pet store! :@

Uncle_Rev

11-10-11, 01:04 AM

Well the pet shop owner's wife called me back and we talked for a bit. She told me that they had just started their own breeding set up purchased from a local lady that had delivered the first of their rats that Monday morning.

After the initial pissed off phase passed the two of us talked. She has offered to replace one of the corn snakes with a corn of my choosing from their store or from one of their breeder's most recent clutch, but she accepts no responsibility. Up until this week I had always had a good relationship with these people.

I believe I will still have a necropsy done and my friend is picking up the pinks to take to the UCF lab in the morning Friday. He said that it is likely that a phenol or another cleaning agent became "re-activated" if a rat's water broke in the enclosure and it was not thoroughly cleaned or rinsed previously.

Pinkies move through cleaning agent, cleaning agent is transferred to pinkies, pinkies are fed to snakes. So I will see kick around some ideas while sitting stuck at work for a while.

SnakeyJay

11-10-11, 04:24 AM

Sorry for your loss... id have to take it further if theyre not accepting responsibility.

alessia55

11-10-11, 07:38 AM

She's not admitting responsibility but yet she's offering to replace one of the snakes? That means she feels responsible on some level; or else she wouldn't offer any compensation at all. I'd get those pinkies tested asap and take it to the next level. I wouldn't let anyone get away with what's happened... Let us know what you find out about the pinkies!

SnakeyJay

11-10-11, 07:46 AM

If it was someones dog or cat etc that died i bet the shop would have a different attitude. Some people seem to think that reptiles etc are expendable and replaceable. Its a particular animals traits that we get attatched to.

shaunyboy

11-10-11, 08:33 AM

Sorry for your loss. kinda weird that the manager hung up on you! (Unprofessional)

thats what i'm thinking...why would he hang up on you ?

unless he has had a load of folk with dead snakes calling due to a contaminated food source ?

were the 2 corns clutch mates ?

it may be a bad clutch and purely coincedence that they died on the same day

as you say mate getting a pm done would be the only way to know for sure

sorry for your loss

please keep us updated mate

cherers shaun

Will0W783

11-10-11, 09:18 AM

Rev, I am so sorry for your loss...it is devastating to lose a snake, especially when it's unexpected and the cause unknown. I think it's BS that the shop is refusing to accept responsibility and only replacing one of your snakes. I would tell them that isn't good enough and go ahead with the necropsy and testing the pinks. If you can find some evidence against them, sue them! Small claims court should be able to help you and I would also look into where else you can get your feeders. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers...please keep us posted on how it progresses.

kernel

11-11-11, 02:32 PM

I'm sorry to hear that too, Rev:( I can't think of anything else except the pinkies.

daddy and son

11-12-11, 10:11 AM

Just echoing the above, since you still have 2 more in the freezer, you could have them checked as well. If they prove tainted you've got the pet store. You could for certain make him pay to replace your tw2o corns, and possibly for the necropsy as well. Good luck with it!

millertime89

11-12-11, 12:54 PM

best of luck Rev, and sorry for your loss, keep us posted.

alessia55

11-13-11, 07:54 AM

Rev I know it's only been a few days but do you have any updated information on this? Any news on testing those pinkies?

Terranaut

11-16-11, 04:36 PM

Update???????

alessia55

11-16-11, 04:40 PM

Me too. I'd love to hear what has happened... Did you get those pinkies tested? Did you find out what happened?

alessia55

11-26-11, 03:17 PM

Update please????

totheend

11-28-11, 10:24 AM

Would love to hear an update on this????

Gungirl

11-28-11, 10:32 AM

I think most of us are really wanting to hear the details.....

Wolfus_305

11-28-11, 11:33 AM

I'm so sorry for your loss, that sounds horrible. I hope that you find out what caused it, even if it only brings closure to the situation.

Best wishes!!
Kendra

p.s. Please update us, we're all curious to know what is happening

kernel

11-28-11, 02:14 PM

Please give us an update? I think it's driving everyone crazy not knowing.

Wolfus_305

12-04-11, 12:18 PM

is there any update? i know that I am very curious to know how this turns out

millertime89

12-05-11, 02:25 PM

If they're in talks and lawyers have been involved odds are he CAN'T update this.

Also he hasn't been on since the 17th of November.

Terranaut

12-05-11, 02:52 PM

The op should post simething. Even to say he can't say would stop the nail biting ;)

kernel

12-05-11, 08:55 PM

Yea, if he would just post something!

millertime89

12-05-11, 09:09 PM

that's just it, if he's spoken with a lawyer he might have been told to not post ANYTHING. If he wants to update he will, quit harpin' on him.

kernel

12-05-11, 09:28 PM

He could still say he can't say.

millertime89

12-05-11, 09:56 PM

in this day and age, saying that is as good as saying something.

Aaron_S

12-05-11, 10:02 PM

Even if he's in the court process he can tell us if he did or didn't do the necropsy.

millertime89

12-05-11, 10:59 PM

ever deal with the US legal system? its a pain, better off saying nothing. If he's going to small claims court, then you need the person you're suing to be served, if he can't be found (they check place of residence and business a few times first) then a note is left that a package for him can be picked up at the nearest post office. If he knows what it is, and never picks it up, you're SOL.