Venomoids and digestion.........

[Gregg M]

Ok guys and girls, as most of you guys know, I had been keeping one venomoid gaboon viper that I had rescued a couple of months back........ Well the poor little girl died last night....... I will tell you the events leading up to its death.......... It started to gain weight as I fed it........ It was doing pretty well for a little while........ Then I started to notice half digested mice in its stool........ Now she was being kept exactly like my hot gaboons that have been living, breeding and thriving for years....... She lost all the weight she put on....... She was always eager to eat but for some reason could not fully digest her intake......... Why do you think that is???? I feel that highly necrotic, hemotoxic venom is used for more then just killing prey........ I now strongly feel it has a pretty big part in the digestion proccess........ I know this is only one snake and I should not jump the gun but look at what I have in front of me........ I have not lost an established animal in years......... I think if you alter a snake by taking out its glands you might have to change the way you keep it also......... If I kept this animal in a hotter cage, would it have been able to digest its food better???? Maybe, but then you run the risk of over heating and dehydrating the snake....... Gaboons can not take high temps for too long....... And they can dehydrate very fast if not kept right....... Well that is my story......... Let me know what you guys think....... Thanks for reading.......