What just happened...

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

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?

IDK kind of a shot in the dark but without having a vet look into it one can only wonder.

Uncle_Rev · 11-09-11, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gungirl

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.

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...

spots · 11-09-11, 03:46 PM

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

shaunyboy · 11-10-11, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spots

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

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by snake man12

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

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

Uncle_Rev · 11-09-11, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terranaut

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.

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.

Gungirl · 11-09-11, 04:23 PM

Please Let us know what the results are!