Yesterday morning I found one of my Northern water snakes dead
I never got any pictures of him, or even had a name for him..
I went in to check on him, we had changed him to a tub, as I lifted the lid I saw him raised as if to get out. As I look him over I notice his head was completely crushed. My first reaction was that maybe the humidity had been to high in the tub and he'd tried so hard to get out that he killed himself. Completely overwhelmed I called to Steph. When steph got there I managed to calm down a little, enough to notice that his whole head had been crushed, this again caused me to panic, was it my fault? Had he tried to get out as I was closing the lid and I hadn't noticed? I spent the day at work sad, horrified that I could have killed him. I promised myself that if I ever kept a wild caught snake that they would have a better longer life than if left in the wild.
As I arrived home, Stephan began to tell me how he had asked around, the most clear explanation for what had happened was Bone Cancer. I started to deny it, saying, "But his head was completely crushed, like a car had run over him or something." Steph continued to explain that it wasn't just his head, he had several broken ribs as well. His bones had just disintegrated causing his head to fall in on itself.
I began to wonder why he would have been at the lid then, in so much pain he probably tried to get out, and died trying
Just two days ago, I had held him, appearing to be completely fine. He probably spent a lot of time in pain, but never once did he show it.
My first loss...
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