Is my ball python dead??

[Snickers1]

Hello! I’ve had my ball python for about 3 weeks now. He’s about 6 months old. When I woke up this morning I found him kind of stretched out with his tail curved and head facing the floor of the tank. He’s not moving at all. I picked him up and poked around him a bit. No response. The temperature in his tank is 86 degrees. His eyes are open though. How do I know if he’s dead?

[Jim Smith]

Since snakes can not close their eyes, you can't use this as an indicator of if an animal is dead or not. I suspect that if you pick up your snake and they are completely unresponsive with no movement at all and the head and tail hang down, then there's a pretty good chance that the snake is dead. Sorry about your loss. Were there any other symptoms prior to its demise?

[Snickers1]

Thank you for your response. He didn’t make it unfortunately. He was pretty normal beforehand so I’m not exactly sure what caused his death. The only thing I really could say was different was his skin. He was pretty wrinkly so I figured he was starting the shedding process. He did seem pretty weak as well but I heard that was normal for shedding. Not sure what I could have done differently

[IDvsEGO]

Sorry to hear that. Always a tough thing to lose a pet.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Snickers1

Thank you for your response. He didn’t make it unfortunately. He was pretty normal beforehand so I’m not exactly sure what caused his death. The only thing I really could say was different was his skin. He was pretty wrinkly so I figured he was starting the shedding process. He did seem pretty weak as well but I heard that was normal for shedding. Not sure what I could have done differently

It could have been cancer, some cardiac arrest or some other health event we can't see or they don't show symptoms of.

[Herpin' Man]

A wrinkly appearance is often the result of dehydration, for what it's worth.