| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| n/a |
Posted - 29/01/2011 : 20:08:06
My cornsnake, Strawberry Champagne, is a yearling. He's been a voracious eater since he was brought home and has always been very excitable when it comes to being handled or being awake at all. There's never a moment where he stops looking for a way to escape from his tank and after he rouses himself, he never stops using your hands as a living jungle gym.
But for some reason, as of a few nights ago (if not just this last night), all of that seemed to change. He is refusing food at the moment. He seems very lethargic and barely seems aware of his own environment, let along curious of it. He's barely smelling at the air at all, whether in his vivarium or out of it. Instead of curling his muscles or even tensing them at all when he's picked up, he simply goes limp and it's really starting to scare me.
We took him to an Emergency Veterinary Care Center last night, and they said that he was fine, that he wasn't dehydrated and, despite a fair amount of muscle loss, that he wasn't by any means emaciated. The only thing that they supposed was wrong was the temperature (we had no heat lamp and the house is kept far too cold - even for our liking). We changed all of that, bought a heat lamp, and have done whatever possible to try and make him comfortable.
Yet as of this morning he seems even weaker and more lethargic than he was last night. Whenever he tries to move, he only ends up curling himself up backwards and his head is constantly lolling back and forth in a way that only reminds me of seizing. Whenever he's slithering backward, too, he always seems to have his head pressed back against his side when he does it.
I don't understand what's going on and whatever it is, it's really starting to scare me, even if the vet said that there was nothing to worry about. It really doesn't seem like it.
Help? |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Newbie |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 20:35:10
I'm so sorry for your loss, kind thoughts and hugs sent your way x |
| kdlang |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 13:17:49
I have only just caught up with this thread and I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I found it distressing to watch the video so I can imagine how difficult it was for you to see it in the flesh. It is really hard when we know there is something wrong but someone who we think should know better is telling us different. You have cared for him and loved him and he died in the comfort of his own home. I don't think he could have asked for more than you did for him. Hugs for you and your family |
| Mort13 |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 10:52:33
Hi,I'm so sorry for your loss. He looked a lovely little snake and its obvious how much you thought of him.
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| SexyBear77 |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 10:47:13
Sorry that you lost him x |
| n/a |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 02:32:39
I did my best to make the last part of his life as good as it could be. <3
Thank you very much. <3 I thought it was appropriate; though he wasn't a stargazer in the actual sense, he often would pose like that. <3 |
| thistle |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 02:30:48
I'm so very sorry!
It sounds like you tried everything you could to save Strawberry Champagne.
Your tribute to Strawberry Champagne in your signature is lovely. |
| n/a |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 00:10:05
We live in Salt Lake County in Salt Lake City, Utah. We took all night looking for an exotic animal care facility; none were open on Sundays, one was open on Saturday (but the appointments were booked and they didn't do emergency care), and aside from that, we couldn't find any other exotic animal hospitals in the entire state. |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 31/01/2011 : 00:01:01
Sorry to hear that he passed away.
Just for the info though, can you let us know what state/area you're in?
Gmac and I helped someone VERY late (to us anyway) one night find a specialist reptile vet that was within a stones throw of their house, and managed to contact them as well.
WE might not be successful, but it might be worth knowing for future reference. |
| gmac |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 23:34:09
shame about that, sorry for your loss |
| lotabob |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 23:32:45
Aww I'm so sorry to hear that. Poor little guy. |
| n/a |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 23:02:19
Thank you all for the support.
Sadly, Champagne passed away within the last few hours. But it was nice to have support through all of this. Thank you very much for all your help. |
| Newbie |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 19:49:56
So sorry to see your snakes unwell, hopefully the vets will have positive news, my thoughts are with you and Strawberry *hugs* |
| lotabob |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 19:46:13
Maybe he is truning a corner and coming back round. If the vet was right and he is just dehydrated it takes a little while to rehydrate them. |
| n/a |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 19:02:06
Will do. We're still waiting to take him to the vet on Monday. He seems at least a little bit better this morning... Most slithering, less thrashing. |
| SexyBear77 |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 10:35:16
Don't rule him out just yet- it might be an infection that has found its way into his bloodstream. Strong antibiotics MIGHT sort it. |
| n/a |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 08:25:33
He's getting worse.
One of the times that we were handling him and giving him his little Powerade bath, we noticed that his head is lopsided, the left side swollen right behind / above his mouth. If all of what we've been reading is true, he probably caught some kind infection from either his food or his vivarium that metastasized into a brain tumor, explaining the neurological problems he's suffering from. Since the vet can't do anything about neurological problems in snakes, if he's still with us on Monday, we're probably just going to take him in to get put too sleep so he doesn't have to keep suffering (if he's even aware of it). |
| n/a |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 04:05:49
I looked up more information about his condition, and about neurological disorders in corn snakes. All of the ones that met his symptoms ended... sadly, and all of the information files said that it was untreatable and the vet's response would be euthanasia. If he makes it to Monday morning, we'll probably still take him in to the vet, but things aren't really looking so good right now... |
| lotabob |
Posted - 30/01/2011 : 00:10:28
Oh thats terrible they wont see you sooner. The best thing you can do I suppose is keep him warm and hydrated until then. Wet a face towel with warm water and squeeze out as much of the water as possible and put it in his enclosure with him, the moisture in the air will help keep him hydrated. |
| n/a |
Posted - 29/01/2011 : 23:26:12
This state drives me crazy.
The nearest exotic pet care hospital is closed for the entire weekend. The only other one in, for what we can tell, the entire state, is almost an hours drive away, and their earliest appointment is on Monday morning. We took the bathing-in-powerade advice, which he appeared to at least kind of enjoy, but his fits seem almost seizing in nature and only seem to be getting worse. However, it looks like when we just leave him in his vivarium, he mellows out and basks without a lot of movement, so we'll hope that he'll stay alright and just keep trying to feed him until our appointment on Monday... |
| SexyBear77 |
Posted - 29/01/2011 : 23:05:10
Best of luck and keep us posted. |
