To start this off- This is my first post here. I created my account today to ask this question because I'm feeling very distressed as to why this happened to my ball python. Apologies if I do something incorrectly when it comes to posting/asking something here.
I found my adult ball python dead in his water dish this morning. He was completely fine the night before and had been acting normally when I went to bed. His water dish only had about an inch and a half of water in it and the dish was big enough for him to soak in, which he did often, but the water was not deep enough for him to swim in. He could rest comfortably on the bottom of the dish with his head tilted upward and his nose above the water.
I'm pretty sure he did not just die and happen to be in the water dish because when I found him this morning and picked him up I could not only feel the water in his body but a large amount of water was coming out of his mouth when I let his body and head hang downward. I've seen drowned animals before and this looked like a drowning to me.
I've had him for 5-6 years and he has never had any health problems while with me. I got him from a local breeder as an adult so it is possible that he was on the older side. Nothing has changed in his enclosure recently and his temperature gradient and humidity have not changed either. He has skipped eating for two weeks but that's normal for him. I offer food every week and he generally eats every 2-3 weeks, ignoring the food I offer between those times.
Does anyone know what might've happened to him? I'm very concerned I might have missed something important and this is very distressing to me.
Is it possible he somehow got his head stuck beneath the rest of his body and drowned? I highly doubt that's what happened because of how often I've seen him soaking in the water dish but it seems like it may be a possible explanation?
I found my adult ball python dead in his water dish this morning. He was completely fine the night before and had been acting normally when I went to bed. His water dish only had about an inch and a half of water in it and the dish was big enough for him to soak in, which he did often, but the water was not deep enough for him to swim in. He could rest comfortably on the bottom of the dish with his head tilted upward and his nose above the water.
I'm pretty sure he did not just die and happen to be in the water dish because when I found him this morning and picked him up I could not only feel the water in his body but a large amount of water was coming out of his mouth when I let his body and head hang downward. I've seen drowned animals before and this looked like a drowning to me.
I've had him for 5-6 years and he has never had any health problems while with me. I got him from a local breeder as an adult so it is possible that he was on the older side. Nothing has changed in his enclosure recently and his temperature gradient and humidity have not changed either. He has skipped eating for two weeks but that's normal for him. I offer food every week and he generally eats every 2-3 weeks, ignoring the food I offer between those times.
Does anyone know what might've happened to him? I'm very concerned I might have missed something important and this is very distressing to me.
Is it possible he somehow got his head stuck beneath the rest of his body and drowned? I highly doubt that's what happened because of how often I've seen him soaking in the water dish but it seems like it may be a possible explanation?
