Goodbye, old friend

With a heavy heart I had to say goodbye to an old friend last weekend. My California King Snake, Sir William Snakespeare.

We had just come home from a weekend trip to visit the in-laws, when we noticed an odd stench. We had just thought it was time to clean one of the cages, or maybe we had forgotten to take out some garbage before we left. We looked around Snakespeares cage and he seemed to be laying down, curled up in one of his usual spots.

I tried tapping on the glass and rustling the top of the cage a bit, but he didnt move. I took off the lid, and gave him a rub with the back of my finger. Usually he pushes back – initially I thought he did; but that smell didnt seem right. I gave him another rub – no movement. I tried picking him up, and thats when I knew he had decided to retire. He was totally limp and his mouth hung open.

We both checked him out and confirmed that he parted a little while ago when we were away; so I got to packing his things.

Leading up to the weekend, he hadn’t been acting as spry as he once was, and he showed some form of dimentia – during the last two feedings, he decided his tail was tastier than his usual dinner. Normally if he accidentally bites himself, he usually would let go after a moment.

Memories

Escapee!

Back when we recently got him; when we lived near a mall in London, Ontario, there was an evening when he decided to be a little extra adventurous.

My SO and I were both out for the evening, and when we got back, we unpacked all of our things. We tried checking on snakespeare, but we couldnt see him in his cage. We thought he had burrowed under the aspen as he tended to do. But something seemed off. I think we noticed the cage was a little looser than normal, so we decided to try and take him out.

we sifted through the aspen, but found nothing. I think we had moved 1/2 of the aspen to one side to try and find him; but he wasnt in yhere. He had escaped.

we looked all around the bedroom and were trying to figure out where he went. Did he leave the bedroom? Did he escape into the vent?

Nope! The little rascal decided to slither behind my desk, climb up and into one of my drawers, and curl up in the corner.

Goodbye

Ill add more content in the future; but for now, ill close this one out with a goodbye.