I have lost baby Shiloh

[Catherine]

I have lost my dear little Shiloh.
Shiloh is the little Western Hognose Snake that was born on my birthday in 2011.

He was so tiny I had to hand feed him fragments of food for months before he could actually take a full meal.


I thought he didn't look quite right this morning. When I came home tonight he was dead. It was such a shock.

We did check and it was really strange. It seems that the major blood vessel leading to the heart tore or ruptured. He bled out internally
There was nothing that could have been done to save him after the bleeding started. There was no way to predict an injury/occurrence like that. It is very rare. He was only 3 1/2 years old. He should have had many more years.

This is Shiloh and his mate Pembina. He is the lighter one. I think she is pregnant. I am hoping that there will be children from Shiloh. It doesn't bring him back, but it would be a piece of him still with me.

I spent so many hours with him just to pull him through as a baby. It just doesn't seem possible that he is gone.