07/21/2026
"Arrivederci" - until we meet again..
Arri put up a good fight. He had been dealing with some digestive issues for the last 2 years off and on.
We tested for crypto, several times and several ways (overlapping with the hognoses i had received that tested positive during their quarantine. He had a gastric lavage and several PCR tests from various sample types).
We tested for IBD. We tested for Paramoxyvirus. We did bloodwork, culture and sensitivity tests, he was successfully eating and keeping down reptilinks for about a year and gained a bit of weight back. He's had his fair share of antibiotics, anti inflammatories, anti nausea medications. Everything has been negative testing wise.
He's been an absolute trooper through it all and had he not fought so hard, stayed so active, and continued to be so willing to eat when he was able to i wouldve taken his lead and let him go much sooner if he told me to. Arri is actually why we started breeding our own feeders, assuming we had gotten a bad batch that started everything.
Unfortunately his conditioned relapsed and he began regurgitating his meals again a couple months ago, which led us to a barium study. Their reccomendation from the results of that were a stomach biopsy, and unfortunately we decided at this point it was time to let him go peacefully. Theres no guarantee hed survive recovery, or that the results would be something treatable, or that hed have enough strength to go through more treatment after not having adequate nutrition stay in his body.
I didnt want him to be sick anymore. We are pursuing a necropsy with the vet hospital who has been helping us, to hopefully still get the answers a biopsy would have but without anymore stress or recovery on Arri. We all agreed we've done as much as we could without putting him through too much and I cant let him just wither away while we pry for more answers.
This snake was so special to me. He was my 2nd snake ever; and the first I brought home immediately after starting work at a pet store. Theres a sentimentalness that my original crew has to me, that has its own layer of love to it. Im devastated we couldnt get answers in time to turn things around
