What Do You Do When A Reptile Dies?

It is one thing to dispose of a two foot snake, but when you raise the big boys, the pythons that can get up to 35 foot long and big around as a telephone pole, how do you dispose of the body?

When our pet Wiggly, a Burmese python died, she was 15 feet long and 10 inches thick. She had developed pneumonia, and since snakes only have one lung, that was bad news. We were treating her with medication but she was not getting better. Then one morning she was gone. Python's of that size are big and heavy and hard to handle.

I heard my husband calling for me and as I stepped into the garage I knew we had lost her. He had her stretched out on the floor and was in the process of skinning her. I was a bit shocked by it, and yet again I could not see him not wanting to waste her beautiful skin.
After that job was done we had to figure out what to do with her large body, as it could not be put out with the garbage, but had to be buried.
Luckily, my husband's boss owned a big spot of land and he owned a backhoe. We put Wiggy in a bag and got her to the back of our truck, loaded and ready to go. Then the skin had to be salted down to keep it from spoiling.

Then my husband was off to work and I was left with the clean up and to mourn the loss of our beautiful snake.
The idea of what we did might be shocking to some but after living on a wildlife compound you learn not to waste anything. Wiggly, was given a nice spot and we planted a flowering bush on her grave to remember her by.

Have you ever had a big snake die? What did you do with it's body?

I have never had a big snake, but I think you did the right thing. Not everyone has land in which to bury such a large pet so it could be problem for some people when their big snake dies.

I think incineration would be the only alternative. The local vet would surely have an incinerator for pets that have been put down or lost their lives during surgery.

At least you and your husband have kept the beautiful skin to remind you of your snake. Do you intend to get a live replacement?

Since that time it was decided that having such a huge snake where we lived was somewhat dangerous for us, as well as, others. We lived in a community setting and we decided it was better to keep smaller snakes as pets. It was a relief to me as we had, had a few close calls with Wiggly, in feeding her rabbits. So no more big snakes in our house.

I was very concerned about my husband's safety in regards to getting bitten or squeezed.
I have seen snakes much larger than the one we had and was amazed at how trusting people can get that they forget to be careful and all it takes is letting your guard down for a minute and getting bitten in the face or some other vital area. More often we hear about alligators getting children or pets. Very little is heard about snake bites as the owners are afraid of loosing their pets. But I am sure it happens a lot, and just is not headline news.