African Ball Python Death Question

Question
My son went into his room today to find that one of his African Ball Python had died.  It was about a year and half old.  There was a male and a female in the cage living together in harmony for the past 4 months.  The male had died and his face/head looked misconstrued.  He was active last night and this morning.  We are wondering if perhaps the male and female had a fight and the female strangled the male.  Is this even possible or likely?  We also thought that perhaps a mouse that we fed him about a week ago was bad.  It was a frozen mouse so no injuries could have really happened as if we had fed a live mouse.  Are there any other causes of death?

Answer
hey kathleen,

It is possible that the  female has attacked him especially if the male was of smaller size. usually ball pythons will live together fine but sometimes two snakes will just not get along. it is very unlikely that the mouse caused the death, feeder mice are bred and slaughtered in very strict conditions.

Check for bite marks on either snake as this will give you a good idea if it was a fight. Although they may be hard to see. Also check the tank temperatures, the ambient temperature should be 82-84f with a hot spot and a cooler end. Incorrect temperature could cause any number of potentially fatal problems.

I hope this helps

Andy