dead ball python

Question
hi eric i wonder if you can help me!?
unfortunately today i came home from work to find my ball python dead with her head burried under her substrate and her body all twisted! she was only young about 14 inchs long. and quite active. i usually ignore her when i come in so she gets use to me being there but as soon as i walked in the room the smell was over powering and realised somthing was wrong! i have only had her for a week and a half and as a first time owner i have read as much as possible and have had advice given to me by family and friends that all keep snakes(my uncle used to keep rattle snakes, reticulated pythons, king snakes, nile monitors and anything else you can think of, and my good friend is a member of a herp rescue club) when i told them about her straight away they made sure everything was set up right. temp was spot on, hot spot of 30-32 and low of 27 at opposite end of viv. humidty constantly kept between 60-70% a hide, a log for shedding and bir substrate which everyone had said would be fine for her!
she was even fine last night even though she is not quite relaxed around me she was fine when i was handling her(only for about 5 minutes) when i put her back she did her usual "now i know i'm safe i'm going to be big and scary" display only hissing once at me and then going back to her hide. i just really need to know if there was anything i have done wrong! i have always wanted a royal python and would like to own another only hopefully with much better results but this experience has put me off unless i can find a reason why it has happend

thanking you in advanced

very confused snake lover

Answer
Hello Nathan,

I am sorry to hear about your snake.

A big question for me would be what do you do for a living? Do you come into contact with any chemicals throughout your day. Before handling your snake did you wash your hands and sanitize them. I know I am being nosey, but snakes have very sensitive skin that can absorb chemicals from our hands and cloths.

Another question would be are you talking about 30-32 Celsius or Fahrenheit? If Celsius then you were right on.

I am not sure if you mean bir is birch or not. I am not familiar with birch I have always used aspen bedding. Other shavings have a large amount of dust which can cause respiratory problems.

Don't let this deter you from getting another ball python. This could have been a major fluke.

Eric