My female boa died

Question
My female boa died last night. I woke up this morning she was dead. It almost looks like she crushed her own head, she had blood coming from her mouth and her neck was like sunken in almost looks like it was broken.I'm wondering what happened to her. She was about 8 - 10 years old and 8 feet long. Could she of had a heart attack? cause there are people working around the foundation of our house could that have caused her to die?

Answer
Hi Amanda,

Im sorry for your loss, i hate to hear of any snakes death. unfortunately it can be very hard to determine the cause of death in snakes but i will give you my best answer.

it is highly unlikely that she crushed her own head, unless there are unstable heavy objects in the tank you keep her in and even still you would have found her with that object ontop of her.

it wont have been a heart attack. heart attacks are rare in snakes and builders working on the foundations of your house are unlikely to have stressed your boa out enough to induce one.

the sunken neck often occurs anyway when a snake dies. it is sometimes due to the fact that there is no oxygen flowing through your snakes lungs and chest.

it may have been septecimia. this is where a snake can obtain a burn or cut to the skin and this becomes infected. the infection gets into the bloodstream and causes the snake to die. sometimes this problem can be hard to notice and can easily go untreated.

it may also have been a parasitic infection. these can be hard to identify as well. it could have been internal or external parasites ie worms or mites that caused infections.

there arent many illnesses or problems that can be linked to a bloody nose apart from physical harm. without a proper necropsy it is hard to tell how your snake died, even then it can be difficult to determine a snake's death.

im sorry i cant be of more help, thanks for your question,

Andy