Witnessed behavior/event I can not understand... death rites

[Steve]

I think Chase nailed it. It definitely was dead the day I made this post... I put it in a container in a warm room and watched it for several hours.

More than anything I am surprised by observing a behavior that is linked to impending death. I think I will forever be afraid of brumation in this species, now.

[Brigget]

When an animal is dying and in pain they tend to be extremely still for awhile then start moving when the pain comes back. I thought my snake was dead one time he was upside down and stiffened but when I touched him he wasnt completely dead it took him hours to die. and he'd have spurts of movement. I feel very bad for your guy but I believe its very natural behavior.

[Zach]

It's very likely that the animal was still alive when you picked it up. People had trouble deciding if other humans were dead until the advent of modern technology...It would also probably be especially difficult to determine in a reptile as they have very slow breathing rates which might be exacerbated by being on it's death bed. The fact that they can be cold and still be alive, unlike a mammal also would make it difficult to determine. So at first glance he might have seemed dead, but wasn't quite there yet.

Good post, Chase...

This reminds of "lilFigher" the Indo a pet store gave us. Anyone remember that? He was so thin and sickly, they just gave him away but we couldn't save him. The day he died, we thought he was actually dead, but when we came back to retrieve him he had actually moved quite a bit....I remember being confused a little bit.