30-some reptiles died in Zoo Knoxville

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BethH
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Joined: May 12th, 2013, 6:47 pm

30-some reptiles died in Zoo Knoxville

Post by BethH »

If this has been reported elsewhere on the site, I'm sorry. I didn't see it.

The Knoxville Zoo had some kind of an unfortunate event.

http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/loca ... /99682162/
craigb
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Re: 30-some reptiles died in Zoo Knoxville

Post by craigb »

No, this has not been posted here to my knowledge. It is extremely interesting that there is no obvious cause.
I really like this report. It is just the facts they know and what they are looking for.
The reporter posed no ignorant questions or made no bizarre claims (it's refreshing).
craig
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jonathan
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Re: 30-some reptiles died in Zoo Knoxville

Post by jonathan »

Something similar, on a much smaller scale, happened in my own room once when I was a kid.

I had recently hatched a clutch of six corn snakes. Four of the babies were doing quite well, one was deformed and was pretty unlikely to make it, one was runted and I doubted it would make it either. I also had the two parent corns, a pair of northwestern garters, and a few other herps.

On one day, suddenly, the two weak babies, two perfectly healthy babies, and a northwestern garter snake in a different cage all died.

I was very perplexed as to what could have caused five snakes to die on the exact same day. It was not a cold night or a hot day or anything. There were no electricity problems. No systems or food sources or anything shared between the corns and the garters. I wouldn't have been surprised at all if the two weaker babies died, but losing two healthy babies on the same day as the two weak ones was weird, and the garter snake in the other cage just made it inexplicably weird.

I've always wondered whether it was just a crazy coincidence that I lost five snakes on one day, or whether there could be some weird explanation for it.
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