About a year ago, I posted with some feeding problems with my ball python Cetis.
For those who helped me (And there was a good deal of help), she did start feeding again, and finally, after years of trying, went to fresh killed food. She was declared extremely healthy and fit by a vet that specializes in Herps (One of the strongest Ball Pythons he had ever seen actually!)So... Thank you all for that...
Unfortunately, she passed on about two months ago, and not due to a health issue.
I have talked to several folks at reptile rescues and online herp groups about what happened, and none of them had ever heard of something like this happening or even thought about it...
Cetis had crawled through a hole in the side of one of her "Natural" looking hides (A fake tree stump), a hole that her head an neck could fit through but not the mass of her body. Snakes have a tendancy to push forward against resistance as reversing is not comfortable to their belly scales. She pushed herself as far as she could through the hole, and her belly scales, catching on the edge of the hole prevented her from backing out. She pushed herself hard enough through the hole to cut off her air supply and she strangled to death. She was wedged so tight I couldn't get her out at all. She was buried in it.
Please- Look at any hides or ornamental things you have in your snakes tank. If it has a hole that the snakes head can fit through, make sure that the rest of the body can fit through as well. I lost an amazing companion animal and one of the sweetest snakes I have ever known because of it. I am a good herp keeper, but I had never thought of or read of this mistake. It was a hide designed for herps, it should have been safe. It wasn't.
Now I have a new snake. A Dumerils Boa, 2 years old and 3.5 feet long from a rescue.
And I have a mistake I will not make again.
Gwyd

Hi Gwyd,
I am sorry for your loss - I own several balls and love them dearly. I will add in another example that I had happen about a week ago. I feed my balls in the guest bathroom in the bathtub. Well, the ball would not eat and I have another ball that I moved the rat to in another room to let it eat and I left the first ball in the bathtub as it can't get out of the room. Well, I came back in several minutes later and it had climbed into a string net that holds my 8 months old bath toys - the same thing happened that you described. I came in a she had pushed herself through the netting and stretched it to the point that she couldn't get out or go forward anymore and it was digging into her skin.

Thankfully I was able to get a knife between the string and her skin and remove it after several minutes, but I learned a valuable lesson that they will go until they can't get out and then it may be too late to get them out.

Once again, I am sorry for your loss and thanks for sharing - hopefully it will help everyone who has snakes re-examine their surroundings for just this type of thing.

Chad