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Baby blizzard corn not doing so hot, resurges and refusals!

TriggerHappy101

TriggerHappy101

New member
My new baby blizzard is not doing good. She regurged a small pinky meal after it was almost completely digested.

Here is her feeding schedule.

June 1st and June 9th Kathy Love fed her.

June 13th I received the Baby Blizzard.

I waited 7 days to feed her, not handling at all.

June 20th I fed her a small pinky. She kept it down and was fine.

June 25th I fed her anther small pinky.

6 days Later (July 2nd) I tried to feed her and noticed a regurged mouse corpse. It looked 75% digested and was just skin and bones. I figured she regurged it on the 29th or so.

I had already put the snake and a new mouse in his feeding box when I found the regurge. Even though she was in the box for 20 or so minutes she did not take the meal. I removed her from the box and threw away the meal.

I waited until the July 4th to feed her a Pinky head. After almost an HOUR in the box and me checking on her once i move the head a little closer to her, she didn't even seem interested in it. Didn't even smell it or look at it. She finally ate it after about an hour and a half.

She kept that meal down and I found poop about 4 days after.

I tried feeding her again on the 11th (fully size small pinky) and she refused to do anything with it.

I tried again 24 hours later(12th) and she didnt want it. Totally ignored it.

I tried again 24 hours later (13th) this time only a Pinky head. Still ignored it after an hour in the feeding box.

Today I put her in isolation. Shoe box with substrate. Box over 50% of the heat mat. Water dish inside, and 3 TP tubes.

I don't think its a stress issue being that I have about 10 small TP rolls in her cage and a stack or paper towel rolls for her to hide in. Along with three water dishes and fake plantery for her to hide behind.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO! HELP! I don't want her to die, she is so cute.

I have also been putting Nutibrac in her water supply sense I got her so I wouldn't have this problem to start with. :awcrap:

Viv hot side 80-86. Cool side 75-77. Fresh water every 2 days.

Please help!

:realhot:
 
First off, don't offer anything for a few days. Offering every 24 hours will almost guarantee refusal. Don't handle at all for at least a week, then offer a hot defrosted or a day-old live pinky and leave undisturbed overnight before checking if it's been eaten. Try to make changing the water as smooth and with as little disturbance as possible. Good luck and keep us posted
 
I don't have access to live prey. I only have frozen.

The only time ive handled her is to put her into the feeding box. She is VERY VERY nervous and litterly tries to JUMP from my hand in all directions. She is way more jumpy compared to my 1 year old corn when he was her age.

I am very careful not to disturb her at all when changing water. Ill try to feed her in 3 days maybe?
 
TriggerHappy101 said:
I don't have access to live prey. I only have frozen.

The only time ive handled her is to put her into the feeding box. She is VERY VERY nervous and litterly tries to JUMP from my hand in all directions. She is way more jumpy compared to my 1 year old corn when he was her age.

I am very careful not to disturb her at all when changing water. Ill try to feed her in 3 days maybe?
Click to expand...



She sounds very nervous like mine was. When my baby was like that she refused to eat unless I completely covered her feeding box and gave her privacy. The other thing I did, when she was a hatchling out of the blue, she stopped eating.

Everytime Id put her in a tupperware with a mouse, she wanted to get out of it and was completely not interested in eating. I read on here to try chicken broth and thought it was totally stupid. Guess what.......months and months and months later, she is still eating chicken broth mice. No idea why, but it worked.


I dont know if thatll help you, but Id wait and give it a shot. I use lipton, but I slit and then defrost the mouse first and then heat it up in the microwave in the chicken broth. Til this day she refuses mice that have not been heated in broth.
 
Regurge will of sent acids up and probably damaged it's throat. feeding the head may have been too soon and the throat was still tender. If the snake is otherwise healthy(and being a LOVE snake I think it is) Leave it for 7-10days then try it. It'll be mended and hungry (imo) 14 days if you can
 
good technique and good luck!

I have never heard of the chicken broth thing! I learn so much from all of you.

Good luck with your little one...I will have to check back to see how your baby is doing.

JustineNYC said:
She sounds very nervous like mine was. When my baby was like that she refused to eat unless I completely covered her feeding box and gave her privacy. The other thing I did, when she was a hatchling out of the blue, she stopped eating.

Everytime Id put her in a tupperware with a mouse, she wanted to get out of it and was completely not interested in eating. I read on here to try chicken broth and thought it was totally stupid. Guess what.......months and months and months later, she is still eating chicken broth mice. No idea why, but it worked.


I dont know if thatll help you, but Id wait and give it a shot. I use lipton, but I slit and then defrost the mouse first and then heat it up in the microwave in the chicken broth. Til this day she refuses mice that have not been heated in broth.
Click to expand...
 
A couple thoughts:

She only regurged once. Don't panic.

I wouldn't count all those refusals as multiple because they were so close together. If any of mine refuse- they wait till the next scheduled feeding.

Her waiting an hour or longer to eat is nothing to worry about.

I'd completely stop handling her.

So wait five to seven days now, and feed a nice hot (101-103F) pink, slit four times in the back to make it more tempting _and_ easier to digest, in her feeding box, completely undisturbed, and do not peek in or make noise around her for...try to go two hours, but at least don't check for one hour. If she hasn't eaten- wait another couple hours before putting her back, or even leave her in the box overnight- preferable safely locked in her viv.

I wouldn't start panicking yet.

Nanci
 
Thanks for the replies.

I haven't heard that chicken broth thing but Ill keep it in mind. If she doesn't take her food next meal time I will try it.

Ive only handled her a couple times and it was only to transport her from her viv to the feeding shoe box (completely sealed off with air holes.)


Hopefully the waiting period and the fact she is now living in a shoe box will help with her next meal.

Waiting two weeks seems like a real long wait...?

She is so small?
 
2 weeks is fine & will give her body time to heal. they can much longer than that, esp since your has had a couple meals.
 
TriggerHappy101 said:
no I have not.
Click to expand...
Definitely get in touch with Kathy. When the sunglow that we got from her (which she did not breed) had a couple of regurges three weeks after we got him, I had several email exchanges with her. She has been great in answering all of the questions that we had about her regurge protocol. At her suggestion, we put Slithers on NutriBac probiotics and he is now feeding successfully again. It does take a while though. Following good advice and having patience is the best thing that you can do for your girl right now. Best of luck.
 
If anyone ever has any problems with any snake from me, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know right away!!!! The sooner we deal with it, the more likely a good outcome! If it is not properly addressed RIGHT AWAY, the snake will often die, and it is usually preventable.

The blizzards tend to hatch out quite small, although they are usually great feeders and catch up soon. But that means you have to be sure to feed only a tiny newborn pink for the first several feedings. If the pink was a little large, and the baby was a little stressed from the new home, it could have been enough for a regurge. I always put cuts into all of my f/t mice ever since Connie Hurley did a study showing that babies grow faster and digest more quickly when the skin has been cut in the prey items.

Whenever there is a regurge, it is very important to not only wait for a week or more before feeding again, but also to feed a smaller item than the one that caused the regurge. With a baby blizzard, that might mean 1/2 pink, or only a head. We should have discussed all of these options immediately after the regurge - I wish I had known there was a problem.

My babies are used to Florida, and around 85F or so during the day. Sometimes people in other states don't keep them that warm. They are also used to a shoebox cage that slides into a dark rack where they don't see much action in front of them. It is always possible that there is more activity around the cage where he is now.

I have sometimes seen them stop eating after a few regurges. My feeling is that they are too nauseated to eat after having all of their digestive system turned upside down by the regurges. But yours hasn't regurged too much yet. And it is always possible he is ready to shed, if he hasn't shed since you got him.

So be sure to follow the advice already given about only offering food no more often than every 5 days or so. And try to get him to eat 1/2, not a whole pink. And do anything you can to reduce stress - perfect temps, cover most of the cage, etc. Please update me via email so I can try to help. I just happened to catch this thread, but might have missed it entirely.

Good luck - hope some of these ideas (in this thread) will help.
 
kathylove said:
If anyone ever has any problems with any snake from me, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know right away!!!! The sooner we deal with it, the more likely a good outcome! If it is not properly addressed RIGHT AWAY, the snake will often die, and it is usually preventable.

The blizzards tend to hatch out quite small, although they are usually great feeders and catch up soon. But that means you have to be sure to feed only a tiny newborn pink for the first several feedings. If the pink was a little large, and the baby was a little stressed from the new home, it could have been enough for a regurge. I always put cuts into all of my f/t mice ever since Connie Hurley did a study showing that babies grow faster and digest more quickly when the skin has been cut in the prey items.

Whenever there is a regurge, it is very important to not only wait for a week or more before feeding again, but also to feed a smaller item than the one that caused the regurge. With a baby blizzard, that might mean 1/2 pink, or only a head. We should have discussed all of these options immediately after the regurge - I wish I had known there was a problem.

My babies are used to Florida, and around 85F or so during the day. Sometimes people in other states don't keep them that warm. They are also used to a shoebox cage that slides into a dark rack where they don't see much action in front of them. It is always possible that there is more activity around the cage where he is now.

I have sometimes seen them stop eating after a few regurges. My feeling is that they are too nauseated to eat after having all of their digestive system turned upside down by the regurges. But yours hasn't regurged too much yet. And it is always possible he is ready to shed, if he hasn't shed since you got him.

So be sure to follow the advice already given about only offering food no more often than every 5 days or so. And try to get him to eat 1/2, not a whole pink. And do anything you can to reduce stress - perfect temps, cover most of the cage, etc. Please update me via email so I can try to help. I just happened to catch this thread, but might have missed it entirely.

Good luck - hope some of these ideas (in this thread) will help.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kathy.

The prey that I have been feeding her is rather small. The first pinky she took down didnt show much of lump (however it was noticeable.)

I kept a blanket infront of her cage so it disguised any movement from people walking around.

Infact, every time I peaked in on her she was always trying to scale her walls or was climbing around on the jungle gym i made her. She is really active compared me my Okeetee at her age.

I will keep the prey size down to pinky heads for now on until she feeds at least 3 more times, and feed no sooner than 6 days apart.

I do not know if she is in shed, hard to tell if a blizzard is. Her eyes dont seem cloudy. She hasn't shed yet.

My temps are perfect, and she should feel safe being she has more hiding spaces than a termite in an old rotten tree.
:laugh:

Ill be sure to send you an email when i have an update and also post on here.

Thanks Kathy.
 
Would like to hear an update? :)

My 5wk old just did this on Monday night, 24hrs after feeding. We have had her for 2 wks, w/ one f/t/p feed, this happened on her 2nd feed. I am going to use the advice here given.

But would love to know how she is doing? :)

Thanks,
 
She is doing a lot better. Putting her in isolation in a shoe box is what I think helped.

I fed her a pinky head on the 19th and 25th and she has kept both down. On the 31st i will feed her a pinky head again and the feeding after that will be 1/2 a pinky. Then the fedding after that will be a whole pinky.

I hope your little one is okay!
 
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