Losing weight

[asnakenamed-oly]

Hello! I have a young snow corn, estimated about 3-4 months old, who has been gradually losing weight for the past month or so. When I first noticed her thinning out, nothing else was different. She was behaving the same, she was eating just fine, still very active. Recently, I've been very worried though. She's slowing down and because a lot less active, and she is getting skinnier and skinnier. It has gotten to the point where I can almost see her spine. She has regurgitated her last two meals as well. I keep the temp at around 80-84, and the humidity hovers around 30-45%. I feed frozen/thawed and I always thaw them for around 45 minutes or so, and then let them sit in warm water for around 10 minutes before feeding to get them up to around body temperature. Her tank is in a semi-high traffic area, but as I said, I've never had a problem before now. I only mention all of this because I want to make sure it isn't something I am doing that could cause her stress, because most people I have talked to have chalked the whole thing up to stress. Should I go to a vet? Or is stress a reasonable explanation?

[SteveAlbert]

I can't offer much help, someone else will. But for now i can ask you whether you are

1. Feeding appropriately sized food?
2. Does your tank have a cool side?
3. You're not handling the snake after feeding right?

Check out this FAQ made by Kathy about what to do in regurgitating situations.

http://john1979.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Kathy&action=display&thread=875

[Nythain]

If you can afford the vet visit and you trust your exotic/reptile vet (you are going to one of those and not a silly know little about snakes normal vet right?) then I'd vote get her to the vet. Even if she checks out with decent health (no parasites or illnesses, etc) then at least you have peace of mind and possible assistance getting her onto a regurge protocol. While slight weight loss can sometimes be a normal part of growing fluctuations, a moderate steady weight loss shouldn't happen. But the weight loss shouldn't be your biggest concern. Two consecutive regurgitations with a snake that young is entering into some serious and potentially fatal territory if you don't figure out the cause(s) and get her started on a proper recovery plan (that would be the Kathy Love link Steve linked already).

Honestly, based on what you've said in your first post I wouldn't jump to stress conclusion. As long as you weren't handling her shortly after feeding (moving from feeding contain to cage is ok. As is non-intrusive check-in's on her. You mostly want to avoid teh prolonged exposure that goes along with a "get her out of the tank and play with her for a while" handling session). Generally, as long as she's got places to hide and proper temperatures in a clean environment, she shouldn't stress too easily from traffic. Don't get me wrong, she *could* but usually if they start to get scared and stressed they'll go burrow or coil up in an appropriate hide until they feel secure again. Another question to help figure out if it is stress or not would have to be how long and how frequently are you handling her? Snakes of that age are much more timid so too frequent and or too much handling at a time can lead to a seriously stressed out snake.

Looking beyond stress though, in order to try and figure out any other problems is going to take more information. Steve already asked some fairly standard and important questions for this situation. The only thing I would add to it is if you knew about how long after eating her first regurge occurred. While it won't provide a definite answer, that knowledge combined with other facts can help try to figure out the cause. Expanding on Steve's food size question, were you feeding more than one food item at a time? I'm trying to focus more on the situations and environment at the time of the first regurge because it's probably the more important one to figure out. If you didn't start her on a proper regurge protocol, then the second regurge could be and is probably more than likely, a direct result of the first. And if you don't get her going soon, she's just going to keep throwing up anything you try to give her even if everything else is perfect.

[Nanci]

You should take her to a vet. She could have parasites or a bacterial infection.

You also need to follow the regurge protocol with her. No food for 8-10 days after the meal she regurged, then a meal half the size of what she regurged, with Nutribac probiotics, with the skin of the prey slit. If you search for regurge protocol here, you'll find a lot of info.