Regurgitation AND incomplete shed

[cjs5469]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2 year old corn, I last weighed him (or her?) at the end of February and he was 27.39g and approximately 20 inches long. 30g tank, aspen bedding, warm hide is around 81F and cold is around 73F, with humidity fluctuating between 15%-40% depending on the weather (and according to the non-digital hygrometer I have :P). On March 13 I fed him his first fuzzy; I had been feeding him 2 pinkies every 7 days for about 4 months before this. He seemed to have no problems, so on March 20 I fed him another fuzzy.

On the 21st I found a partial regurgitation. He's only regurgitated once before, over a year ago, when I first got him and didn't fully thaw a pinkie. At that time he regurgitated almost the entire pinkie, while this regurgitation had what looked like some fur in it, and seemed mostly liquified. I would estimate it to be 1/10th of the total mass of the fuzzy. I could identify what looked like some stomach/intestines of the fuzzy, but other than that it was mostly a brownish paste.

I also found some urea (hardened white/crystallized waste stuck on the substrate) on the edges of the regurgitation, which I thought to be strange as I was under the impression that urea is characteristic of bowel movement and not regurgitation. Regardless, I'm relatively confident this was a regurgitation considering I fed him a fuzzy the day before he regurgitated and I remember the smell from his first regurg...

I've read the stickies and from what I gathered, the best thing I can do for my snake right now is to make sure he's warm, has fresh water, and minimize any stress. After 8 days I'll try feeding him a single pinkie. Things get a little complicated because I also noticed a very incomplete shed when I found the regurgitation. He's a snow corn, and I'm no expert, so I didn't notice any signs of imminent shedding or I would have held off on the feeding (any tips on identifying the "blue" in a snow corn, by the way?).

There are a bunch (around 5) of small (1 sq inch) bits of shed scattered around the viv, with most of the skin still on him. He's never had a problem shedding before, but I recently moved in January and have been using space heaters that I'm sure have been drying out the air. I know that a plastic tub with a bit of room temp water and a washcloth will help incomplete sheds, but I don't want to stress him out considering the regurg.

What do you recommend I do to make things as easy as possible for my snake? My instinct is to prioritize digestive healing and let him recover for at least 2 days before handling him and putting him in the wet cloth/tub. He really did not regurgitate much of the mass of the fuzzy, but I know the loss of stomach acid/juices is still bad. But would spraying the viv with a water bottle to try to keep humidity near 45%-50% starting tomorrow (the 22nd) be a better option? It just seems like the vast majority of the skin is still rather tightly on his body, and I'm assuming I'm going to have to give him the washcloth tub at some point.

Thanks to anyone who read this far... I wanted to give you all as much relevant information as possible. I know these two problems are common and have been discussed at length and in detail on these forums, but I haven't found any information on dealing with them at the same time (because most people aren't foolish enough to bump feeding sizes near shedding times, but it is hard to tell with my snow corn).

Any input and opinions will be appreciated :)

Thanks for your time,
CJS5469

[hypnoctopus]

Honestly, it sounds like a regular poop to me. Did you happen to take a picture of it? Sometimes the hair doesn't get totally digested and the intestine looking bits sound like how it looks after it's been though snake intestines. I've occasionally had a snake poop that looks like that, where instead of being dark brown, it's sort of pinkish and intestine shaped and I believe it is caused by poor digestion, but not a regurge.

Your temp on the warm end definitely sounds a bit cool, which would also lead me to believe that your snake didn't perfectly digest his fuzzy.

To be on the safe side, you could treat it as a regurge if you're not sure.

If you can avoid feeding in blue, that would be best. It is definitely more difficult to tell on a snow corn, but I would look out for milky pink eyes, slightly more iridescent belly scales, and perhaps most importantly, hiding all the time, even at night.

Getting the rest of the shed off would be my number one priority, but in case it was just poop from his last meal, I would wait one day or two in case he needs to finish digesting. You could try putting a moist hide in his enclosure for the time being and you could use it when he gets ready for his next shed. To get the remaining shed pieces off, try letting him slither through a damp wash cloth or paper towel.

[heyymaddiee]

Never feed when you think your corn is going into shed, I would bump up the temperature to 85 if you can.

A regurge will look like a unfully digested mouse, my corn has regurged twice due to feeding her two large of a food item.
Regurge is very different from poop. Poop will look like a birds almost, while a regurge looks anything between a wormish hardened black/brown thing and will have a peculiar smell. Best thing to do is look of Regurge images on google.

If you still cant tell I would play it safe as a regurge, so that your snake can build up its digestive system again. If not taken care of properly your corn is most likely to reguge again.

You are doing right by feeding it 8 days after the regurge, even if it didn't regurge the snake would still be fine. I did half pink, then a week later did 3/4, and then after that I went back on the normal feeding schedule.

As for the incomplete shed I would put moist paper towels in a box or in a "cave" (you can buy them at the pet store ) when the snake is in shed. I personally never raise the humidity since corn snakes are native to my area anyways where its really dry. Raising the humidity can cause an RI.

Snakes commonly regurge from being handled too soon, too big of a food item, or the temperatures in the enclosure. If the regurge keeps happening it could be a parasite/or illness.

I bought some probiotics for my corn after she regurged to help her digest and grow. They seem to help. Its called Nutri-Bac, I definitely suggest it to help prevent regurge in the future.