Regurge Protocol Question

[materwitch]

Okay, so it's been 2 successful pinkie head feeding since my little girls regurge. Today I moved up to half pinkie. She seems repulsed by it, she has been in her deli cup with it for over an hour and she wont go near it, so I am now wondering if I did it wrong. With both of the head feedings she took them within a few minutes of me putting them in her cup.

My question is this....are you supposed to cut it in half cross wise or length wise. I cut it length wise, but maybe this is why she is rejecting it.

[DollysMom]

I've always halved my pinkies crosswise, but I don't think there's a rule. It can be done either way. My little guy wouldn't eat the size pinkies (2-2.5 grams) I had so I started with the head on the smallest one I had and worked my way down. Eventually he at both the front and back halves before I was able to procure smaller (1.5 gram) pinkies. I always cut mine while still frozen and thawed them cut, but there are those who swear you should cut them thawed. Best wishes.

[materwitch]

Thanks for the response....I'm going to try feeding her again on Wednesday, but this time I'm cutting it crosswise. I've been hearing from a lot of keepers that their snakes just don't like it when the guts are out. Who knew some snakes could be so picky lol.

[Nanci]

I think sometimes they just don't know where to start. Cut in half crosswise is more recognizable.

[materwitch]

Well it's been a week, and she still won't eat. I tried cutting the pinkie crosswise, but she still refuses it. The shop I got her from only gets live pinkies on Wednesdays, so I'm going to pick up one and hope she will show some interest.
I have been told to scent her food with, lizard or tuna or chicken juice. And I will try that if live doesn't do the trick. But beyond that I don't know what to do.

Any encouragement or suggestions would be awesome and gratefully accepted.

[Karl_Mcknight]

when was the last shed? If she's trying to shed that could explain both the regurge and the lack of appetite.

[materwitch]

I've only had her since December 13th, and she was only a few weeks old then as far as I know. And so far she has not she'd with me at all.

[materwitch]

I haven't seen her go Blue yet though.

[Karl_Mcknight]

"Going Blue" is the last part of the shedding process.

They actually begin shedding by hiding more than usual and sometimes refusing to eat.

They eventually go blue and then shed a few days later.

It could be that your snake is so stressed out that it's not able to go blue and complete the shed. Have you tried doing absolutely nothing, no handling, no feeding, no stress, and let the snake just have a few weeks to shed?

[materwitch]

After her regurge, I waited 9 days to feed her just a pinkie head, with absolutely no handling until that day. Then the only handling was to put her in her deli cup with her pinkie head. After that no handling for a week til pinkie head day, and then the same quick scoop to the cup. Last week she refused her half pinkie but it appeared that it was because I had cut it lengthwise. Still no handling beyond moving her to her cup. Same today but refusing the pinkie cut crosswise. So since I got her December 13th she has only been picked up long enough to put her in her deli cup.
I don't handle her, her tank is away from human traffic, she barely gets looked at, at thisoint for fear of stressing her out. It's very hard to imagine where the stress would be coming from, other than the two 15 second periods of me picking her up over the last 2 weeks. If it even came to that length ofvtime.

[Nanci]

I guess I'd try offering her two pink heads. Also- could be going blue.

[materwitch]

Clarice didn't make it.
She was just so frail right from the get go.
I'm going to miss her.

[Nanci]

Aw- I'm so sorry. Thankfully, they mostly aren't like that. And you've gained valuable experience in treating a regurge.

[materwitch]

Thanks. I'm pretty confident in regurge protocol now, but I hope I don't have to ever use it again.

I think, if I get another baby....and I'm pretty certain I will....it's going to be directly from a breeder, that way I will know everything about her before I ever even take her home.

It's hard seeing her empty tank, and it's only been a half of a day...this sucks.