Please help with regurges??

I never had problems with my first 2 corns, but my bloodred can't seem to keep her meal down. Her belly stays big for about a week, then out it comes. Do you think the mouse is to big that I am feeding her? Would that cause the problem? She has an under the tank heater, but hardly ever goes over to it. The temps are correct, and the humidity is fine. She also just shed 2 days ago... I am going to try again in a week, but this has happened twice in a row now, once the last two weeks?!?!
Scott

A whole week? What does it look like?

You may want to consider a parasite check. Are you sure she's comfortable enough to go to the underground heater? If she feels insecure over there, she may just prefer shelter over the right temp.

If thats his second regurge in a row, i would wait at least two weeks before feeding again, and then I would feed a prey item 1/2 the size of what you normally feed. Once they start regurging, it can be difficult to stop, and if it continues will lead to death. DO NOT rush the next feeding! You must give the snake time to rejuvinate the stomache acids it needs to digest a meal. When it regurges, all those acids go with it. Patience is the key, and I would warm my temps a bit on both the warm and the cool sides.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

Mike

thanks

Thanks for the replies so far! I kinda think it has to do with the food items being too big, so I am going to wait a week or two, like suggested, then try with a smaller food item. I may heat up the tank a little bit, but I don't want it too much warmer then it is!

what are your temps now?

Do you have a heat lamp? My snake doesn't like the warm hide... he'll stay for a few minutes then wander over to the cool.

Snakes need the heat for proper digestion, so if yours is spending all the time on the cool side (and you don't have a lamp) then it's possible that it's not warm enough. Unplug the UTH and plug in the lamp... it's worth a try.

A week is a long time before a regurg. Definitely wait at LEAST another week before the next feed, then feed a smaller meal.

Good luck.

you have gotten some good advice so far, you might also want to consider pro-biotics especailly since this has occured twice... as important as stomach acids are the beneficial bacteria that aid in digestion. When there is regurge these bacteria are depleted- you do want to find out the root cause of the regurge; temps, parasites etc, the probiotics can help no mater what the root cuase is.- check out redtailboa.net on the "front page" there is a link for pro biotic use with extensive discussion. Good Luck!

How old is your bloodred and how big of a food item are you feeding? Just wondering because if that were me and it is an 04' hatchling, I would wait at least the 10 days, then I would feed JUST a small pinky head. Then wait another week and if the pink head stays down, repeat the pink head feeding. After another week do this a third time and if all is well and the heads stay down, then you can feed the bodies to the snake for its next three feedings. Like Whitelips said, the beneficial bacteria have been expelled with the regurge and what you want to do is let the bacteria build up in the system before putting more food in because no matter how much you feed, if the bacteria is not there to help with digestion, the snake will regurge again and again (getting the pro biotics and giving it will definitely help). Too many regurges in a row will spell the end of the snake. I never consider a regurge a light thing to deal with. That is why you need to wait the ten days and you need to feed a very small meal followed by two more small meals to be sure the stomach is back up to speed. Once the snake can keep down the three meals you should be able to resume a normal feeding pattern. But it is very important to find the cause of the regurge episodes and remove the problem, be it parasitic, temps, food size, etc.

Good luck and I hope all works out well for you and the little one.

Thanks again for all of the great advice so far! The snake seems fine, always out roaming around at night. It digests the food that I give it, but after about a week it regurges a much smaller pinky. But I am definitely going to wait a little bit like everyone has said... then I already have bought an extremely tiny frozen pinky, which I believe will be perfect for feeding. But yes, it is a late '04 hatchling, still quite small. Thanks again!
Scott

It doesn’t sound like your regurge problem is environmental to me. It is extremely common to get protozoan infestations that will cause regurge. Two simple treatments of Flagel three days apart and perhaps a third treatment will usually fix them right up.

You would be surprised at how many hatchlings that I have bought from well know breeders, that had protozoan problems. It is very common in very large collections and it is spread very easily.

Thanks Joe!
I keep hoping that it isn't environmental. My other corns are housed exactly the same, in the same room, so I couldn't figure out how it could be environmental. I don't think it is either. I will try the flagel stuff. When I find the regurge, the pinky is much, much smaller then what it begins as. So it seems like it IS digesting it, but it just takes sooooo long, about a week, that she(the bloodred) throws it up. I hope this clears up soon. I just had her out a second ago and she seems healthy and active. She climbs everywhere and seems fine. I will give her a couple more days until i try with a much smaller pinky, but before then I will do the flagel stuff. Thanks a lot everyone...I will update you all in a couple of days.
Scott

You would be amazed at how many times I have treated a corn that was regurging with two treatments of Flagel and they take right off. Even corns that are finicky eaters, can become voracious after treatments with Flagel.

I have used the different types of bacteria paste or powers like was suggested above and a few times it has been all that was needed. I remember saving an entire litter of Brazilian Boas many years ago with Benbac, when nothing else would work.

I am sure that Corns can have a deficiency of beneficial bacteria as well, but I can not remember a single time that this was the only cause of regurging. There has always been an underlying medical problem. Sometimes after a snake has regurged for awhile and the medical problem has been corrected, they need a boost of beneficial bacteria to get them going on the right track.

The unfortunate thing about Flagel is that you have to get it from a Vet or at least a perscription from a Vet. The dose that I use is 60mg per Kilo or 25 mg per pound. It can be very difficult to treat a hatchling, since they weigh practically nothing. I have had success with 5 mg or 10 mg for larger hatchlings without any side effects.

I bought a bottle of liquid flagyl in a walmart. The catch is that the walmart was in Mexico City. So if you happen to be visiting south of the border, it is a great way to get some flagyl cheap - just go to any pharmacy and they will sell it without a prescription. The only difficulty is getting them to understand what you want if you don't speak spanish. I suggest that you just write FLAGYL on a piece of paper and they will figure it out. People in Mexico use flagyl all the time for sickness due to the bad water (Giardia and the likes).

Mark