Hungry, but can't keep it down

[Edmund]

I've had my share of snakes regurging, but all have gotten over it. Now I have an 04 male bloodred that was eating and growing like a champ, until about a month ago. The last four meals he's eaten have ended up coming back up. He takes right to his food, so I know he's hungry, he just isn't keeping it down. I'm afraid that maybe he's ingested some bedding and it's obstructing his food from going through. I don't see any bulges or lumps though. And I think he digests parts of the pinkies, because I keep finding small bits of feces. I'm not sure what to do here.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Joejr14]

How long are you waiting to feed inbetween regurges?

[cornsnake kid]

how big is the food has it just moved up in size of mouse or are you handleing it before it has digested its food in some snakes you will need to leave it for about 3 days before handling if i isnt any of these i think you should take it to the vets and get it scanned or xrayed and you shouldnt be feeding snakes in the vivs most people take them out and put them in a plastic tub so they dont ingest substrate

ps how old is the snake and how big is it

hope this helps

[Edmund]

I've been waiting seven days in between feedings with this guy.

The meal sizes are all very small. He was eating larger pinkies before he started regurging. So the size shouldn't be too much for him.

I had another friend suggest cutting off the head of a pinkie and crushing its skull slightly, then offering. We'll see if this helps...

Thanks

[oscarthesnake]

I remember a post, I believe it may have been posted by Hurley... If you make a few slits down the back of the pinky, it will aid in the digestion of the pinky. You may want to do a search for that post, since i can't remember exactly what it said!
Scott

[howiet4702]

I remember a post, I believe it may have been posted by Hurley... If you make a few slits down the back of the pinky, it will aid in the digestion of the pinky. You may want to do a search for that post, since i can't remember exactly what it said!
Scott


here is the link: Hope it helps!

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16494

[Joejr14]

I've been waiting seven days in between feedings with this guy.

The meal sizes are all very small. He was eating larger pinkies before he started regurging. So the size shouldn't be too much for him.

I had another friend suggest cutting off the head of a pinkie and crushing its skull slightly, then offering. We'll see if this helps...

Thanks


7 days between feedings for a regurge is not long enough. You need to be waiting 10-14 days so they can regain the stomach fluids and such. Try some grapefruit seed extract too.

[Edmund]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll try cutting the pink next time.

[susyq]

i recently read a post on another forum which mentioned a similar problem, first thing id do is check that you have the right temps and you set up is ok as regards hides etc. if they are a visit to a reptile vet might be advisable as in the other case it turned out to be strongles, this was treated by the vet and the snake in question is now fine :)

[tai_pan1]

4 regurges in a row! I think your snake is in serious trouble. It is often difficult to get them to stop regurging once they get that far along. I would wait at least 2 weeks before attempting to feed him again. He needs time to recover the lost acids and bacteria from the previous regurges. Do not handle him at all. Eliminate all stress. Ensure temps are good. When you do feed him again, offer only a pinky head. If he keeps it down, wait at least another week and offer another pinky head. If he keeps that down as well, wait another week and offer the smallest pinky you can find. If he keeps that down you should be ok. It will be difficult to tell if he regurges a pinky head, so I would recommend using newspaper or paper towels as a substrate until you are through this.

Whatever you do, do not rush the next feeding! This is a critical mistake that is made often after a regurge. Fight the temptation to feed him earlier. If you do, you'll probably just exacerbate the problem.

Good luck,

Mike

[howiet4702]

I agree with Mike too..You have to wait AT LEAST 10 days after all these regurges. When it's time to feed him again just offer a small pinky head. If he keeps that down, I would wait another 7 days to offer him another pinky head. I would't even attempt to offer him a small pinky.

Let us know what happens.

[Edmund]

Update:

After giving this guy a few weeks off, he managed to keep down two pinky heads (one per week), and has eaten a whole pinky this week with no problem. I'm confident he's back to being healthy again. I've posted a pic of him in the photo gallery if anyone's interested. Thanks for all the input.

Edmund

[howiet4702]

Edmund..

That''s great news! Glad to hear it!

[tai_pan1]

Glad to hear everything went well. After regurges, time and patience are required. Good luck with him.

Mike