Maria

[MariaOrrom]

:-puke01: My boy is regurging!
I have a 18mt old Corn. Hes a beauty, never had a problem with him. Hes regurged before when hes been stressed eating or the mouse was too big but has always eaten again a few days later. He shed and ate on the 10th March but since then, even though hes hungry and looking for food, hes taking in the head of the mouse and then regurging. He tried 2 days ago and no joy and now tonight hes done the same thing. Hes interested, hes hungry, he does try to eat it and then he regurges after he takes the head in his mouth. Whats up??? Anyone know??? I can't understand it. :cry:
Thanks
Maria

[DAND]

The rule with regurges is you should wait ten days before offering food again.

I'd try a smaller food item the next feeding. You may also want to check that the temps are correct.

[Nichademus]

do you mean he eats, and then later it comes up? or he just gets the head down and then spits it out (before fulling swallowing the item) ?

[MariaOrrom]

Thanks heaps, he just looks so hungry, out and about hunting for food. Its also been a while since he ate too so I am concerned. Yes, shall check the temps. I have never had a prob with that before.
TA quick reply!
Maria :)

[MariaOrrom]

Ya he just takes in the head and spits it out! They are small mice too as he did it with his last one and i reduced the size, so its not the size of them. Just can't understand it.
Maria

[DAND]

Maybe check if he has something (substrate) in his mouth. Do his mouth (when closed) look the same on both sides?

[Nichademus]

yeah, if the snake doesn't swallow the mouse completely, then you don't need to worry about waiting the 10 days between, as its not actually regurging or purging the contents of the stomach. you might want to be careful about offering food, and having the snake reject it too often. this can become a habbit and create a problem feeder.
i would check to see that there are no blockages in the snakes mouth/throat.
perhaps drop the size dramatically. (how big is your snake?)
maybe try just feeding it a head or much smaller prey item.
also, make sure you're not disturbing the snake. mine will eat with no problems, but if she sees me moving around she'll spit the mouse out and go hide. every time.

[Joejr14]

Spitting the head back out isn't a regurge, so you dont need to wait 10 days.

I have a feeling that you're scaring him by watching him when he's feeding, or there's a problem with the mouse.

Try bumping down to fuzzies and when you feed, leave the snake in a dark place for about 30mins before checking on him.

I'd hesitate to guess that when you check the mouse will be gone.

[Rosebear]

I have a feeling that you're scaring him by watching him when he's feeding, or there's a problem with the mouse.

Try bumping down to fuzzies and when you feed, leave the snake in a dark place for about 30mins before checking on him.

I'd hesitate to guess that when you check the mouse will be gone.

I know this sounds a little bizarre, but...mine was hesitant to eat a few weeks ago, and when I put a barrier between him and the household activity, he ate just fine. It isn't always a problem, but mostly when he's getting ready to come into a shed period. His underside is milky colored tonight, and once again, he's nervous about eating. We're rolling with the "punches!"

[MariaOrrom]

Thanks for all your help guys. I will go get him so pinkies for a while and see if he eats them next week when I try him. Hes definitely hungry, I only feed in the dark, and I have repti grass (or whatever its called ) so he won't be able to swallow that stuff. So I reckon its just a habit now and that he may break that with the pinkies. Hes not like my smelly gross Kingsnake!!! (Hes actually not as smelly now as hes growing up, but he still farts away!!) My King gobbles them down so quick I actually jump back when he strikes at my hand before I have time to put the mouse in the feeding box!!!
My corn however is my babe, hes the best and I would hate anything to happen to him. :shrugs:
Thanks again
Maria

[TrpnBils]

I know this sounds a little bizarre, but...mine was hesitant to eat a few weeks ago, and when I put a barrier between him and the household activity, he ate just fine. It isn't always a problem, but mostly when he's getting ready to come into a shed period. His underside is milky colored tonight, and once again, he's nervous about eating. We're rolling with the "punches!"
The first couple of times mine ate, I covered the container with a shirt or towel because I didn't want to scare him, just like you were saying. I got lucky though and found out that he'll eat just fine with me sitting there watching him (I don't move around or anything, but he doesn't seem too concerned with me being there). I feed him 2 hoppers when he eats, and one time he only at one of them for some reason. He did basically what Maria was describing...he would barely get it started in his mouth and then he'd just drop it. A few days later, I realized that the mouse had been sitting out while he was eating his first one and that it was probably cold. Since then, I'll leave the second one in the warm water until he's almost ready for it and he's never refused one since then. Aaaaanyway, what I'm getting at is that you might want to look into that too, Maria. I've read a lot of things about snakes refusing food if it's not the appropriate temperature.

[brownie55]

You may want to try feeding in a paper bag too. Very isolated, and very secure for the snake. I have an '03 and an '04 and sometimes they still like to go in the closet to feed. Smaller ones can go in a bag in the viv or put their feeding container in the closet where it's dark.