I'm very frustrated.

So, my snow motley Nike, regurged. I'm really getting really frustrated with her. She won't grow, no matter what I try! I finally got her taking double pinks a while back, and I finally got her up to fuzzies, no problem. She has taken one fuzzy at each meal a couple times, and this time shouldn't have been any different - but she regurged. AHHHHH. All my other snakes are growing like weeds.... I don't know. I just don't know what to do with her. Temps are perfect, Humidity is perfect, and nothing happened. Nothing bothered her. She's a late '06 and is only 25 grams. She was 17 when I got her last spring, and she's never refused to eat... it just doesn't go anywhere. I've got her on the Munson Plan.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Have you tried dusting her food with snakey vitamines? Or adding some to her water?

Eriathiel said:

Temps are perfect...

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There really is no such thing as perfect temps. The temps one corn thrives at may be unsuitable for another. It's frustrating to figure out. When I have a slow grower, I try different things, usually with temps. I've had some (even hatchlings) that didn't do well in the no-gradient, relatively warm (~85*) conditions that most young snakes thrive at, and they turned around when they were placed in lower temp, full-gradient conditions (~82* warm/~75* cool). Then I've had some (even yearlings) that didn't do well in the cooler, full-gradient conditions, and took off when they were placed in no-gradient, warmer conditions. :shrugs:

Good luck!

How about using some nutribac to see if that will help her digestion and going back to multiple small feed items, instead of a single larger food item?

I'm sure there's someone else on here that has a snake that just will not tolerate larger prey items....maybe Nanci or MegF?....and they just feed multiple smaller prey.

Hope it all works out well for you and Nike.

Best wishes,

I think Dean may have something. One of my girls went through a few regurges this past fall. The warm temp was around 86*. I lowered it to 82* and haven't had a regurge since. You may try something like that.

Then like Susie said, I would stick to small meals for a while. There is no rush to make her grow. And if you aren't already, maybe start slitting her meals.

Good luck with whatever you try. Keep us updated.

Ever had a fecal exam done? Just because it's a
captive bred animal, does not mean it
doesn't have parasites. (Though I am not saying she does.)
It may not hurt to have her checked, just to be sure.

Do you snip the backs of your mice?

Theres a good thread on here somewhere about the benfits of making small cuts on the back of the mice, about increasing surface area to volume ratios, making for better digestion :shrugs:

Thanks everyone for the advice - I will try lowering her temps a little bit to see if that helps. And no I don't slit the backs for the mice, I hadn't thought of that, its another thing to try! I might have a fecal done - thats not a bad idea...

Thank you Thank you Thank you. I think from here I'm going to go back to double pinks for a little while, and then see how things go from there!

I have a little guy (only 10g) that had some trouble for awhile, not gaining weight and had a regurge....I followed the regurge plan and started slitting backs. I really feel like this helps, as he started gaining weight each week and no more regurges.

I slit everything, even Big Jake's mice. http://tinyurl.com/su6em

I have several snakes that eat prey smaller than the Munson plan says, although they are kings/milks/hoggies. They are 200 gram snakes eating hoppers, weekly, and often Choco eats a couple fuzzies instead.

My regurger, Maizey, has less of a chance of regurging if I feed two small prey items. Maizey is about 350 grams, and is currently eating two rat pinks, once a week. (Like big fuzzies). Maizey is staying at a steady weight on that amount, and isn't thin, although he isn't a fat blob either.

The two CB snakes I tested for parasites both had them.

Good luck.