Rich in KY
02-26-2008, 02:32 PM
In early September, I received a pair of 07 Charcoal het Hypomel. They are brother and sister, Caedus and Lumiya, and weighed roughly the same. I started feeding them and both were good eaters. They started growing and all looked well.
Then on October 13th Lumiya regurged for the first time. I followed Kathy Love's regurge protocol and Lumiya seemed to recover. She continued to be a good eater and held down several straight meals.
On November 3rd I weighed both snakes. Caedus weighed 14 grams and Lumiya weighed 13.1 grams.
Then on November 9th, Lumiya regurged again. I attributed it to stress. After eating she would become very spastic. She would freak out even when I would remove the top of her feeding container. Over the next few weeks she regurged two more times, the last coming on December 1st. After this regurge, I started putting her feeding container in her viv with the mouse in it and allowed her to eat without any contact. I also lowered the temp on her viv from 85-86* to 81-82*.
I was very concerned for her. I continued following Kathy Love's protocol while also only feeding her half pinks. She has seemed to fully recovered. She eventually moved up tp double pinks and just a few weeks ago, she ate her first fuzz.
During this time, I have avoided handling her at all. This also meant that I could not weigh her. On the 23rd she and Caedus both shed. I fed them each a fuzz since I had skipped their previous feeding since they were both in blue. Both were out moving around last night. So today I decided to get them out and weigh them.
Caedus weighed in at a solid 90.1 grams. According to the "Munson Plan" he should have been eating hoppers, but has been growing well on fuzzies. I will order some weanlings and move him up to those soon.
Lumiya weighed in at a respectable 60.4 grams. I was very happy with that weight. She seems much smaller than her brother. I kept her out and handled her for a good 5 minutes. She did very well with being handled. I hope that is a good sign. Hopefully she will be ready for a photo session soon.
I think this is a good example of the effect that regurges can have on the growth of a snake and wanted to share.
Then on October 13th Lumiya regurged for the first time. I followed Kathy Love's regurge protocol and Lumiya seemed to recover. She continued to be a good eater and held down several straight meals.
On November 3rd I weighed both snakes. Caedus weighed 14 grams and Lumiya weighed 13.1 grams.
Then on November 9th, Lumiya regurged again. I attributed it to stress. After eating she would become very spastic. She would freak out even when I would remove the top of her feeding container. Over the next few weeks she regurged two more times, the last coming on December 1st. After this regurge, I started putting her feeding container in her viv with the mouse in it and allowed her to eat without any contact. I also lowered the temp on her viv from 85-86* to 81-82*.
I was very concerned for her. I continued following Kathy Love's protocol while also only feeding her half pinks. She has seemed to fully recovered. She eventually moved up tp double pinks and just a few weeks ago, she ate her first fuzz.
During this time, I have avoided handling her at all. This also meant that I could not weigh her. On the 23rd she and Caedus both shed. I fed them each a fuzz since I had skipped their previous feeding since they were both in blue. Both were out moving around last night. So today I decided to get them out and weigh them.
Caedus weighed in at a solid 90.1 grams. According to the "Munson Plan" he should have been eating hoppers, but has been growing well on fuzzies. I will order some weanlings and move him up to those soon.
Lumiya weighed in at a respectable 60.4 grams. I was very happy with that weight. She seems much smaller than her brother. I kept her out and handled her for a good 5 minutes. She did very well with being handled. I hope that is a good sign. Hopefully she will be ready for a photo session soon.
I think this is a good example of the effect that regurges can have on the growth of a snake and wanted to share.