2 pinkies????

Ralph had a regurg in december. It took me awhile to get him back on track. He is now eating a pinky every wednesday. I thought if I went to once a week he might eat better, and that has seemed to work. Well today is monday, and he is looking around his cage. He is a 04 hatchling. Do you think I should try him on two pinkies on wednesday? That is why he had his regurg in december, because I fed him two. I think he is big enough for two. I am a new snake owner, and want to make sure I do what I am supposed to do.

He shouldn't have regurged two pinkies unless your temps were too cold or you feed before the previous meal was digested.

1) How long did you wait between feeding (before the regurge)?

2) How warm is your enclosure? How are you measuring the temp?

3) Are you sure it was a regurge and not a passed pinkie that wasn't fully digested? That does happen occasionally.

I didn't know to wait the 10 days at first, and fed him in a week. He refused that feed. I finally got him to eat by giving him a live pinky. He has eaten frozen since then. My temps run around 76-80 on the warm side. I use an under the tank heater. It looked like what a regurg was described on here to me. He just looks kinda skinny, and I thought that maybe it was time to take him up to two pinkies.

If you're worried, you could always feed him a pink and a pinky head (1 1/2 pinks). If you try two pinks, can I suggest that you cut the skin over the back a couple times? This allows digestion to progress more rapidly and may help him break down the bigger meal with more ease.

I'm a firm believer in the "try it and see" method so I'd suggest raising your temp about five degree and offer the snake two pinkies.

I'm with CAV. I think the temp could use a 5 degree boost on the warm side.

Ok I will heat him up, and have my husband cut on the pinky. Thanks

I heated him up, and cut the second pinky as suggested. I put him in his container, and when I checked on him later, he had only eaten one. I guess he made his mind up for himself. I pitched the other pinky. One was a pretty good size, and the other one was small. Oh well, he is fat and happy right now.

I would definitely agree with Hurley...
Cut ALL your pinkies (please pre-killed or Frozen thawed, don't do it to the live ones)...3 or 4 cuts perpendicular to the spine from the back of the neck to the tail...you can pick up a pair of cuticle scissors for next to nothing at the drug store, they work great for this procedure...

I have begun doing this with ALL my mice for every one of my snakes...and I have experienced noticably accelerated growth and much faster digestion times from ALL of my snakes.

This was probably the single best piece of advice I have seen when it comes to feeding...it has a remarkably dramatic effect on all my snakes growth and eases problem feeders digestion.

It also works with chicks, as my adult female eats a mouse and chick alternatively, I've only been doing it 4 weeks but the lump reduction is quite noticable.