Feed During Shed/Mistake

Hello,
Im new to the site and am thankful there are so many people willing to help, I hope starting a new thread is ok. We have a 2 year old Male Lavender Motley. No real issues at all until the other day. He had went into his hide and stayed there for a few days and didnt come out, he does this everytime he is going into shed. We assumed that was the case and checked on him. We simply lifted up his hide to see if he was in blue phase and was ok. We didnt handle him. We saw he didnt appear to be in blue phase. During this time he was also ready for a feed. We have attempted to go up in size on his mice from 2 hoppers to 1 weaned/large mouse. The past several feedings he would take it and then sometimes not. We went back to the hoppers and he took them eagerly. The next evening he shed. Two days after eating/shedding he regurgitated for the first time. We witnessed it and felt awful. We feel we caused this by feeding him so close to shed. Was it the extra stress?? What should we do now?? He stayed in his hide for several days after the regurg but now is starting to move about almost like normal. We did research and have discovered some conflicting recommendations. Please help! Thank You

Regurges can happen for many reasons, and any number of the factors you mentioned may or may not have had an impact, though most suspicious to me is the shed along with a meal of double hoppers. With some exceptions (I have a very picky female who I occasionally give two small hairless weanlings tied together by the tails to get some extra food in her), I avoid feeding corns multiples of any feeder larger than a small fuzzy. Two hoppers (at least in my freezer) on average is about 20-22g total where weanlings are closer to 16-18g at most. Consider also that two prey items means more skin (which is a highly effective barrier) the digestive system must penetrate in order to make any use of the nutrients within.

My general protocol is to wait 10-14 days from the date of the regurge and then offer a meal one size down from their normal feeding (in the case of tiny babies, a half pinkie). If you have a sharp knife or pair of scissors (I use very sharp thread snips), cutting a slit through the skin along the spine or smaller slits in V shapes down the back can aid digestion.

(I am overly fond of parenthetical remarks apparently.)

Originally Posted by Dragonling

....... (I have a very picky female who I occasionally give two small hairless weanlings tied together by the tails to get some extra food in her) ...... (at least in my freezer) ...... (which is a highly effective barrier) ...... (in the case of tiny babies, a half pinkie)....... (I use very sharp thread snips), ..... (I am overly fond of parenthetical remarks apparently.)

LOL!!!!

Shhhhh.......... I like 'em too

It happens, don't beat yourself up over it. I have had a couple regurges over the years due to them being in the clear phase of the shed process. It can be hard to tell sometimes, especially with certain morphs.
What I have found, with regurges during shed, is they regurge to be able to get the shed off. If the prey is too big for them to get the shed past, they will regurge.

If you haven't already, read the regurge protocol and follow it to a "T", to get your snake back on track. Regurges can be hard on their system, but they can recover just fine, if done right.

I agree with Laura on not feeding multiples of anything larger than fuzzy. Depending on what I have in stock, I usually don't feed more than double pinkies, everything is moved up a little in prey size.