Regurgitation caused by?

[The_Godfather]

Ok, so about a week ago Monty downed two gerbils, it was real cool considering it'd been three weeks since I'd been able to locate gerbils. The store is a massive animal rights fest and refuses to sell them as feeders, so every week I get the pleasure of lying to pet shop employees to send some gerbils to their death. Well last week Monty threw the two up, it was so freaking nasty. I assumed it was due to slight handling earlier, and felt bad for being so stupid. So this time Goldy and Monty got gerbils (Goldy is being stupid also) from the same store. Goldy, after ZERO handling, regurged today.

I bet they keep them on cedar, would this be enough to cause a regurge? Time to find a new gerbils source tho.

[Smulkin]

What were you giving them while you couldn't find gerbils and for how many weeks? Are gerbils thicker-furred than say mice or rats? I honestly can't even remember what they look like lol though I have heard they are like crack or caviar to BPs and hard to switch off of (no experience trying to do so, so I don't know how much credence to give that). Interesting thought on the cedar - call the store and ask what they are kept on. Do they sell feeders of other animals (guppies/goldfish/crickets etc) or are they just too mammilary for something as "cruel" as carnivore feeding behavior?

[The_Godfather]

Monty had two gerils before I finally got this batch. He was all set. He went onto fasting in August, ate once in between, and finally I had to give him gerbils to get him to eat. Nothing else works. And Goldy was being an idiot and deciding she was far too cool to eat.

The store has high priced crickets. But besides that all they have is supplies and small mammals.

[Tigergenesis]

Handling too soon, too high temps, too low temps and illness cause regurg.
It would be interesting to know what the petstore keeps the gerbils on.

[The_Godfather]

Temps, humidity, everything are perfect.

I think it must have been what they were keeping them on, but had no experience with it. I'll call and ask, possibly give all future gerbils a bath prior to death

[elevatethis]

that would be horrible! I am an all around animal lover, whether they are mice or whatever. I've managed to accept the fact that my snake needs to eat rodents, nature made that call, not me. I do get by with it by leaving the rodent out of sight until the last moment when I offer it to the snake. I'd prolly bond with the gerbil as I cleaned it up, lol....

[The_Godfather]

Gerbils are too vicious for me to like them. They're really cute tho.

[JLC]

Gerbils are vicious? Every one I've ever had (and I've had quite a few over the years) have always been very sweet and enjoyed being handled. I guess they're like many wild animals though, including our snakes...they start out nippy as babies, but tame well with gentle, consistent handling. If you get an adult gerbil that has spent all its life crammed into a petstore cage with too many others, then they're bound to seem mean.

[MrsMacWin]

Hey Godfather, did you ever find out what they use with their gerbils??

[Kara]

I would definitely find out what kind of substrate was used for the gerbils...something's rotten in Denmark, especially if you haven't had problems with either snake before. Slight handling shouldn't cause a regurge.

BTW - we keep a fairly good supply of frozen gerbils on hand if your snakes will eat F/T. Just FYI.

K