Feeding Problem.

[Mighty Monty]

Alright, so i posted a couple months ago, if that about feeding my RTB a rat that may of been too big, in which he ended up actually killing it, then regurgitating it. The advice i got from this board was to wait about 2 weeks then try feeding again, but something smaller than it's usual meal.

Now, i've had him for over 2 years, his temp is correct, humidity, good living conditions, very tame, and over-all just great, he's like my child.

Due to some living problems, he is staying at my parents house and everything has stayed the same. 2 weekends ago i went to feed him after the first failure i've had with him. Smaller rat, as soon as i brought the rat in my room he came out of his hide, as was right towards the top of the cage waiting for the meal. I opened it up, and bam he took the rat right away. I watched him kill it, and then continued to leave my room, figuring "awesome" he's eating again and i just fed him too big of prey last time. I fed him on a Thursday, and i get a call that weekend on Sunday from my mom telling me that the whole house just reeks of decay. She said she went down to my room and saw that there was a dead rat in the cage and that it was bloated and just all around nasty looking. I'm thinking he might have regurgitated it again, even when it was smaller and similar in size if not a little smaller than what he's always been eating. So pretty much i'm just lost and very confused and don't have the funds to even take him to the vet right now.

I was just wondering, from what has been explained do any of you have any idea on what might be going on with him? I mean 2 regurgitation's within a month give or take a few days is very strange to me since he's always been a GREAT eater, never any problems what-so-ever. Any insight would be more than appreciated, and would love to just get him feeling better if he's even sick?

Thank you very much

[martinarquero]

Are you sure he ate the rat?
Im not sure but if he was sick, don't they lose response to food first? I hope he's ok, my boa regertu.. on her second feeding with us but it was because I had given him to big a meal, and a week later took a smaller meal with out any problems, but she always does these, kills the pray and leaves it there for a bit then comes back and goes around it then she eats it, but I always feed out side the cage, so after some time she does eat.
Im sorry im no help at all,

[DutchHerp]

Well, if it has internal parasites or worms that might be the cause. Try it again, but if it still doesn't feed you really should visit a vet.

[Mighty Monty]

I mean, this is well over...jeez i don't know, 2 + years of feeding. I didn't personally see the rat, i was just told and he killed it, i know that for sure because i watched it and then like he always does checks it out then goes on to eat it, however i left when he was checking it out. My mom just said it looked all slimy, puffed out and bloated, it was my step-dad that actually removed the rat. I'm going to try this week and see what happens, if not maybe the rents will help with a vet bill.

P.S. Any comment is a helpful to me, even if you're not sure what may be the cause of it, i appreciate people's concern. Thank you!

[mrmertz]

RTB's need belly heat to digest properly. Gopher, our RTB will regurge on the third day after eating if it doens't bury under the substrate to get next to his UTH, which he usually does. But if he doesn't - ugh. The last rat he brought up got us awake in the middle of the night from the stench.

We have 2 UTH's for him because of this - both low wattage. You can lay your hand on it and it feels warm - not hot like the higher temp ones. At first we only had one on one side of the cage and it happened twice in a row until we figured out what was going on. We put another UTH on the other side as well and ever since then he has been fine. Hope this helps some. Google it, you'll see.