Regurgitated feeder + Maggots

I cannot express how utterly disgusted I am right now.

I fed my snakes on Friday and went away for the weekend. I got back today. Once I got home, I immediately checked on my snakes and found that my biggest girl regurgitated her meal over the weekend. At first glance, it looked like a normal regurge. Then it happened......Without touching anything, all the little nasty buggers chose that exact moment to explode out if the carcass. I was horrified to the point of not wanting to touch my snake.... Well, I eventually did move her to a fresh tub. I PAMed and bug sprayed the maggot tub like crazy, then threw everything away.....

I'm still grossed out. I want to sanitize everything..... this has never happened to me ever.

I have a question as well. Do I need to de-worm my snakes or rats or something after this unfortunate event? Any tips?

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gross.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I have a question as well. Do I need to de-worm my snakes or rats or something after this unfortunate event? Any tips?

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If you are referring to the maggots as the focus of your de-worming, I would say no. A fly layed eggs on the carcass, and a few days later...maggots. I would give your snake a close examination, though, focusing on the vent area. You want to make sure maggots haven't tried to migrate into the snake through that opening...very unlikely but possible.

Maggots are not parasitic worms, so no, you do not need to worm your snake.

Hiding a regurge for a fun surprise for the keeper later on is a ball python trick they're born knowing. I'm certain this is true.

I wonder if the meal was a little rotten to begin with, and that's why she regurged?

My Melvin did this to me one weekend. No maggots, but god what a smell. After you're done bleaching, if the smell still lingers, I recommend scrubbing the area down with a baking soda paste, and letting it dry overnight. If the smell is still there, pour a little vinegar on it.

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I wonder if the meal was a little rotten to begin with, and that's why she regurged?

My Melvin did this to me one weekend. No maggots, but god what a smell. After you're done bleaching, if the smell still lingers, I recommend scrubbing the area down with a baking soda paste, and letting it dry overnight. If the smell is still there, pour a little vinegar on it.

I wonder how a fly got into a tub to lay eggs? I didn't see any parent fly in the enclosure. I know they're not parasitic like tape worms either. But I wanted to be sure, just in case. Ugh. Gross.

I feed live so rotten feeders isn't really an option prior to feeding....

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Unless you mistakenly fed a zombie mouse. Could be. Tis the season for zombies :P

Seriously though...ew :( that sucks.

that smell will haunt you......i puked cleaning a regurge one time

I wouldn't be as concerned with the maggots but more why did the snake regurge? Anything dead will form maggots, you don't necessarily need any flies. It's natures way of disposing of the dead.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I wouldn't be as concerned with the maggots but more why did the snake regurge? Anything dead will form maggots, you don't necessarily need any flies. It's natures way of disposing of the dead.

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I believe the reason was either high stress or the rat was too large. I fed her larger than usual on top of taking her out earlier that day to take some light tent pictures. Other than that, the routine and set up is unchanged. Its been the same for over a year.

And maggots won't form out of nowhere. They just don't magically appear. Recall high school biology text book example of covering meat with a cheese cloth versus not covering. The uncovered piece was the only one that got maggots... The conclusion was that the uncovered piece was exposed to flies....

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