Regurgitation problem

We have a ball python, 2 years old, he has always been a good feeder (we have had him over a year) - he has fed every week without fail unless shedding then he might skip a week. The last 2 weeks we fed him he regurgitated the rat within minutes, we don't think he has a blockage as he passed a stool last week. We have checked the temperature and that is fine. Any advice would be appreciated as we are fairly inexperienced at this and in the UK there are not many local vets that deal with snakes, it is quite a trek to the nearest and I don't want to stress him out with an unnecessary drive to the vets if this is something that is normal or if we can do something to help him at home. He is moving about fine, still a good weight and keen to feed.

Are you feeding Live, P/K, or F/T

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Are you feeding Live, P/K, or F/T

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Sorry I don't know what P/K or F/T mean?? We defrost frozen rats to feed

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Originally Posted by Debs

Sorry I don't know what P/K or F/T mean?? We defrost frozen rats to feed

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No worries.

P/K = Prekilled i.e a rat you purchase like dispatch yourself then feed off
F/T - Frozen Thawed.

It's possible that either the rodents are expired, freezer burned, or not completely thawed out and warm all the way through. Barring any other health issue like a substrate impaction or GI trac issue then I'd look to the feeder. Assuming that the temperatures are still with in the proper range. Heat mats and elements have been known to slowly go bad and thus allowing the temps to drop or spike at times thus causing a regurge.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

No worries.

P/K = Prekilled i.e a rat you purchase like dispatch yourself then feed off
F/T - Frozen Thawed.

It's possible that either the rodents are expired, freezer burned, or not completely thawed out and warm all the way through. Barring any other health issue like a substrate impaction or GI trac issue then I'd look to the feeder. Assuming that the temperatures are still with in the proper range. Heat mats and elements have been known to slowly go bad and thus allowing the temps to drop or spike at times thus causing a regurge.

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Thank you so much for your help and advice! We had been getting our rats from a large pet chain store but 2 weeks ago thought we would try out and support a newly opened reptile store near by, could be a coincidence but from what you have said maybe they have sold us bad rats, or, I am not sure what 'freezer burned' means but sounds like that could be my fault not the store. Does it matter where in the freezer they are stored? Will switch back to our original supplier and give that a go tomorrow. My son thaws the rats all day so I am pretty confident they are completely thawed. Will also keep checking the heat mat temps throughout the day. Thanks once again

If it was within minutes it's not a regurgitation, just the animal spitting the prey back out.

Either your BP was interrupted.

The prey was too big.

Your BP changed is mind.

A regurgitation is a serious issue but it occurs once the digestion process has already been well on it's way, and the smell is unmistakable.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Deborah

If it was within minutes it's not a regurgitation, just the animal spitting the prey back out.

Either your BP was interrupted.

The prey was too big.

Your BP changed is mind.

A regurgitation is a serious issue but it occurs once the digestion process has already been well on it's way, and the smell is unmistakable.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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Ah, right, thanks for that. I don't think the prey was too big as it is smaller in diameter than the snake.

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Originally Posted by Debs

Thank you so much for your help and advice! We had been getting our rats from a large pet chain store but 2 weeks ago thought we would try out and support a newly opened reptile store near by, could be a coincidence but from what you have said maybe they have sold us bad rats, or, I am not sure what 'freezer burned' means but sounds like that could be my fault not the store. Does it matter where in the freezer they are stored? Will switch back to our original supplier and give that a go tomorrow. My son thaws the rats all day so I am pretty confident they are completely thawed. Will also keep checking the heat mat temps throughout the day. Thanks once again

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Freezer burned is when food has been in the freezer to long or wasn't wrapped good enough and goes bad, gets stale, dryed out, taste nasty ect...

Happy to report we switched back to our original rat supplier and all is well, he is eating fine again, so I think we must have been supplied with dodgy rats! Thanks for the advice everyone.