Waiting period for Handling after eating

Hi Everyone,

I always feed my snakes on Wednesday evenings and don't attempt to bother them or handle them until at least Saturday.

Well, I fed my female normal on Wednesday as usual but found on Friday morning she had poop, pee and urates all in her enclosure - I didn't want her to be sitting around in that mess so I took her out and cleaned up the enclosure and immediately put her back - the time since she ate was about 36/40 hours.

I was just concerned that I would have caused her some digestion problems because I handled her - your thoughts.

2 days is about how long you shouldnt handle after a meal. However, even if it was 12 hrs after a feeding and I noticed poop or pee, that tub is getting cleaned.

I am soo glad to hear that someone else feels the same way - I can't stand it if I see poop or pee in her cage - I have to clean and disinfect everything for her.

She had pee'd soooo much that she couldn't escape the area and was laying in it - I took a warm wash cloth and wiped her down to get the pee off of her for fear of scale rot forming.

You shouldn't handle your snake for 48 hours hours after eating, but it's not going to harm your snake if you move them to clean their cage. Handling is holding your snake and letting it slither through your hands. Moving your snake is simply picking them up and putting them in a tub. Don't hold your snake or play with it and you shouldn't have a problem. I've never had a snake regurgitate after moving them to clean their cage.

I was worried because I had to let her squirm thru a wet/warm washcloth in an attempt to wash any pee that was on her - she had been sitting in the mess.

I sure hope I didn't cause her to regurge - she has never done that before.

Well its usually 24 hours for a small/medium meal but 48 hours for a large meal...I tend to wait 2 days just in case...because if they regurgetate some ball pythons may stop feeding for a while...

I've had many snakes that I've gently handled within a 24 hour period in order to clean out the enclosure. Just be gentle and try your best to avoid sudden movements that might startle the snake. You should be fine.

Since I use tubs I have one ready to go so that I can just transfer the snake from the dirty tub to the clean tub and back into the rack. Most of the time they don't even have enough time to register whats going on before they are nice and cozy again.

As for cleaning her with a cloth this might be best to do after a 48 hour period.

It had been a good 36 hours when I had to move her. Do you think that if my actions were going to cause her to regurge that she would have done this by now???

I doubt she will regurge if she hasn't already, you should be fine.

Oh, thank god!!!! I just was faced with such a dilema, either her wallowing in her own waste or risk moving her - so I chose to move her. Normally she can move away from the waste because her cage is large enough but it seemed like she flooded the place this time - LOL.

I left for work shortly after I moved her so I won't know until I get home tonight if she is okay or not. If for I find that she has regurged - is there something that I should do for her??

Thanks for your help.

Its not the end of the world if she regurges once. It happens to everyone at one point or another. The acids in the stomach are very strong and multiple resurges can do damage to the snake but once should not be bad.

You would need to wait 2 weeks and then offer a smaller than usual prey item.

Ok, thanks. I will pray that she is fine when I get home from work. Just one more question - is the actual handling that causes the regurge or does it happen due to stress???

i dont hold a day before feeding and 2 days after it eats

There are many things that can cause a regurge.

Low temperatures can cause them because of the difficultites the snake has digesting its meal.

Getting scared by a predator (in captivity us) could cause one.

Handling is an easier one to understand. Just picture a giant person tossing you around after thanksgiving dinner... :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spaniard

Getting scared by a predator (in captivity us) could cause one.

---

I love little snake facts so I just wanted to add that they will regurge when scared by a predator to escape faster. Hehe, clever fellahs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spaniard

Handling is an easier one to understand. Just picture a giant person tossing you around after thanksgiving dinner... :)

---

Rofl. Now I can't stop seeing that scenario playing out in my head.

Got it - thanks.