Why regurgitation?

One of my female snakes has regurgitated twice. I feed medium rats and they all eat very well. But, a few weeks ago my female 1500 gram threw up a rat. Then the next week she ate fine. Then, this week threw up again. Whats the problem? Is it possible the rat was not completely thawed? What causes this she is healthy?

It could very well be that it was not thawed all the way. When I feed f/t I take rodents out in the morning & let them thaw all day, then feed at night.

Ok, it just seems weird the same snake has done it twice.

If you're feeding F/T, how are you thawing? How do you determine when the F/T is ready? If you do just a quick warmup (for example, with a blowdryer), you can heat up the outside, but the inside can still be too cold (esp the head). The head takes longer to thaw. If you squish the belly gently, you may find that it's a little cold/slushy, too.

I thaw in a 5 gallon bucket with hot water and try to feel when it is thawed but now that I think about it I think it was a little cooler in the mid section of the rat but I didn't think anything of it.

OK try this - it works for me, and I hope it helps you! Put your F/T in the refrig the day before you feed, and let them thaw slowly. About an hour before feeding time, take them out of the frig and let them sit in the room near your snake (so your snake can smell dinner on the way - you'll get a better feeding response) until the heads of the feeders are room temp. If they still feel cold, they aren't ready! When the heads and bellies have reached room temp, then you can heat them up and feed your snakes. You just want to warm them up, not get them hot (too hot can also cause problems).

when your snake regurges it's food. you should wait atleast 10 to 14 days before feeding again. and the rodent should be smaller than normally feed. when they regurged their food, this tears them up inside and they need time for things to settle down. your snake did it twice in a weeks time, this isn't good at all.

You never feed an animal that has re-gurged, until you wait at least 2 weeks to allow the stomach flora and fauna to re-build.

There are a multitude of reasons that she regurgitated, and internal parasites could be one reason. I'd recommend taking a fecal sample into your vet and get them to run a test on that to rule that out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

Ok, it just seems weird the same snake has done it twice.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

I thaw in a 5 gallon bucket with hot water and try to feel when it is thawed but now that I think about it I think it was a little cooler in the mid section of the rat but I didn't think anything of it.

---

If you have more than one snake, and you are thawing out all the rodents at the same time, in the same way, and she's still the only one having this issue (twice), why do you think it's the temperature of the prey item?

1. What was the time period between the two incidences?

2. Did she throw up the item or regurge it? There's a difference between the two events, and whether it was one or the other can help determine the issue.

3. What are you keeping her in and whats the hot spot, ambient and cool side temps? What are you measuring those temps with?

4. If your husbandry is spot on, and you can effectively rule our environmental causes, a trip to the vet is in order. If she isn't pooping, the vet can still do a wash and check for the presence of parasites.

Parasites would not be possible. And, I did not feed twice and she did not regurg twice in a weeks time. It was about a month ago. What is the difference between regurgitation and throwing up? She goes to the bathroom regularly and is a healthy heavy bodied snake. I think it is the temperature of the prey item.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

One of my female snakes has regurgitated twice. I feed medium rats and they all eat very well. But, a few weeks ago my female 1500 gram threw up a rat. Then the next week she ate fine. Then, this week threw up again. Whats the problem? Is it possible the rat was not completely thawed? What causes this she is healthy?

---

ok it was 2 weeks if I'm reading this correctly. how long from eating until regurging? If the rodent wasn't all the way down when it came back up is a lot different from being in the stomach and throwing it up.

there's many reasons why this can happen, some already stated, snake could be sick and not showing signs yet, the rodent is too big, stress and I sure there's more. with the information given, you're only going to get guesses, find a good exotic vet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

Parasites would not be possible. And, I did not feed twice and she did not regurg twice in a weeks time. It was about a month ago. What is the difference between regurgitation and throwing up? She goes to the bathroom regularly and is a healthy heavy bodied snake. I think it is the temperature of the prey item.

---

Why would parasites not be possible?

Throwing up is spitting the food back out almost immediately after eating. Regurgitation is the food being in the belly for a period of time, getting partially digested and coming back up.

It comes back up not 24 hours after going down. Would that be throwing up?

FYI, just a tip on thawing in hot water. Put the rat in a ziploc bag and squeeze as much of the air out as you can before putting the entire bag in the water. It keeps the rat dry which can make a difference.

A rat soaking directly in hot water tends to lead to an exploding rat among other things.

If 24 hours has passed it is a regurgitation.

Spitting it back out would have been immediately after feeding.

Now there are possible caused

1# Improper thawing of the feeder
2# Stress
3# Temps too low not allowing the animal to digest properly
4# Internal parasites

YOUR job is to figure out what could possibly be the cause, and to make sure not to feed this BP again for at least 2 weeks.

If it happens a 3rd time and 1 through 3 have been ruled out take your BP to a vet and have a fecal done.

Thanks guys I have a feeling it is my thawing technique and maybe she is just a little more picky of how hers is thawed. I really doubt the internal parasite as it is not wild caught or anything. My temps are good to. Hopefully a new thawing technique will work. But, when I used to let them thaw at night they seemed to go bad from sitting out to long thats why I went to the bucket. Doesnt it take alot longer to thaw in bags to? Thanks for helping guys!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

Thanks guys I have a feeling it is my thawing technique and maybe she is just a little more picky of how hers is thawed. I really doubt the internal parasite as it is not wild caught or anything. My temps are good to. Hopefully a new thawing technique will work. But, when I used to let them thaw at night they seemed to go bad from sitting out to long thats why I went to the bucket. Doesnt it take alot longer to thaw in bags to? Thanks for helping guys!

---

Either the item is thawed or not. The snake will not intentionally regurge because it is criticizing or having an issue with your thawing technique.

Even if the item is slightly cool, it should not present a problem. The fact that your other snakes are not having issues with items thawed in the exact same manner should indicate that something else may be going on here. What is your hot spot temperature? Your ambient? Your cool side?

Internal parasites can be transmitted to captive bred snakes several ways. One of those ways is through prey items that harbor these parasites. Depending on the length of time and temperature that the rodent was frozen, it could still be a potential parasite vector.

Sounds like you got issues going on in your collection:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...08#post1627608

I'd step back from the keyboard and get your animals evaluated by a vet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

Thanks guys I have a feeling it is my thawing technique and maybe she is just a little more picky of how hers is thawed. I really doubt the internal parasite as it is not wild caught or anything. My temps are good to. Hopefully a new thawing technique will work. But, when I used to let them thaw at night they seemed to go bad from sitting out to long thats why I went to the bucket. Doesnt it take alot longer to thaw in bags to? Thanks for helping guys!

---

That has nothing to do with whether or not she has internal parasites.

And Skip raises a good point - if it were your thawing technique, all your animals would be regurgitating. Right now, you have at least 2 animals that you've reported have regurgitated for you. It DOES sound like your collection needs some medical attention. :(

I take very good care of my animals and snakes. My hot spot is 95 cool about 80 and ambient about 78. My other issue was mouth rought that got out of hand. This snake seems perfectly healthy and has been eating great her whole time I have had her. She is always hungry and never misses a meal. She is akready coming out of the cage after she regurgitated looking for food. If she does it again I will take her to a vet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ballman123

I take very good care of my animals and snakes. My hot spot is 95 cool about 80 and ambient about 78. My other issue was mouth rought that got out of hand. This snake seems perfectly healthy and has been eating great her whole time I have had her. She is always hungry and never misses a meal. She is akready coming out of the cage after she regurgitated looking for food. If she does it again I will take her to a vet.

---

How about taking your fingers out of your ears and try listening to the advice you've been given.

You have a snake with mouth rot that also had a bloody cloaca. that snake regurged.

You have a second snake that has now regurged twice.

Nobody passed judgement on you so stop wasting time defending yourself from non-existant accusations.

You obviously have an issue in your collection - you may not want to admit it, but you do . You have one snake that is sick and another that may very well be.

Take both animals to a vet and get them professionally diagnosed and treated.

Then you can come back here and explain to me how your ambient is lower than your cool end.

Ok so the cool end is 78 who cares. I dont have never ending money to go to the vet thats why I try to do the home remedy first. It is 80 dollars a visit for my reptile vet. I understand the advice and thank you all for it and like I said I will get it checked if it happens one more time.

Hi,

And how much would it cost you to replace all your snakes if it is something nasty in the collection which kills them all one by one while you try those home remedies?

Honestly we're not just trying to cost you money for no reason.


dr del

I agree no ones just trying to get you to blow money. Vets are a necessity even if the time may not be right for you. Having exotics means when you have problems it will be a costly vet trip.
it's one of those things you have to accept and save for or there's no point to asking questions. What everyone is telling you is there IS NO home remedy. I'm sorry. There just isn't. The snakes health and well being have to come first.

Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com