help!

Help!

The girlfriends BOA is doing some weird stuff, I'm hoping someone might know what is happening.. Our Female 5 year old BCI is opening her mouth all the way and regurgitating the water she just drank. She's making weezing sounds every few minutes and is moving like she's swallowing in reverse LOL. Oh.. she just threw up the rat we fed her last week... is this normal? we just brought her home last weekend..

Thanks,
chris.

I'd have to say that is not normal at all. Vet trip.

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Originally Posted by LGray23

I'd have to say that is not normal at all. Vet trip.

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123.
Find a vet, specifically one that knows what they are doing with reptiles. That is definitely not normal.

Did you get her from a friend/petstore/craigslist?

We brought her home from the Kitchener Expo, and she's been great since. Her temps are perfect- we've left her completely alone. The humidity has been slightly low at times (40%) so we've been misting in the morning to keep it at 50%+.

Is there any reason she may have thrown up? She used to have hides and doesn't ATM- could that have caused stress? We did buy some kitty litter pans this morning to use but still have to smoothen the edges...

---worried

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Originally Posted by decensored

We brought her home from the Kitchener Expo, and she's been great since. Her temps are perfect- we've left her completely alone. The humidity has been slightly low at times (40%) so we've been misting in the morning to keep it at 50%+.

Is there any reason she may have thrown up? She used to have hides and doesn't ATM- could that have caused stress? We did buy some kitty litter pans this morning to use but still have to smoothen the edges...

---worried

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You can smooth the edges with a lighter. I don't think a lack of hides would cause a regurgitation. I'd bring her to the vet asap, could be parasites, could be the beginning of an unknown sickness. Either way, it's not normal in the least.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LGray23

You can smooth the edges with a lighter. I don't think a lack of hides would cause a regurgitation. I'd bring her to the vet asap, could be parasites, could be the beginning of an unknown sickness. Either way, it's not normal in the least.

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x2 Vet asap.

But fyi, some boas can be somewhat prone to regurgitation. No matter what the vet finds, you need to not feed her for at least 2 weeks before offering again. If she's 5 years old, she can easily go 3-4 weeks before eating again. Give her plenty of time to recover from the regurge before loading her gut again. And offer a slightly smaller meal to see if she keeps it down.

The symptoms sound like an RI to me, but as Leah said, it could be a number of things and only a qualified herp vet will know for sure. Bump the temps up slightly until you can get her in, but take her as soon as you're able. And keep us posted!

We are making a vet appointment for tomorrow. She just had a pretty wet number two right after. I'm so confused... she's been so great. Now I'm concerned for her boyfriend who was being housed with her before we brought them home...

This isn't just a 'normal' regurge then?

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Originally Posted by Evenstar

x2 Vet asap.

But fyi, some boas can be somewhat prone to regurgitation. No matter what the vet finds, you need to not feed her for at least 2 weeks before offering again. If she's 5 years old, she can easily go 3-4 weeks before eating again. Give her plenty of time to recover from the regurge before loading her gut again. And offer a slightly smaller meal to see if she keeps it down.

The symptoms sound like an RI to me, but as Leah said, it could be a number of things and only a qualified herp vet will know for sure. Bump the temps up slightly until you can get her in, but take her as soon as you're able. And keep us posted!

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good advice above. I'd also schedule the male for the vet visit as well if you've been cohabitating. how do you know which one regurgitated? not to worry you further, but generally speaking there is no such thing as a "normal" regurgitation...

either way it does sound rather like an RI. you can search on here for stop-gap procedures to alleviate RI symptoms until you make it to the vet. pay particular attention to any advice given by Skiploder.

I agree with the others. Regurge + diarrhea = vet trip. It may be too late to suggest this now, but if you can, recover some of the feces, put it in a ziploc bag and keep it refrigerated (Not the freezer) so the vet can check it for parasites. Good luck and keep us posted.

I forgot to ask:
-When did you feed her?
-What did you feed her? Live or F/T
-How big is she?
-How big was the prey?

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Originally Posted by decensored

This isn't just a 'normal' regurge then?

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There aren't any normal regurges. Do you normally regurge?

Quarantine ASAP, then vet.
Could be parasite, but sounds like symptoms of crypto aswell.

We fed her the day after bringing her home.
F/T Large rat (She was eating mammoth rats & last feeding was NOv.26)
I'm not sure how big she is because we didn't want to mess around with her too much upon bringing her home Sunday, I would guess 5+feet and about 12lbs

We e-mailed the person who owned her originally and he believes she was probably just too stressed out to handle the meal.
We have been checking her temps daily, and maybe having us open and close the enclosure so much added to that stress.

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Originally Posted by TheWinWizard

There aren't any normal regurges. Do you normally regurge?

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I'm aware it isn't healthy for an animal to regurge. I meant, could it be possible it was just too much at once and not a life threatening disease.

Like everyone else said vet trip is in order! I've fed many of my boas same day when bringing them home and have never had any regurgitate or have diarrhea bud something else other then "stress" is going on with her. Good luck hope whatever it is isn't serious. :)

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Originally Posted by TheWinWizard

There aren't any normal regurges. Do you normally regurge?

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yes.

Can't get a vet visit until later on in the week. i called the vet and he doesn't seem to think its parasites, but rather stress. There's only 2 rep/exotic vets in the area and neither of them are open until tuesday.. She hasn't thrown up or poohed since the one incident and we've been leaving her alone and she's been acting pretty normal. The vet said to just keep an eye on her and aside from the regurgitation/pooh there's nothing else that points to anything overly serious. He said its relativity normal for a stressed out boa to regurgitate. Just thought i would throw that info out for others.

Our husbandry has been a little off as we have been struggling with temps and humidity.
We still plan on making the vet trip just to be sure. :)

Thanks for everyone's input.

Chris

Glad you are still taking her but I would consider another vet. Boas are NOT ball pythons and are not generally prone to "stressing out". There is something else going on here that is causing the regurge, diarreah, and excessive salivation.

I fed both my baby boas 2 days after bringing them home. They traveled up here from Cleveland, spent the day at an expo, then took a 2 hour car ride home with us before arriving in their tubs. They were also handeled the next day. Both of them gobbeled up their meal and neither showed ANY adverse reaction whatsoever.

These guys are pretty stable. I really hope yours is ok!