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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Here's a theory.. Aren't many insect eggs able to withstand extreme temperatures? Maybe the rat already had fly eggs on it. Maybe the rat sat in a pile of dead rats just long enough at the rodent place to have a fly lay eggs on it before it was frozen. Then the eggs went into a sort of stasis. The snake ate it and it may have either been a little large, or possibly had begun to rot slightly before it was frozen which caused the regurge. Viola. The eggs hatch because they were now warm and had not been in contact with the stomach acids long enough to destroy them?

Possibility?

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Here's a theory.. Aren't many insect eggs able to withstand extreme temperatures? Maybe the rat already had fly eggs on it. Maybe the rat sat in a pile of dead rats just long enough at the rodent place to have a fly lay eggs on it before it was frozen. Then the eggs went into a sort of stasis. The snake ate it and it may have either been a little large, or possibly had begun to rot slightly before it was frozen which caused the regurge. Viola. The eggs hatch because they were now warm and had not been in contact with the stomach acids long enough to destroy them?

Possibility?

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I would agree with you 100%, but it was a live feeder.

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Flies can get into tiny crevices. Unless you have an airtight bin for the snake, the bug could have gotten in and back out. It might not have been a big house fly but a smaller type, but even houseflies squeeze through tiny spaces.

I would tend to think it's way more likely for a fly to get in and back out, rather than fly eggs managing to survive the stomach acid to hatch. But technically a live rat could have had some fly eggs stuck to the fur and then they survive the stomach acid and don't fall off or come off in the stomach or throat and so are still on the slimy regurgitated rat, and viable... and then hatched.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Flies can get into tiny crevices. Unless you have an airtight bin for the snake, the bug could have gotten in and back out. It might not have been a big house fly but a smaller type, but even houseflies squeeze through tiny spaces.

I would tend to think it's way more likely for a fly to get in and back out, rather than fly eggs managing to survive the stomach acid to hatch. But technically a live rat could have had some fly eggs stuck to the fur and then they survive the stomach acid and don't fall off or come off in the stomach or throat and so are still on the slimy regurgitated rat, and viable... and then hatched.

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Possibly.

These maggots were quite large(a little smaller or equal size to botfly larvae). Larger than the air holes, which makes me think your secondary hypothesis. Unless the larvae stage is bigger than the adult stage?? Or they have a really fast growth rate in the past 2 days ......


Either way, it was one of the nastiest things I've ever seen and I've seen quite a lot of gruesome stuff that didn't bother me. I just hope not have a repeat experience again......

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I would agree with you 100%, but it was a live feeder.

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Oh, well, there you go. Then a fly must have gotten after the regurge somhow and laid the eggs. Pretty sure a weekend would be enough time for maggots to grow to size.

Also: :upset: :puke: :dead:

This post and thread made me laugh at the responses and feel extremely sympathetic for you. Had only one regurg in my time so far. *Knock on Wood* Good luck. It's a bummer. Here's to your scaly friends keeping their food down in the future.:gj:



P.S. Might wanna invest into some fly tape just to have a little piece of mind. Hang it near the snake enclosures.

Well, I have no insight to offer you unfortunately, I think all has been thought of, just sympathy. Maggots are absolutely disgusting. :( Sorry.

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Perhaps the rat consumed fly eggs that were in its feed? A stretch, but not impossible. Then the eggs hatched inside the rat after it died, causing it to begin rotting, which in turn caused the regurge? I dunno. It's another thought.

Fruit fly larvae are visually larger than adult fruit flies and the live in almost every home. The fly's presence is not the concern here, but the snake who regurged. Hopefully they are OK.



Bubbles took his second F/T recently and decided after coiling it that he'd rather sweep it into his hide and leave it there for 2 days rather than eat it. What a jerk.

Wow thats nasty. When my cinny girl went off feed i fed her late one nite, at like 11 and then had work the next morning. So i checked her when i got home at 2:30 and she hadnt eaten it. I thought THAT smell of 15hr old, non-regurged rat was nasty, cant imagine what yours smelled like lol.

so was this f/t or what?

It was live. You must not have read the whole thread. ;)

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Oh my god, BLAHHH...I'm a vet tech and maggots never get old. Cleaning them out of wounds is not my specialty...lol