How long do you wait to handle bp after feeding

i was just wondering how long i wait to handle my bp after it has fed, he is a very good feeder btw, first feed and he struck at it in the first 10 seconds.

I wait 48 hours.

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General rule of thumb is 24-48 hours.

I wait a day minimum but I usually don't sit there and go 'OH It's been 24 hours! I can pick them up now!' *laugh*

From now on... I say 48 hours to be safe. I handled one of my little girls 26 hours after feeding. She regurged and I definitely think that's what caused it. Could not find any issues with her husbandry. :( *guilt*

My hatchling is fine after 36 hours but she's pretty "outgoing" in personality and doesn't really stress easily.

I try to wait 3 days, but I always wait at the very least 48 hours. I also worked in a lab at college and we had a 3 day rule for all the snakes there as well.

48 hours usually.

I feed in the afternoon or evening, the next day I may clean cages or handle the snakes. That technically is less than twenty-four hours, but I've never had a problem.

good info to know!

Anytime I want...Well except while they are swallowing :gj:

Ive fed in the afternoon and then handled later on that nite and never have had a regurge. Having to wait at least 48hrs is another one of the myths out there imo.

Everyone will tell you something different. I have handled them 10 min after they swallowed a jumbo rat and never had a problem. Some people have had them regurge 2-3 days after eating. I believe it comes down to the individual personality of the snake. i wouldn't recommend handling ten min after mind you. Ur asking for your fingers to be the second course. i simply put that in there to show snakes are like anyone else. they all have different personalities and pet peeves.

I normally wait 2 days for a very breif handling, like to have them hang out on my shoulder while I clean out their tub if they made a mess, and then put them back.

I wait for three if I'm going to spend a descent bit of time with them. I have never had any problems doing things this way, but then again I've never done it any other way, just operating on what I've heard here. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Having to wait at least 48hrs is another one of the myths out there imo.

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I agree, another one of those rumors that noobies spread continually.
I handle hundreds of hatchlings and many large adults and I handle when I need to or want to and I have had one regurge 3 years ago from a female that wasn't held at all except to pull her out clean her tub and replace her.

There is nothing that a little bit of handling will hurt.
Please everyone do what you feel is appropriate, but spreading false rumors is so old school it gets tiring.
They do enjoy their hot spots after eating so most do not get held after eating but if I need to clean I don't hesitate to handle them and if I just want to hold them for 10 minutes, I hold them.

Many of my snakes eat more than one meal a week, if I went by the 48 hour "false rule" I'd rarely ever get to hold them ...

I have handled less than 48 hours. I have 4 on a 5 day schedule and 1 on a 7 day and I do get my days messed up sometimes and never had a regurge thankfully. Also if I see that they have peed or pooped I clean that up right away just fed or not.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I agree, another one of those rumors that noobies spread continually.
I handle hundreds of hatchlings and many large adults and I handle when I need to or want to and I have had one regurge 3 years ago from a female that wasn't held at all except to pull her out clean her tub and replace her.

There is nothing that a little bit of handling will hurt.
Please everyone do what you feel is appropriate, but spreading false rumors is so old school it gets tiring.
They do enjoy their hot spots after eating so most do not get held after eating but if I need to clean I don't hesitate to handle them and if I just want to hold them for 10 minutes, I hold them.

Many of my snakes eat more than one meal a week, if I went by the 48 hour "false rule" I'd rarely ever get to hold them ...

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:confusd: One of my girls regurged 4 days after feeding. Her husbandry was fine though. She is checked twice everyday so the only thing I could think of was handling too soon after feeding. So I blamed myself for handling her so soon :tears: I can't think of any other reason for her regurge besides husbandry or handling.

Didn't mean to spread any rumors. I'm a worry wart!!!!

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Originally Posted by Orenshi

:confusd: One of my girls regurged 4 days after feeding.

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That is exceeding by double what the longest suggested wait here that has posted! I do not think that the regurg was from handling, unless you were rough or over handling. I've handled snakes right after eating to clean their cage. When I say handling, I mean short periods of around 20 minutes up to maybe an hour. Normally, I do like I said and give them the rest of that evening to digest. If you had a regurg after 4 days, I'd check the temps. It sounds like the snake did not get warm enough to digest.

handling does not cause regurge in ball pythons.
Regurge is a flight or fight thing, they do it to get away from what they see as a potential predator.
The snake is stressed out badly if it regurges.
When in the wild a snake goes out and stalks a prey item, and gets it eaten, the traveling back to the den if it didn't find the rodent in a den, would be much more bumpy than the little bit of handling you might do.

4 days after a meal it should have been digested by then, so I ask, did the snake have a hot spot to digest on?
Did it sit on the cold side due to stress?
Lots of things come to mind when a snake regurges, but handling them isn't one of them imo..

From thread "Regurge 5 days later": http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ys-later/page2

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Originally Posted by Orenshi

Just wanted to check up on this thread. How is your daughter's BP doing? Taking meals fine? Any other issues? Out of curiosity, how big was your baby ball? I'm actually having a very similar issue and would like to learn how it panned out after your BP's regurge.

My smallest BP is 79grams and has regurged 4 days after her meal. I'm very concerned especially since she's small. Have not taken a pic, but must agree with your description. It looked like a shriveled outline of a rat pup.

As for husbandry, her hot spot is at 90 degrees while the cool side is 78. The room is consistently at 76 degrees. Her humidity is around 50%. Belly heat flexwatt. She's in a rack in a V18 tub on newspaper. She has taken a meal 10/22 and 10/25. She pooped and peed 10/27. She then pooped and regurged 10/29.

My boyfriend went ahead and put some crumpled up newspaper in there to make her feel more secure. We are now taking precautions to leave her alone and not attempt to feed until 11/12. We are confident that her husbandry was spot on. However, I must add that she was handled 26 hours after feeding. This is the only thing I can think of that may have stressed her out and I feel horrible. :/ I thought that 24 hours would have sufficed. All feedback is sincerely appreciated.

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Everytime we checked on her, she was on the warm side. The day she was discovered with regurge, the temp gun read 90. That's why I thought it was the handling. But you're right. If I recall correctly, she did seem stressed out. Just can't figure out what exactly caused her to go into that fight or flight mode, as you said. *shrugs*

I typically feed my snakes in the middle of the day, and I have no troubles handling them the next evening. Never had a regurge.(knocks wood)

I think if you're not juggling them and playing tennis with them, light handling should be ok :)

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Originally Posted by barbie.dragon

I think if you're not juggling them and playing tennis with them, light handling should be ok :)

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Exactly, and if someone is doing those things then regurging is probably not on their mind anyways.

I like to wait at least a day before I handle them at all. If they are going to be handled a lot 48 hours.

36-48 hours for mine.

24-48 hours

I used to stick to the 24hr rule, but Ajja determines when she gets handled now. I typically have her doors open when I feed her, and I'll sit right next to the tank. If she wants to come out, she'll come right over to my hand. If she doesn't, she just cruises over to the hot hide.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I agree, another one of those rumors that noobies spread continually.
I handle hundreds of hatchlings and many large adults and I handle when I need to or want to and I have had one regurge 3 years ago from a female that wasn't held at all except to pull her out clean her tub and replace her.

There is nothing that a little bit of handling will hurt.
Please everyone do what you feel is appropriate, but spreading false rumors is so old school it gets tiring.
They do enjoy their hot spots after eating so most do not get held after eating but if I need to clean I don't hesitate to handle them and if I just want to hold them for 10 minutes, I hold them.

Many of my snakes eat more than one meal a week, if I went by the 48 hour "false rule" I'd rarely ever get to hold them ...

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I also offer food twice a week. feeding this much you have to remove them from their tubs so you can keep the tubs clean.

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Originally Posted by don15681

I also offer food twice a week. feeding this much you have to remove them from their tubs so you can keep the tubs clean.

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Yep, no way around it.
Handling them for 10-15 minutes sitting in a chair relaxing won't hurt anything, people can do whatever they like as far as handling, but I'm getting tired of the old rumors about regurgitating because of handling.
If you deal with wild caught highly stressed out snakes then the handling rule might apply.
95% or more of us are working with captive bred snakes that are typically not going to go into fight or flight mode.

I usually wait 2 days

Iwait ontell the next day to handle mine..48 hrs is to long for me lol

Generally speaking 48 hours before I start handling him again with any sort of duration or frequency.

I can't say I've ever had him regurgitate and I've had to handle him sometimes only a few hours after he eats in certain scenarios (he'll tip the water over etc) or else he'll be a lot more unhappy than just me fussing with him for 15 minutes.

Still he gets a daily temp check and water bowl change regardless of when he's eaten. Though I try not to lift his hide up to check on his condition for the two days before he's supposed to eat.