regurge?

sooo last night I was fast asleep and my boyfriend woke me up saying pretzel was trying to throw up; his mouth was open and he was making a gagging noise and his body was twisted up all weird. I checked his tank and it smelled a tiny bit funky and there were a few drops of mucus-colored liquid. I am really confused. I fed him last Monday; what are some of the possible reasons why he tried to throw up? I didnt handle him until at least three days had passed after I fed him. Also should I take him to the vet or just keep an eye on him? How long should I wait to feed and handle him again (Ive heard some people say a week other say two so I wanna make sure)His husbandry was on point too so I ruled out the idea that maybe he was too cold.

very concerned snake mom here :(

Husbandry on point... that can be very subjective, what are your temps, humidity, setup, etc?

Also, have you heard any wheezing or whistling when the snake breathes?

No feeding for two or three weeks. Pretty sure it's three and go down one size meal.

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it smelled a tiny bit funky and there were a few drops of mucus-colored liquid.

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Tiny bit funky or did it smell like death (big difference in smell but important as far as description goes)

Was their only mucus or partially digested mouse as well?

humidity 50-60 percent, one hide (the other one broke because i dropped it so thats not for long) temps 90/82, heat mat too on hot side

i havent heard any wheezing so far, and there was no partially digested mouse, only that weird liquid, and it smelled funky enough to know it wasnt normal but it wasnt like death i would say haha

I might be over reacting but my first instinct would be to take him to the vet.

Sometimes it takes a while for a snake to digest a large meal. Even handling after three days can be problematic.
Every now and then I would get a BP that would regurge a meal. It was usually one of three things:

1. My heat source malfunctioned.
2. The prey item was too large.
3. The feeder was old/not thawed completely/reheated too many times.

Just my two cents.

yea I am really debating taking him but I dont know because he did not even throw up much of anything

My initial thought was that maybe it was mucus, and the snake may have an RI, but your temps sound adequate.

thats what i thought too at first, but his nose looks clean and why else would his mouth be open/gagging noises?

thats what i thought too but why else was his mouth open/he was gagging and his body was twisiting up etc

sorry my computers being weird and it said my replies didnt post but i guess they did so theres 2 now lol

Well, they also have a tube in the throat they can extend to breath when they are eating large meals... forgot the official term for this, but my thoughts were that the mucus could come from there as well.

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

My initial thought was that maybe it was mucus, and the snake may have an RI, but your temps sound adequate.

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If I had to guess based on the description it would be my guess as well.

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OP any chance you can get your BP and get it's mouth open and inspect it?

hmm ive never done that before but ill try lol
i did check his nose though and it looked fine and I havent heard any wheezing whatsoever

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why would he need to regurgitate mucus though? do they do that when they have an RI?

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also i took a picture of it last night im still trying to figure out how to upload it

Think of it as the snake version of coughing up a loogey, except that reptiles don't normally produce enough mucus to do this, so if they do, it's a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by pretzelpretzel

hmm ive never done that before but ill try lol
i did check his nose though and it looked fine and I havent heard any wheezing whatsoever

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why would he need to regurgitate mucus though? do they do that when they have an RI?

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also i took a picture of it last night im still trying to figure out how to upload it

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Many of us use the free app tapatalk to upload pics

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why would he need to regurgitate mucus though? do they do that when they have an RI?

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In an advance stage of RI yes they will expell mucus.

hmm okay i’ll look at him again when i get home, if he was in an advanced state of RI I would’ve noticed it before..

If it was a few days after feeding I'd suspect something with the food. How old are your rodents? How many grams are they (on average) and what is the weight of the snake? How do you thaw them out, is it possible it was still cold on the inside of the rodent? It could be handling too soon as well, I have a few snakes that are really sensitive to being handled even days after feeding, I typically wait five days now, maybe just handle a day or two before the next feeding.