Regurge Questiones

So today I had one of the worst days of my life regarding keeping snakes. I went from a no regurge experience ever to two regurges in one day.

Yesterday was feeding day for me. Today I checked up on all 20 of them and changed their water etc, and I found two that had regurged their meal. One of them must have been due to the mouse was too big, it didn't look too big compared to how the others eat though but I guess they can be pretty much unique to this as well, hopefully it's rare.

The other one I found today with all blue eyes, I must have missed that yesterday somehow. So here is my first question, can a snake regurge just because it's going in to shed? Shouldn't it have left the mouse alone in the first place? It all seems very weird to me, all my other snakes wont touch their food if they are going blue, even if I havn't seen them start to get blue eyes or pink belly they will not touch it. And sometimes I'm like "what the hell is his problem..." and within the next day or two they go blue.

From what I've gathered every time a snake regurge it's a very significant thing and should not be taken lightly, so tell me, you guys/girls with experience, how worried should I be? Cus I'm not enjoying this at all! Both snakes seems to be fine but I'm worried...

How long should I wait before I offer them food again?

Thanks
-D

Edit: I know I made a typo in the topic but it wont let me edit it :P

wait at least 2 weeks and feed a smaller the normal meal. I don't think that shed had anything to do with the it. most wont eat during a shed and some will.

Regurgitation can be due to

Stress
Low temps
Internal parasites
Bad prey item / umproperly thawed prey item (if fed F/T)

Now just leave both animal alone, no feeding for the next 2 weeks, after that resume your regular feeding schedule and if this happens again consider taking them to a vet and have a fecal done.

Now the question was it regurgitation VS the snake disengaging from the prey and spitting it right back out?

I don't mean to be alarmist, but I had some recent experience with a regurge. It was my first regurge ever in my snake keeping. I thought that maybe the rat was just a hair too big. I decided to not take her to the vet and just really keep an eye on her and skip her next week feeding.

It didn't end up well.

Based on my limited experience, I would do a vet trip. Best to err on the side of caution.

There are some other folks with a lot more experience that would have much better advice. Although if you had two regurge the same day, I would double check your temps and probes.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Now the question was it regurgitation VS the snake disengaging from the prey and spitting it right back out?

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That's what I'm assuming as both had mucus (spelling?) on them and smelled horribly.

Don't freak out yet.

A too large mouse can definitely play a big role.

Maybe the other one thought it could take the mouse, even though it was in blue, but then its body told it that it couldn't take it.

If they regurge next time, then a trip to the vet may be good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Regurgitation can be due to

Stress
Low temps
Internal parasites
Bad prey item / umproperly thawed prey item (if fed F/T)

Now just leave both animal alone, no feeding for the next 2 weeks, after that resume your regular feeding schedule and if this happens again consider taking them to a vet and have a fecal done.

Now the question was it regurgitation VS the snake disengaging from the prey and spitting it right back out?

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Deb definitely made some great points. However, I think she left out one other factor. See the post below.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

Don't freak out yet.

A too large mouse can definitely play a big role.

Maybe the other one thought it could take the mouse, even though it was in blue, but then its body told it that it couldn't take it.

If they regurge next time, then a trip to the vet may be good.

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This was some great advice. What I was alluding to above is that sometimes, in my opinion, a snake has such a stong feeding reaction that it strikes and eats, and then realizes it doesn't want the meal (I said in my opinion, because a snake has never told me that, but I have my reasons). Why I say that, is because I have experienced on more than one occasion a snake that grabs the rat as soon as it hits the bedding, only to come back an hour later to find that the snake had swallowed the entire food item, and then regurgitated it (all within one hour).

As for how long to wait? 2 weeks is great advice. I have fed snakes that have regurged the following week, but those are the ones that I know regurged within hours of swallowing the prey. If you have any dpoubts as too how long the meal was internal before exiting wait at least 2 weeks. The reasoning behind this is that if the meal made it to the stomach and digestion had started, the likelyhood of digestive fluids getting into the esophogus and mouth is high, and it could have slightly burned either of those organs.

I hope that wasn't too confusing, and helped some,

Thanks muddoc (and all of you others as well of course) for some great advice.

Would you say that one of the snakes was going in to shed would be a contributing factor for it to regurge?

I thought regurging snakes was kind of rare, if cared for properly, but you make it sound semi-common, clarification on this part please?

The food items was in their system for 15-20 hours maxmimum, also possible that they regurged it alot earlier. I offered at night and then left them alone until the afternoon the following day, so I can't say for sure. Is it likely that they will do this again?

Thanks
-D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doxster

Thanks muddoc (and all of you others as well of course) for some great advice.

Would you say that one of the snakes was going in to shed would be a contributing factor for it to regurge?

I thought regurging snakes was kind of rare, if cared for properly, but you make it sound semi-common, clarification on this part please?
The food items was in their system for 15-20 hours maxmimum, also possible that they regurged it alot earlier. I offered at night and then left them alone until the afternoon the following day, so I can't say for sure. Is it likely that they will do this again?

Thanks
-D

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I don't want to scare anyone, as this is NOT COMMON. I kept Ball Pythons for 4 years before it ever happened to me. It seems to happen a bit more often now, but I attribute that to having more individual feedings in a month. I have in the neighborhood of 350 ball pythons right now, so that is about 1500 feedings a month. That means that more opportunities are available to see this type of thing. I think to the average person that has between 1 and 30 Ball Pythons, it is still probably a pretty rare occurance.

Alright fair enough.

I guess I'll leave them be for 2 weeks and keep an eye on them for a while.

Thanks everyone for the help.
-D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by muddoc

I don't want to scare anyone, as this is NOT COMMON. I kept Ball Pythons for 4 years before it ever happened to me. It seems to happen a bit more often now, but I attribute that to having more individual feedings in a month. I have in the neighborhood of 350 ball pythons right now, so that is about 1500 feedings a month. That means that more opportunities are available to see this type of thing. I think to the average person that has between 1 and 30 Ball Pythons, it is still probably a pretty rare occurance.

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yeah, this type of thing is pretty serious. i would suggest quarentining the two animals untill they are better, if there is a parasite you don't want it to ruin your entire collection. TWO in the same day. i wouldn't chance it.

I was wondering if a breeding male might regurge a meal??? A regurge like Tim was talking about.. Takes the rat and then an hour later has regurged..??

Alan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grunt_11b

I was wondering if a breeding male might regurge a meal??? A regurge like Tim was talking about.. Takes the rat and then an hour later has regurged..??

Alan

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I don't know about that, but I can tell you that last year, I put a very aggressive male in with a female that ate the day before, and after he threw her around the tub a couple times, she regurged. Needless to say, I give them at least 24 hours after eating before introducing a male now.

Question here. I have never had a regurge with my Ball and have a question.
Here is the rundown. Fed on Sat evening. as always she ate with no problem. Last night she was out and about in the viv and notived as I walked by that there was something in her water dish. It looked like a nasty jumble of fur. There was no odor per-se to it - definately not the described smell of decay that everyone states. Was this just the by products that she pooped out? Generally she defacates and it looks like a dog/cat/etc turd?
Would that have been a regurge 3 day after the fact and with no smell??

Thanks for that it makes sdense I am a new snake owner and I was looking for an answere to my snale regurge This website is great and so helpful!!!!!!

If anything , anything at all, other than the regurge seems out of place...VET. I lost a corn once. First sign was a regurge. If I had gotten her to a vet sooner, she may still be alive. Her temps, humidity, and all other care was perfect. Her only other sign- lethargy.

Not trying to panic you, but it can be a sign of a much more serious problem.

To address how uncommon regurges are (and also not to scare you) but I've kept snakes for almost 5 years now. We have at present just under 50 snakes from three different species. I've seen a total of 2 regurges in all that time and with all those feedings. One I suspect was due to feeding too soon after a tub change and with a snake I knew tended to be antsy and stressed easily to begin with. Big mistake on my part and it was months until I got her properly settled back in. The other I'm not sure why the regurge happened and it never did again.

I have a few that if bothered at all during the swallowing process will back the prey out of their throat fast and then ignore it completely. You learn to feed those ones last and tiptoe around a LOT in the snake room. :rolleyes:

As everyone else stated, I don't want to alarm you... We just want you to have as much info as possibe :D

But my boy Rogue regurgitated twice so I brought him to the vet.. I thought he had an RI but he had a gastro intestinal infection which is what caused him to regurge.

Not a huge deal really. The vet cost me $45 the antibiotics cost $10 and he has kept one down since then and doing pretty well on the antibiotic. No reason at all to think he won't be back to %100 in a few weeks.

Good luck. I hope it's nothing.