snake pukes, should I be worried?

[English-bulldog]

temp is 83-85F.

kept pretty humid.

I fed it a large mouse, and it is about 20" long.


My rattle snake puked up mice many times, so I am not too worried.(i got her from about 12", she is now 4', the snake has always been fine)

But...

My burmese pythons have never puked on me.

So, what do you think?

Oh, the mouse was <slightly> larger than the thickest part of the snake.

[Animals As Leaders]

Its happened to me. One time it just swallowed half way and puked up, and other puked it up after it swallowed the whole thing. To this day I don't know what caused it.

[ed4281]

Is it a BP that regurgitated, if so it's most likely due to your temps. BP's need a hot spot of around 90-95 in order to digest their food. Also, I would have a fecal sample checked to rule out parasites, check out the care sheet section in the forums they are very informative.

Rattle snakes are an indigenous species and require lower temps so the 80-85 is great for them but not so much for a ball python.

Good luck, get those temps up and wait a week or 2 before attempting to feed again.

[English-bulldog]

Thanks guys, forgive the title, this is the first time it has puked since I got it.

The snake kept it down since the 24th, only the back part of the mouse was not turned to mush, the entire 3/4 of the front of the mouse was gone (seemed like a little piece was held together by some skin, that was about it).

[English-bulldog]

Hmm, I've been reading...

It seems as if a large mouse may have been too big.

Looks like I am going to have to get some med frozen mice.

[Lolo76]

Do you know how much your snake weighs? If not, buy yourself a cheap digital scale (like $15-25) and weigh him... then weigh the prey, and it should be around 10-15% of the snake's weight.

[Lolo76]

P.S. The "rule of thumb" I mentioned above is only really applicable for juvies & young adults... once a BP is over maybe 1000g, you can just stop at small rats. They don't need anything bigger than that!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First there is a difference between an animal spitting a prey back out immediately and a regurgitation, in this case it is a regurgitation which means it need to be addressed as it can become a serious issue.

First do not feed your BP for the next two weeks (this is part of the recovery)

Next regurgitation can be due for several reason

Stress, over-sized prey, low temps, not properly thawed feeder (if fed f/t), and internal parasites.

If the animal regurgitate again at the next feeding (2 weeks from this one) I would highly suggest to get the animal to a vet and have a fecal done.