I am so stressed out right now...

[HighVoltageRoyals]

Hey all:

Been a while since I've been on here but I'm looking for some advice because I'm severely stressed out about a situation involving my herps.

On 11/08, I sold a 2013 1.0 Lesser baby to someone local (we met at a public location and exchanged). He was buying the Lesser as a gift to his girlfriend for her birthday (nothing better than a new snake for your birthday!)

I told him the baby had had at least 5 meals and had never been a problem feeder and that the last feeding was on 11/06 and that I was feeding adult live mice to all my hatchlings and they were slamming them down with ease.

So here we sit today: I just got a text from the girlfriend (new owner) that the Lesser boy has regurgitated. After asking the normal questions you do when encountered with this sort of problem, here's a quick overview of what she told me:

- They're keeping him in a 5 gallon glass tank (I keep all my snakes in a rack system)
- Tank setup is as follows: hide on warm side, water bowl on cool side, aspen shavings, branch across the cage, small uth
- She gave him a f/t adult mouse - not a live one like I had been offering
- She fed him in his enclosure and he went to his warm hide spot after eating (so she didn't disturb him)
- She fed him Wednesday evening (11/13) and he regurgitated Thursday afternoon (11/14)
- She owns other balls and has never had a regurge.

I'm at a complete loss. He was completely copacetic before he left my home and all of his brothers and sisters are doing completely fine as well. The only possible thing I can think of is she either tried to feed him too early, was handling him too much during the "de-stress week", his enclosure isn't correctly set up or the mouse that she fed him wasn't thawed properly.

I recommended that she move him to a 10 gallon, cover up all the sides (except one) with card stock or some thick paper, provide two hides, one on each side of the tank, add some foliage and leave him alone for 1.5-2 weeks. Absolutely NO handling or disturbing, unless changing water or spot cleaning and then when 1.5-2 weeks is up, feed him a LIVE small adult mouse.

Where should I go from here? What if he dies in her care (I read that sometimes death occurs with regurgitation)? I'm completely stressed out and having a panic attack. I'm just at a complete loss and hope that he is going to be okay.

Also, forgot to mention: she wasn't able to give me temps because she was at work at the time so no temps as of yet but she said she would give them to me when she got home. I know that sometimes BPs will regurge if the temps are too low...

Any opinions, advice or assistance would be GREATLY appreciated....

[satomi325]

Relax. We're here to support you!

Most regurges have to do with stress, improper temps, or improperly thawed out feeder.
Your advice sounds good. I'd wait to hear what her temps are.

And tell her not to feed him for another 2 weeks. He needs time to replenish his gut flora.
Not to mention feed him something slightly smaller than normal. A hopper perhaps.