Regurge Questiones

[Doxster]

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

[Mr. Constrictor]

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.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

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?

[Icatsme]

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.

[Doxster]

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

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

[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.

[muddoc]

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?

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

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.

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,

[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

[muddoc]

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

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.

[Doxster]

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