Regurgitated Mouse

[TB2Blazer]

Well my new BP ate its first mouse on monday afternoon and regurgitated it in the water dish sometime last night. I have no idea whats wrong. The basking area is right around 85-90 and the cool side stays at about 78-81 it has plenty of water (middle of tank) a nice hide that it never comes out of (basking side) with repti-bark substrate and a climb. I haven't so much as touched him in the last 5 days I have had him. He has gone to the "bathroom" twice and the feces looked fine. I have three temp guages (one right next to the hide 1" above substrate, one on cool side 1"above substrate, and one in the middle on the front) two being the ones with the needle and the other is digital. I have a 100 watt black night light that stays on 24/7 to keep temps up to par and a heating pad if I need it. Does anyone have any idea how I can make it more comfortable/easy for the snake. Can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong. This is the second one I have had that has done this. This is killing me I just want my snake to be ok.

[Marla]

Which is the digital one, and is the one "in the middle" on top of the substrate or up in the air like the other two? Have you checked the accuracy of your analog gauges by comparison with the digital one? They're rarely right, which means your surface temps could easily be anywhere from 70F-100F and could be contributing to the regurge. Why is there only one hide, and what is it? Was the mouse live, p/k, or f/t? If p/k or f/t, what did you do to make sure the temp was right, if anything? If live, was it a stressful feeding?

Definitely give your snake's digestive system time to recuperate before trying to feed again, and preferably make sure that your temps and humidity are right and that the snake doesn't have to choose between security and thermoregulation.

[firedragon]

If he's from a pet store, you should take him to the vet and make sure he hasn't got parasites, they could be the reason. Or maybe you could make the warm side just a little warmer, I keep mine at around 95. You could also put in a few more hides, one isn't enough. Maybe when he was digesting he didn't want to move from his one hide when he would have needed a lower temp? The analog thermometers aren't very accurate, make sure the temps are right with the digital (move it around the tank, or just get another one, maybe the Wal Mart one that everybody's recommending, with a probe and a humidity measurer as well). And measure the temp just on top of the substrate, that's where your snake's lying anyway. If I understood correctly, you're not using the heat pad? You should, because your snake will definitely prefer belly heat to bulb heat. Hope things work out!

[sophie42204]

I second that, I would use the heating pad as the primary source for heat and the lamp for supplemental heat when needed.

[TB2Blazer]

I have one analog just to the left of the hide about 1" from the substrate and about three inches from the hide, one digital about five inches from the hide and about 1/4" above the substrate and another analog on the opposite side about 1" above the substrate. The digital is usually only about two or three degrees different from the analog ones. The hide is one of the brick red terra cotta rock-like hides I bought from petsmart. The mouse was live but only because I just got it and the woman I bought it from (Silke @ wildthings in oakwood) was feeding it live and I thought I would just feed it the first one live so that it wouldn't be too different but switch to f/t when it got used to the cage setup. The feeding went fine I watched the whole thing the mouse sat in the cage for about ten minutes then the snake saw it from its hide lunged out of the hide grabbed it and wrapped it up and swallowed it no problem.

[Marla]

I understand your feeding live to get started because Silke had been feeding live. It's just that sometimes the feeding itself seems to cause the regurge, but it sounds as if that's not the case here. It could be a case of feeding before the snake is settled in, but usually that will result in refusal rather than regurge.

The big problems I see with this setup are
1) Only one hide (though it sounds like a perfectly good one) = no way to thermoregulate and feel secure/safe. You can buy a piece or two of pvc pipe, ell, or join, or a coconut fiber hanging basket liner, or a clay pot, or a wooden salad bowl, or make a hide from clay or stone or what have you, and have at least one more hide on the opposite side for thermoregulation to facilitate digestion.

2) You don't know the actual surface temps in the enclosure and aren't going to know as long as that's the kind of equipment you have and the way it's set up. The snake spends most of its time on top of the substrate and that's where your measurements need to be taken.

Fortunately, both of those problems are very easy to fix, and pretty inexpensive to boot.

[TB2Blazer]

Thanks everyone for everything this has been the most incredible fourm I have ever been a part of an appreciate all of the help from everyone.

[Marla]

Thanks for being part of the forum. We all learn from each other here. :

[hhw]

I haven't so much as touched him in the last 5 days I have had him. He has gone to the "bathroom" twice and the feces looked fine.

Defecating twice in 5 days sounds like a bit much. Usually, BP's only defecate once every few weeks; the most I've heard of from a healthy BP is once a week. If he defecates again in the next few days, I'd recommend having him checked out for parasites.

[elevatethis]

Seems 9 out of 10 regurge cases are end up as "i took a stool sample to the vet and he has parasites."

The good news is that parasites are pretty easy to get rid of via meds. A lot easier than getting rid of mites for example. If I were you, I would wait one normal interval to feed again (like if you feed every sunday, wait until next sunday to feed again.) Fix your temp situation and try again. If you get another regurge, you'll know its most likely parasites and you can make a trip to the vet. Good luck!