Fuzzy Stuck?

[Sarin]

I am no expert but I highly doubt it is the skin keeping the fuzzy from moving further down. It sounds to be like the food item is simply stuck and she seems to be in discomfort from how you are explaining her actions. I think it is time to look for a herp vet.

But please, feed her larger prey after this. A fuzzy mouse is not big enough for her. My 7 month old male BP eats prey five times that size every 5 days - to give you a better idea of what she should be eating.

[MitsuMike]

I am no expert but I highly doubt it is the skin keeping the fuzzy from moving further down. It sounds to be like the food item is simply stuck and she seems to be in discomfort from how you are explaining her actions. I think it is time to look for a herp vet.

But please, feed her larger prey after this. A fuzzy mouse is not big enough for her. My 7 month old male BP eats prey five times that size every 5 days - to give you a better idea of what she should be eating.

Yea I would have thought it woudn't go downn the snake would atleast regurge it or something.
And agreed on the feeding my 3 are only 5 months (oldest one) and getting down 5-6 times a fuzzy size.

[BPelizabeth]

I have to agree with the other person....it has nothing to do with the shed. I feed mine all the time while they are shedding and have not had any problems. This is a really weird thing and I have not read about anything like this before.

Ok...here are my thoughts. Someone mentioned one time that the nails on FT can be stronger and harder to digest than live. I would be concerned that maybe a claw somehow got hooked and she cannot get it down. I would say try to work it down as they do with an assist feed. But if something is stuck....you need NOT to be pushing on it. I would make an appt. with a vet ASAP.

The only other thing that I can think of is when you feed her in the other cage.....is there any type of substrate down that could of gotten into her mouth.

Either way....VET should be seen right away!! IMHO

[zantedeschia]

I had that happen once on a corn I had 10 years ago. He was acting hungry all the time so I upsized his prey. But it didn't go down to his stomach, you could see the lump was too high on his body. The next day he regurged. He escaped from his cage a couple days after that and I didn't recover him, so I can't tell you how mine turned out.

[angllady2]

I agree you should talk to a vet asap. If something did go wrong and the prey is stuck, it could start to rot in there and that will kill your snake!

I'm not sure why you are feeding her prey that is so small, perhaps on the incorrect recommendation of someone?

A pinky mouse { one with no hair} is MUCH to small for all but the tiniest ball babies. A fuzzy mouse { one with just a light coat of fuzz} is okay for newly hatched maybe, but after that any healthy ball should take a hopper mouse
{got all it's hair but eyes still closed usually}. By the time they are as old as yours, they should be eating a large adult mouse or fuzzy rat.

I'm not saying you intentionally underfed her, but that is what has happened. If you get her though this okay, I highly recommend slowly increasing the size of her prey until she's eating what she should be.

My 8 month old balls eat rat pups and weigh in at around 400 grams and are easily 30" long. I only feed them one rat every 5 days, but I believe they would take two if I let them. lol

I certainly hope for the sake of both your family and your snake you can get her over this quickly and easily.

Gale

[kc261]

a hopper mouse {got all it's hair but eyes still closed usually}.

Actually, most people seem to define a hopper mouse as one that has its eyes open, but is not yet old enough to wean.

I'm not comfortable with all the people recommending this snake be put on larger food. First, I think the bigger concern is what is wrong, resolving it, and if the snake will even survive. But more importantly, we all agree that this is HIGHLY unusual, and we really have NO idea how a BP could get a fuzzy mouse stuck in its throat. Yet you people think it should be fed something even bigger??

Maybe this snake has some sort of deformity that makes its esophagus (or the snakey equivalent if it isn't called that) very narrow. It may never be able to eat an adult mouse, but it might be able to do just fine on multiple fuzzies. Maybe this snake would already be dead if chance didn't put it in the hands of someone who gave it what would in most cases be too small meals. Maybe it has some sort of tumor, or a foreign object lodged in its throat, preventing the passage of the fuzzy. It might also just be a truly bizarre one time situation that will never repeat itself, and the snake could eat a small rat next week just fine. We don't know!

I don't think ANY additional food should be offered to this snake until it has seen a qualified herp vet, who hopefully will be able to figure out what is going on.

AFTER that, if the vet gives the ok, then I wholeheartedly agree that at least most 8 month old BPs should be eating prey items that are several times the size of a fuzzy mouse. I do think it is always a good idea, and especially in this unique case, to step up the prey size a little gradually.

[sg1trogdor]

If fuzzy mice are the same size as the animals largest width then theres something seriously wrong. I fed fuzzy rats to my hatchlings and those are twice as big as fuzzy mice. You need to bump up that feeding already. Pictures would help alot with this.

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

No one has said anything about the mouth being swollen and open a little.. I believe this warrents a vet visit to a vet. An exotics vet that has experience in snakes. Something is wrong and we cant tell you what it is.

It is true that an 8 month old which is that small is not the norm. I have an 8 month old which eats small rats weekly. The shed issue can be fixed with a soak but the fact still remains that something is wrong if the snake has its mouth open a little and you see swelling. As well as the mouse appearing to be stuck. Or it could be that the snake is sick and it only just now started showing signs.

Is there any mucus? Strange noises? Raspy, hissing, clicking?

Please take the best advice possible and get it to the vet. Make sure all husbandry, heat, hides, bedding, humidity, is correct. Post some pictures for us and keep us updated on her situation.

[The Rev]

Is she in a tank? If so, the humidity was probably to blame.
Its very hard to keep a steady humidity in tanks.

[BadMojo]

Okay, I've read through all the subsequent posts and I really appreciate all the information. Like someone said, I'm a little worried about the idea of feeding larger prey since a fuzzy is as large, if not larger, than the biggest part of her body. She's never looked too thin nor has she acted this lethargic before. She's always been active. Perhaps she's just a runt or unusually small for her age.

Here is a picture I took tonight after her soaking. Something just seems off about her neck area, like something has been dislocated or broken. When we pick her up to move her from the soaking container to her tank, she moves around but differently than she did before.

I'm of the mind, like others have noted, that this is coincidence and not related to the shedding. I'm leaning more to it being an issue with the fuzzy. Although she struck and, to my eye, swallowed it perfectly, I'm thinking something got hung on the way down. I can't imagine a fuzzy having anything extraordinarily hard to allow that, but at this point I can't seem to wrap my mind around anything else. Someone asked if her feeding area had any substrate that may have gotten lodged in her throat. The answer would be no. Her feeding area is always clear of substrate for that very reason. It was completely empty.

I appreciate the concerns expressed. My son isn't devastated, but he is very concerned. I, like others, hope she gets through this. I'll post as things progress. Hopefully we'll have a happy ending but my gut is telling me otherwise.

Thanks again.