Anapsid?Originally Posted by LivingwithBalls
No.
A couple of things:
Regurging is different than vomiting. Vomiting involves digestion, regurgitation does not. This is an important distinction when trying to diagnose what is wrong with your snake. A regurge is a less traumatic event.
Regurges are often caused by the snake reacting to a stressful situation....ie: a snake divesting itself of a recently consumed meal if a fight or flight instinct is triggered.
Vomiting happens when the prey is undergoing digestion...maybe a day or so into the process. The causes of this may be varied - from actual illness to improper husbandry practices. The biological imperatives of regurging and vomiting are vastly different. Regurges are of little physical consequence to the snake and provide an advantage when dealing with fight or flight situations. Vomiting is a physically traumatic event and is triggered by the inability to physically digest a meal... either because of reduced biological function or a physical issue with the animal.
As for the meal being too large....I don't think so. Balls can consume some very large prey with respect to the percentage of their body weight. It is a common misconception with a grain of truth that you can feed them too large a meal to digest. Balls can and sometimes do ingest meals that they cannot digest, but the meal you described was about 19% of his body weight...well within his wheel house.
What's wrong with your snake? I don't know. Add some Benebac to his water, wait at least two weeks and try feeding him a prey item that is about 8 to 10 percent of his body weight. Keep his stress levels low and make sure your husbandry parameters are spot on. If he cannot handle the next meal, then there are a whole host of issues that could cause it. A qualified reptile vet should be consulted at that point.
Reply With Quote