Regurgitation Worry

[Madburnit]

Hello! So I have a male Ball Python (Edwin), and he eats every Wednesday night. I have him on one weanling a week and he has done fine until tonight. I'm kind of freaking. I offered him the rat, he had a beautiful curl when he took it. Gave him some space, checked in, and he had it almost down all the way. Gave him more space, come back and it looks like the rat is back in his enclosure with him, and he is trying to eat it again. I was so confused. I'm still confused as to what may have caused this. My poor little guy looked so unhappy, his jaw seemed offset, and his pupils were dilated. I removed the rat from the enclosure because it was now covered in the substrate. The only thing that has changed for him as of recently is his substrate. He was previously on paper towel. I switched him maybe three days ago to a mix of eco earth and forest floor. He did great on it, and spot cleaning was a breeze. I'm not sure if the substrate through him off, but I'm really quite concerned now. His temps in his bin are always perfect (cold side= 77-78, hot side 87-88,89), although with his new substrate his humidity has been around 60%, and I have been trying to monitor that since it's on the higher end of things. Right now he is out of his hides and chilling flicking his tongue, he seems active (almost actively searching for more food or something since he's more of a hider), and his jaw looks normal again. I just want to know what I did wrong to cause this since I try to keep everything super perfect for him. I want to prevent this from happening again. Also, is there anything I can do for him now to make things more comfortable for him?

Thanks!
Maddie & Edwin

[Sunnieskys]

Put a piecemofmpaper towel down. Warm it up again to 100 degrees and offer. He is searching and hungry. Put the rat on the paper towel and see how it goes.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

That is not a regurgitatiom, that simply your snake spitting his prey back out, 2 main issues that can lead to that: being disturbed or the prey being too big

[Joelgriz8124]

You feeding frozen thawed ?


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[Zincubus]

Put a piecemofmpaper towel down. Warm it up again to 100 degrees and offer. He is searching and hungry. Put the rat on the paper towel and see how it goes.

This ^^

I place a coupe of pieces of card down and feed over that to minimise substrate ingestion .... works great .

The hairdryer trick is also very effective .. feed evenings of course.


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[Madburnit]

Okay, these are all great tips. I'm sorry, i'm a new owner (obviously). I do feed frozen thawed to answer your question.

[Sgt7212]

Okay, these are all great tips. I'm sorry, i'm a new owner (obviously). I do feed frozen thawed to answer your question.

We all start somewhere. Don't sweat it.

To Deborah's points.

1) How much does Edwin weigh and what size are the weanling rats you are feeding him?

There is a feeding chart somewhere on the forum you can use as a guide. I think it is stickied.

If you don't have one yet, get a digital scale that measures in grams. You can find them on Amazon as either kitchen or postal scales. I even picked mine up locally at Staples.

Weigh Edwin after he poops and follow the chart.

If you are getting your frozen thawed from a local store, the weights can vary wildly. For that reason I grabbed a 2nd smaller scale that stays in my car.

For example at Petco, which gets their F/T from Gourmet Rodent, the ones marked as "Small rats" weighed anywhere from 39g - 94g (yes, I weighed every one they had, that night and I didn't care that the kid working that department stood there watching me in shock/disbelief)

If you order in bulk from some place like Perfect Prey, I've found the weights to be a bit more consistent.

2) If the prey was appropriately sized, then he may have just gotten disturbed and decided to abort.

Try to make sure you are feeding him at night. Dim lighting and quiet surroundings help.

Make sure the prey item is properly defrosted. I think normal body temperature for a live rat/mouse is around 96-102. Give the head of the rat a quick hit with a hair dryer and then offer.

Always slow and smooth but deliberate movements around him.

Once he takes the food leave him alone and do not disturb him. They are in a vulnerable position while feeding and any little thing can startle them and cause them to abort.

[Zincubus]

Okay, these are all great tips. I'm sorry, i'm a new owner (obviously). I do feed frozen thawed to answer your question.

Everything will be fine , just keep
making progress .




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[Madburnit]

Sorry for the late update on Edwin, but he weighs 370grams! I weighed him a day or two ago. I had placed the paper down and he had ate successfully consumed a rat on that not last week but the week before. This past week I tried the same tactic, and he has had no interest in food. He just checks it out, sniffs, and cowers from it. I just imagine he is shy, but the other times he has eaten in the past he would show interest, and just take it. It seems like I have to put on a dead rat play every time I feed him, and the shows not working for him that well anymore lol. I will try to feed him again tomorrow afternoon. I try to make it as quite and dark as possible. Im considering removing him from his container and doing the whole box feeding thing. I know its controversial, but I want him to keep eating. What say you guys?

[bcr229]

I wouldn't move him. There are a lot of reasons these guys can go off of food, including not hungry and going into shed. Since he's slowing down eating on his own I would back him down to an every 10 day schedule.