Bp vomited. Advice/help

[Bec]

Our 6 year old rescue, Persephone, is the cause of our concern today. She's been on live her entire life, and when failed to switch to F/T, we picked her back up on live before she began loosing weight.

She is a healthy size, 1384 grams, and normally takes 2 adult mice from Petco.

On the 25th of May, this past Friday, she took her normal meal like a champ. Immediately struck at each mouse when given to her.

However, last night she vomited ONE of the TWO mice. I say vomit, not regurgitate, because it has been nearly a week and the movement came from her lower half.

We are taking her to the vet on Monday, because our regular is on vacation and no one else in a 75 mile radius has an exotic vet available before Wednesday.

Right after she threw up, we took her out of her tank and put her in a hospital tank. Large Rubbermaid, with a dish of water and nothing else. Heating pad and the small bathroom the tank is isolated in is kept at about 80 degrees. The vomited meal and a sample of stool have been frozen for Monday analysis.

Have we done the right thing so far for our baby? This is the first time we've had any of our rescues vomit, and we're worried, especially because she can't be seen until Monday.

Past experience? Any help, advice, or reassurance is welcomed.

[zina10]

Since she is on live food, she could have picked up parasites, so the Vet should do a fecal.

However, if you have frozen the samples, they won't be any good. They need to be refrigerated, not frozen. The vet may still be able to do a fecal, though.

Did you say the bathroom AND the tank is kept at 80 degrees ? If so, that is to low. Its a good ambient temp (say the bathroom should be at that) but the heating pad should run at 90 degrees, so she can get to a warmer spot.

What temps are you usually keeping her at? Did anything change? Any temp fluctuations? Does she have hides in both cool and warm end?

[Bogertophis]

How long have you had her? It's always possible that one mouse got hold of (ate) something unusual, & as she digested it, her stomach said 'nope!'
(for example, if it managed to chew off some plastic from a cage, or was fed dog kibble when the source ran out of rodent chow...stuff happens?)

I agree it's a cause for concern though, I hope she's OK. (& I agree on the 'fecal') It's weird that she only vomited ONE mouse...was there a delay in
her taking the second one? That suggests either insufficient digestive enzymes to digest them both, or possibly the temperatures were too low.
Please do keep us posted.

[bcr229]

Some parasites - or what's left of them - can still be seen in a fecal exam even if the sample was frozen. It's internal organs that can't be successfully checked in a necropsy because freezing causes cellular decay.

How long have you had this critter?

[zina10]

Some parasites - or what's left of them - can still be seen in a fecal exam even if the sample was frozen. It's internal organs that can't be successfully checked in a necropsy because freezing causes cellular decay.

How long have you had this critter?

Didn't know that. My Vet was always adamant that stool for parasite check had to be no older then a day old, 2 days if refrigerated and never, ever frozen. He said it can lead to a false negative.

I would simply tell the Vet sample was frozen and several days old, and go from there. To make sure they know and possibly check in other ways as well..

[Lord Sorril]

Our 6 year old rescue...Any help, advice, or reassurance is welcomed.

I would take any 'Rescued' Animal to an experienced Vet first (consider it part of the cost).
If you bought the snake from a reputable breeder-that is a different story.

[bcr229]

Didn't know that. My Vet was always adamant that stool for parasite check had to be no older then a day old, 2 days if refrigerated and never, ever frozen. He said it can lead to a false negative.

I would simply tell the Vet sample was frozen and several days old, and go from there. To make sure they know and possibly check in other ways as well..

Yeah that's why I said some. A frozen tapeworm is still going to look like a tapeworm. OTOH some of the protozoan parasites may not be visible in a test.

[Bec]

Her heating pad runs about 10-15 higher than the ambient. Her regular tank is kept 85-90, with a heating pad on one side and cool side at the other. Hides at both, though she prefers to lay on top out on the cool side. The hospital tank is a bit different since it's in a closed off room so our cats can't bother her.

She has had the same set up since we took her in back in November, and this is the first this has happened.

[Bec]

We took her in back in November and she had a checkup in January, our exotic vet said she was healthy and addressed the feeding issues. "Keep trying f/t, but if she won't take, go back to live before she looses any weight" which we did.

Should I take the sample out of the freezer? Or will it not matter?

[zina10]

We took her in back in November and she had a checkup in January, our exotic vet said she was healthy and addressed the feeding issues. "Keep trying f/t, but if she won't take, go back to live before she looses any weight" which we did.

Should I take the sample out of the freezer? Or will it not matter?

Take the sample with you but make sure you tell the vet it was frozen for a few days. A false negative won't help you any...
My vet was able to get some fresh matter directly from the snake with a qtip.


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