Please help! Baby snake regurgitated!

[donutsdad]

My baby snake, Donut, currently weighs 50 grams and she has just regurgitated. She seemed to be digesting just fine for about 48 hours, but she just spit out a solid, whole rat that looks almost identical to how it looked when I first thawed it.

I have read that after regurgitation, snakes should not be fed for 2 weeks, however, this is cause for concern since she is very young and has not eaten for 2 weeks already. At this point in time, is it viable to have my snake go 4 weeks without food? Should I contact a vet?

Here are some details:

I purchased her on 11/18/18 (from a Petsmart). At the time, she was 4–12 weeks old.
She was last fed on 11/15/18. I fed her a medium-sized mouse on 11/25/18.
The girth of the mouse was roughly the same girth as the thickest part of Donut's body, possibly a bit bigger.

I have moved her someone frequently between two different setups since I read that it can be good practice to feed ball pythons in a separate feeding container.

Her primary housing is a 20-gal terrarium that I kept at a gradient of 96/88 warm and 77/71 cool with a humidity that fluctuated between 40-80%. It's been very difficult to maintain humidity conditions since the terrarium has an open mesh top, and the humidity in my city and room has been fluctuating between 5%–89%.

The feeding container we used was a 6qt sterilite plastic container. I kept her in there for the first 24 hours of feeding and then moved her to the 20-gal terrarium since it had a warmer temperature.
After another 24 hours, I came home from work and checked in on her before eating dinner. When I returned from dinner, she had regurgitated the rat she had eaten two days ago.

I have since adapted the feeding container to serve as a more permanent housing solution. I sterilized and rinsed the 6qt sterilite with rubbing alcohol, filled it with about 3 inches of aspen shavings, added a 6"x4" hide and a small water bowl and attached a UTH to the bottom. At the warmest temperature, the thermostat gave me a reading of 102 degrees. The ambient temperature at the center of the tub reads 75.6. The humidity currently reads 99%.

My current plan is to leave her be for the next 2 weeks in the sterilite pretty much undisturbed in a mostly dark area of my room before attempting to feed her again, at which point in time, I will probably feed her a smaller mouse, possibly a live one.

Any advice or further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Bogertophis]

As this is under 'general herps', what kind of snake are you talking about? a BP? (we have all kinds of snakes here)

Do not feed any snake in a separate container/cage...feed them where they live so you aren't handling them before & after eating. Doing so promotes them
biting you while in "feed mode"- ie. many snakes stay pumped up for hours to even a day+ after eating & will bite anything warm & wiggling, & handling them
after a meal can make them regurgitate. Whatever you read that suggested feeding in a different cage, kindly disregard & read the care guides here. It's wrong.

Your temperatures need some work...the high should not be over 92* and the lows are too cool, which is MOST likely why your snake regurgitated. She probably
avoided the excessively-heated area (which is good because snakes get injured this way!) but then the cool side was too low for her digestion to occur.

I see no reason to run to the vet right now: when a snake regurgitates, it takes time for them to replenish their digestive enzymes. Feeding too soon after will
just get you another regurgitation & snakes can actually die after just a couple times, from dehydration & stress on their body. So let her rest & get her cage
properly adjusted in the meantime.

Please do NOT switch to a live rodent after feeding pre-killed...your snake can get injured & then you WILL need the vet, but I'd rather you prevent that whole
scene. Do feed a smaller rodent next time. (is it possible the rat you fed was also too big? that too makes digestion more difficult) And yes, your snake can go
without food for 4 weeks...make sure she has plenty of fresh water though. There are various ways to raise the humidity in your cage, but it's late...that will
keep until morning.

[Craiga 01453]

Ok, a few things....your temps are way off. 90 should be your max and 75 should be the ABSOLUTE lowest, but low 80s is preferred. The low temps likely contributed to the regurge, along with the stress of moving around so much.
VERY IMPORTANT: ARE YOUR HEAT SOURCES REGULATED BY A THERMOSTAT???

Second, using a seperate feeding tub is old school and proven counter productive.
By using a seperate feeding tub you are:
A) increasing the likelihood of the snake refusing food since it may be stressed from being moved
B) increasing the odds of a regurgitation, since the animal needs to be moved after eating.
C) increasing your odds of being bitten, since the snake will remain in "feed mode" after eating.

There simply is zero benefit to using a seperate feeding tub.

Lastly, moving the animal between two enclosures is adding stress to your snake. Just let it be. Focus on getting your husbandry right since it's all over the place. Leave your snake to acclimate.

No handling until the snake has eaten three consecutive meals without refusal (or regurge).

So now you want to wait at LEAST two weeks before offering food again (your snake will be fine). When you do offer, offer smaller prey for the first few meals.

I can't stress this part enough: get your husbandry dialed in and leave the snake alone, NO HANDLING (you have 25+years to handle your snake if you get things going properly).

Feed INSIDE the enclosure. And since the snake is already accepting F/T prey, don't offer live, it'll likely be counter productive and may make it tough to switch back.

Ask all the questions you may have, we're happy to help.

Read, read, read and read some more. The more we know about our pets the better we can care for them.

[bcr229]

In addition to the above, I would suggest purchasing some NutriBAC reptile probiotic. You can find it on Amazon. It's a powder, just dust a tiny pinch of it on a damp f/t feeder to help replenish your snake's gut flora after a regurge or course of antibiotic treatment.

When you do offer food again it should be a tiny feeder, something like a damp f/t mouse fuzzy dusted with NutriBAC.

Then wait two weeks before feeding again, and offer another damp f/t mouse fuzzy dusted with NutriBAC.

If all goes well you can slowly start increasing feeder size and decreasing the time between feedings. I would not feed more often than every seven days though.

All that said, if your snake regurges again take it to a vet that specializes in exotics and have it checked for parasites.

[Cheesenugget]

Medium mouse seems kind of big for a 50 or so grams baby? Mine was eating hoppers at the time of purchase and he was about 70-75 grams. Then after I got my little guy eating, I went up to small mouse and go from there.

[donutsdad]

I am raising a ball python.
I will copy paste and move this message to the appropriate category.

[donutsdad]

My baby snake, Donut, currently weighs 50 grams and she has just regurgitated. She seemed to be digesting just fine for about 48 hours, but she just spit out a solid, whole rat that looks almost identical to how it looked when I first thawed it.

I have read that after regurgitation, snakes should not be fed for 2 weeks, however, this is cause for concern since she is very young and has not eaten for 2 weeks already. At this point in time, is it viable to have my snake go 4 weeks without food? Should I contact a vet?

Here are some details:

I purchased her on 11/18/18 (from a Petsmart). At the time, she was 4–12 weeks old.
She was last fed on 11/15/18. I fed her a medium-sized mouse on 11/25/18.
The girth of the mouse was roughly the same girth as the thickest part of Donut's body, possibly a bit bigger.

I have moved her someone frequently between two different setups since I read that it can be good practice to feed ball pythons in a separate feeding container.

Her primary housing is a 20-gal terrarium that I kept at a gradient of 96/88 warm and 77/71 cool with a humidity that fluctuated between 40-80%. It's been very difficult to maintain humidity conditions since the terrarium has an open mesh top, and the humidity in my city and room has been fluctuating between 5%–89%.

The feeding container we used was a 6qt sterilite plastic container. I kept her in there for the first 24 hours of feeding and then moved her to the 20-gal terrarium since it had a warmer temperature.
After another 24 hours, I came home from work and checked in on her before eating dinner. When I returned from dinner, she had regurgitated the rat she had eaten two days ago.

I have since adapted the feeding container to serve as a more permanent housing solution. I sterilized and rinsed the 6qt sterilite with rubbing alcohol, filled it with about 3 inches of aspen shavings, added a 6"x4" hide and a small water bowl and attached a UTH to the bottom. At the warmest temperature, the thermostat gave me a reading of 102 degrees. The ambient temperature at the center of the tub reads 75.6. The humidity currently reads 99%.

My current plan is to leave her be for the next 2 weeks in the sterilite pretty much undisturbed in a mostly dark area of my room before attempting to feed her again, at which point in time, I will probably feed her a smaller mouse, possibly a live one.

Any advice or further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Bogertophis]

I am raising a ball python.
I will copy paste and move this message to the appropriate category.

I think perhaps a mod should have taken care of that, now there's 2 threads, one a zombie.

[Danger noodles]

U need a thermostat on the uth!! Three inches of aspen is way to much. I’m sure an expert will chime in but those fluctuations in temp and humidity is not good. I also don’t condone feeding ball pythons in a feeding tub. 100% unnecessary. Most people do it so they don’t get bit as a feeding response. But I’ve never been but by a ball python of my own. U learn to read them really quick

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Well first it is very important not too feed for two weeks even if its is a young animal, if you do not and the animal regurgitate again, it can lead to death.

Now I will address what are the possible cause of regurgitation.

Stress

Improper temps

Internal parasites

Right now wait two weeks feed again and if this happens again take the animal to a vet and have a fecal done.

In the meantime there are a lot of things going on here with your setup that are wrong as well as the way you feed.

First you do not feed in another tub or enclosure, that's for 2 reasons, first it can cause enough stress that the animal would fail to eat (especially with BP), second as snake is in feeding mode hours before to hours after being fed, putting you are great risk to get tagged.

Do you know what the core temps of you BP was inside the tub that was inside the enclosure? If it was not in the mid 80's this could very well be your issue.

Second your temperatures they are all out of whack and this will lead to issue BP's needs have to be met to a T unlike other species they are not very forgiven when it comes to husbandry issue not too mention that right now you are not meeting those needs at all.

Your temps MUST be as stable as possible with a fluctuation of 1 or 2 degrees at the most.

77/71 cool

Proper temps on the cool size MUST be over 75 (ideally 76/78)

96/88 warm

Proper temps on the warm side should be around 86/88, 96 is WAY TOO HOT for this species

the thermostat gave me a reading of 102 degrees.

A thermostat control the temps a thermometer reads the temps so which one do you have???

If your temps are 102 you are getting to have an animal at risk for neurological issues.

What type of thermometer do you have digital of analogue gauges?

DO you have a thermostat?