You MUST take care of what is actually causing the snake to regurgitate FIRST!!......you are in essence poisoning the snake to death by continually offering it food thinking this is helping. It is the exact opposite in all reality until the problem itself is addressed.

First,….DO NOT attempt to feed it more meals until it has been looked at by a competent vet and treated, I strongly suspect it has some very nasty intestinal bacteria going on from the putrid previous meals it could never digest because of your temperature being too cool, and/or the meals too large to be digested within those given temps. This can also happen from the water being fouled as well.

Yes, Andean's prefer slightly cooler temps than some others, but they still do best if allowed to thermoregulate with about a quarter to a third of their cage bottom surface to be in the mid 80's where it's belly actually makes contact so it can properly digest, then the rest of the enclosures ambient tems are good in the mid 70's. Do not guess at these temps either, as they should be closely monitored with an accurate thermometer or temp probe. The warm side directly at the enclosure floor SURFACE, and the opposite end towards the bottom ambient air temp. I would bet a two-dose regimen of Flagyl(metronidazole) could EASILY be all that is needed here. This will kill any bad protozoa and many bacterial pathogens, as WELL as the GOOD bacteria that is needed for proper digestion, so STOP offering it any food until the snake has been looked at and treated. Feeding at this point will only lead to more regurges and a DEFINITE downward spiral that will end up killing it for sure!. Offering food at this point is the very WORST thing you could do right now until you tackle the intestinal problem going on ASAP!.

Hopefully the vet will know the proper course of action, but MANY vets don't know diddly squat about reptile medicine whatsoever. The snake should get a dose of of Flagyl at the rate of 50 mg./per kg. of body weight given orally, and another follow-up dose 10 to 14 days later. NO FOOD should be offered until at LEAST a good week or so AFTER the last dose so the snake can replenish it's vital acids, electrolytes, enzymes and gut flora before being fed again. And when it IS fed again, they should be very small meals for a while to make certain they stay down and are digested properly, you cannot afford for this to happen any more whatsoever.

After several VERY small meals, you could GRADUALLY increase the size back to normal, just make sure you don't offer large meals initially that will only makes it tough on the snake's system. Again, the snake CANNOT afford any more regurgitations!

Sometimes snakes start this from fouled water too, or even in conjunction with temps that are too cool to properly digest. I would bet a dollar to a donut some Flagyl at the proper dosing will take care of this. Flagyl is very reptile friendly too, and I have administered this a few times over the years with phenomenal success. Others that have also followed this advice to the letter have later told me this literally saved the lives of their snakes too that were right on deaths doorstep because of this very same thing.

After this happening over and over again, your snake is on it's last leg, so it living or dying is all up to you with paying close attention to every single one of these details I mentioned.

Right now, I would get a setup ready that has a far warm end floor temp of about 84 so it's natural metabolism can be raised a bit more to help fight the bacteria while you make an appointment to get treated at the vet.

I would also print this out to show the vet what to do in case he/she seems inexperienced with this. Many will act like they know about reptiles, but go into the back room and look at a book for advice on a certain problem.

A fecal floatation and Flagyl (Metronidazole) treatment, or maybe even a Panacur trewatment depending on what is found will likely save your snakes life if you take action pronto! I have seen this medication work like magic in the past with on-going
regurgitations.

best of luck, I hope the snake pulls through.


cheers, ~Doug


-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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