My general rule of thumb is that one regurgitation is cause for minor concern, a second consecutive regurg and I do FULL fecals and blood work up on that animal to rule out crypto/paramyxovirus/etc. I would first see if you can have a vet look at this animal and isolate this animal from all of your others. Always work with sick animals last and pay close attention to sanitation protocols. Aside from that, check temps (gaboons, like some Bitis, are temperature sensitive), humidity and make sure the animal is properly hydrated. Also, I would cut back on how much you are feeding. I only feed my gaboons one appropriately sized prey item once a month or no more than once every three weeks; its possible you are overfeeding and some minor stresses in the environment are resulting in a regurgitated meal.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL


>>I have had a '04 female gaboon viper that has never refused a meal since I aquired her back in November but now all of the sudden she has regurgitated her last two meals. The first one happened while I was out of town so how long she actually keep it down is unknown. This last one was fed on 1/15 and I found it last night when I got home. She is around 36" long and gets fed one large rat every other week. My male, who is keep in the same rack has had no problems whatsoever. My initial thoughts were maybe the prey items were too large but the male is the same size and he handles them like a champ. Anyone out there have any ideas?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

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