Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yes, unfortunately one of our snakes did regurge. They were both fine all night and then when we went out to check on them in the morning we found a nice little present, a pinkie mouse fully intact on top of our substrate.

After freaking out for a while, we decided on this course of action. I'd love to hear advice from everyone about our ideas.

First we decided not to get too upset by it yet. It was the first feeding and it's our first snakes and although we tried to do everything right somethings can go wrong.

We're waiting a full ten days before we feed again. Our snakes have been put in seperate tanks, and we're watching the temperatures closely.

We're not sure why the regurge happened. We were very careful that there was no loud music being played and the snakes were left alone for the time they were eating. They kept their food down for a minimum of 8 hours (at which point we went to bed) before the regurge happened. There wasn't any noise to freak them out since we were all asleep. So we started thinking of other reasons why it happened. We've decided to go buy another thermometer to stick towards the bottom of the tank so we can more accurately see the kinds of temperatures they're getting. We have a heat pad on the bottom of our tanks, but we're wondering if we should also get a heat lamp. We've heard so many different opinions on this it's hard to make a decision.

We were heartbroken today to hear that our snakes are probably malnutritioned. One of the breeders at the reptile expo we went to today told us that pet stores frequently keep the snakes small, and they are often being fed very poorly. We know that both our snakes were eating legs of fuzzies, and we thought that was strange, but at the same time we were very emotionally attached to these snakes and they seemed active and friendly and strong when we picked them up. We're hoping that this experience doesn't lead to the end of our snakes.

We're wondering if the reason our snake regurged was because his food was too big. I know that sounds unusual considering we were giving him a newborn pinkie mouse, but considering his diet before was legs, it seems somewhat plausible. It took him 15 minutes to get the mouse in his mouth completely, and took him a very long time (probably 20 minutes or so) to get through to the middle of his body. He seemed alright though, quite active at first before resting curled up on his warm spot. I guess that's why it's a surprise...

Our plan for now is this: we're definitely waiting the ten days before we feed again. We're thinking of switching to a different feed schedule, and a different size of feed. One of the breeders at the expo suggested cutting a pinkie lengthwise and feeding him half. She said that opening the pinkie will let his stomach juices get to that pinkie better so even if there is another regurge he will at least be able to absorb some nutrients from it. What we're thinking of is giving our snakes half a pinkie every five days instead of a whole pinkie once a week. We're hoping this will get them started on the road to better nutrition and better health.

Does this sound like a good idea? We really love our little snakes and hearing about how they may not be well just broke our hearts...

-Emily

one other thing. we noticed a white-ish discharge.

Should we just take them to a vet?

-Emily

I am not an expert. That out of the way, this is my opinion. The first regurge is not anything to panic over. Yes, you need to wait a couple days to feed again. It is horrible that the petstore was feeding them legs. Very little nutritional value there. Try a pinkie head first. If the snake gets this down (and keeps it there), then try half the pinkie, next time. A key ingredient is the temps. Make sure they are correct. I use a heat pad and then heat my room. That way the pad is the hot side and room temp is the sool side. Very few of my tanks have heat lamps. But, that is entirely up to you.
another thing to remember, is the food should be about the girth of the fattest part of the snake. The whole pinkie could have been too much for the little guy, since it was used to legs. Try the head(it is very nutritional).
good luck
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**********Misty**********
I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once!

When this happened to Prince I refed him the same day after rasing the temps. What are your temps at anyway? Sorry if I missed that. Since that time I have had no problems.
My Research and Collection "New server"

whitish discharge, that would probably be urine, unless it was in the regurge then its probably stomach contents.

just relax, every new owner panics over little things. advise for the future; buy from a reputable breeder not a pet store.
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jake

my addiction:
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1 amelenistic corn snake (zyklon)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)

That is strange to feed the leg of a fuzzy, unless they were force-feeding him. You definitely do need an accurate temperature check. A heat lamp and a heating pad can get way too hot, depending on the size of the tank and the size of the heat emitters. Keeping them separated is very important for two reasons: The first is to minimize stress. The second is to make sure which snake is regurging and to keep any illness confined to only one snake. If he regurges again, I would definitely suggest a vet visit.
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sue

I didn't even know you COULD force feed a corn snake. I doubt he was forcefed, I think it's more than likely that he was barely fed at all. Maybe he's not used to eating? He is quite long, but very very skinny. He's usually very active and curious, I hope these are good signs.

-Emily

yes, you can force feed snakes. I have one hatchling that I am force feeding now, as she will not eat on her own. Whe I first got her, she did not move much and was skin and bones. The pinkie heads are helping a lot. Now she moves around. Your snake being active is a good sign. Try the head, maybe half a pinkie, go from there
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**********Misty**********
I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack me at once!

Just my 2 cents

1 keep all snakes in separate containers, avoids stress.
2 maybt most important, a good heat gradient pattern, 83ish to 78ish
3 on that note the thermometer goes on the floor where the snake actually is. One stuck on the glass will be somewhere between the middle of the cage and the room temps.
4 like you said a little rest, to heal up if needed.
5 small meals to start. sounds bad, but I've cut pinkies in half right down the middle. If I use legs to slap feed a non eater I usually keep as much thigh and more of the pinkie based on snake size
6 I've seen snakes regurge from drinking a lot after eating displacing space. I never really understood that but I have seen it. Usually a sloppy regurge.
7 just leave him a lone, NO stress. Hopefully in a few feeding you'll be back at normal size meals

No expert, but been there done that like a lot of people here. We all have differnt tricks for different problems.
Temp and stress are prolly the most likey cause.

good luck
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