Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone I'm new to posting here but I'm really freaked out and need to know if anyone has dealt with this....My hubbie and I got home from our jobs thursday and were checking on all the "kids" to see who needed to be cleaned and who needed water etc... Hubbie starts telling me how that morning when he was looking to see if one of the smaller females we had had regurged(she had done this 3-4 times before)and he saw her have a seizure.He took her out and she had another one in his hand. He put her back, raised the heat and went to work.As he's telling me about this he pulls out her container and she's dead. Before we thought about taking her in to have her autopsied he threw her out. I called a reliable store and was told "no its not normal" (didn't think it was) but was also told my whole collection was now at risk and could be wiped out. This female was purchased with 2 sibling females (one of which went to a friend and is doing very well).The other 2 were kept here and were kept together since that is how they were previously kept. They were kept away from the rest of the "kids" for around 2 1/2 months before being brought into the same area.One of the girls regurged a few times and we separated them to figure out who was doing what. The female we lost was much skinnier then the other 2(all 3 were thin when we got them).Has anyone dealt with this before????Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.Thanks.
- Shannon
1.1 pastel balls
1.1 het albino balls
1.10 normal balls
1.1 snow corns
1.0 kenyan sand boa "fred"
0.1 hedgehog "Willow"
1.1 dogs "Sunny & Sassy"
0.2 sphynx kitties "Anya & Sienna"

Hey,

Anytime an animal regurgatates it's food item, it is sick beyond your care and needs to be seen by a reputable reptile vet. Multiple regurges are extremely stressful on the animal and only contribute to it's demise. If you have any other animals regurge a food item, please immediately take it to a vet.

Steve

I know how stressful it is for a snake to regurge. I'm not new to the world of snakes but I took a few years off to have a family and have only recently gotten back into it.I was very upset to lose this girl.The 2 sibs are gaining weight and shedding well.We've had no problems with any of the rest of the kids either. I've got an appointment for the one sib for thursday just to be on the safe side(that's the soonest my vet could get us in).I've just never had an experience with anything like this and wondered if anyone else had.basically I picked up the 3 girls because I knew they weren't getting the right care(as I said before they were on the thin side). Now I'm feeling guilty that I couldn't have done more to save this girl.

It would be impossible to diagnose what the problem was without a vet doing a Necropsy. The problem could be isolated to the deceased animal or it could be a contagious pathogen. But without the corpse it is impossible and also irresponsible to venture guesses. I would recommend getting the other two animals checked out by a competent reptile vet in the very near future.

One regurge is a call for observation, but does not necessarily mean anything bad - food could have been too large, heat too low, bad food etc. However, serveral regurges point to something more sinister. I would get any animal in that condition to a vet.

I would closely monitor the other and keep it isolated from the rest of your animals. Have these animals been tested for parasites? They sound like likely candidates.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I bought a female pastel from a guy who said she WAS WC but treated,she was approx 1 year old.I recieved her gave her a week to settle in a few days after a week 1 of my other animals didnt eat her dinner so i said WTH I threw it in my female pastels tank and she took it immediatly,I was like hell yeah for a WC she ate fast BUUUUUUUUUT regurged 2 days later i was like ok she must be stressed so i rehydrated her daily then gave her another mouse after a week and she again ate immediatly, 2 days later almost to the hour regurged again.I called the vet and had a fecal done and she tested positive for roundworms and eggs so i was given a regimen of panacur for her for 6 weeks (2 week intervals) upon completion I NEVER had a problem again.get your others checked for worms!!

I have seen this half a dozen times or so, Mostly in imported animals. Same type of symptoms but different causes, First is parasites- They can lead to infestation resulting in organ failure as well as nerve and or brain damage. Next is viruses- I've seen a virus wipe out a whole rack of animals, As it spread and progressed all of the animals affected displayed the same symptoms as yours. I have also seen internal birth defects cause the same out come, They would be fine for a period of time { up to two years or so } Then as the defects grew internaly they weren't able to funtion properly. I agree with the other person who posted that it would not be responceable to guess, being that there are so many causes. I am lucky enough to have friends that are experienced vets that help me out when I need it. Have your vet do a fecal, blood work and a X-ray on any suspected animals. Good luck. Erick { Exotic Designs}