Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I have a neonate corn that I am working through a bout of regurgitation. I think I have a pretty good handle on how to deal with that problem, but my question is this:

Typically the poops have been mostly white, similar to bird droppings. Last night I found a brown poop, which actually looked like a 1" length of pipe cleaner, with some added goop. Could this be another regurg, or just a facinating new variety of poop? She was last fed a pinkie body on Saturday night, and this object was created sometime Tuesday night.

Thanks.

It sounds like it may be a regurge that was mostly digested prior to regurgitation. It could just be that the mass passed through the intestines without being fully digested, but that is really just another variation on the same theme.

Something is probably bothering your snake.

I would double check all of your temps, lighting, vibrations (from a nearby sound system, TV, or something), and anything else that may be a stressing factor. Then, wait ten days to offer another food item, and offer the smallest thing you have.

Hopefully, your snake will get back on track, and everything will be fine. But if you feed too soon, or too big, you can just keep the cycle going longer and longer.

Hope that helps a bit.
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Thanks for the input. Could you expand on what you meant by lighting being a stressing factor?

Corns are crepuscular animals (they are most acvtive at dawn and dusk), and if they are exposed to too much light throughout the day, they may be stressed, not having the safety they need from the cover of approaching darkness.

This is especially true for young corns, which, in the wild, would even more hesitant to move about in the broad daylight, since almost everything around them is a predator.

I've had young corns that, during the day, wouldn't come out of their hides for food or water, if they saw any movement outside of their vivariums at all. But, if they were allowed a little less light, they felt safer, and would move about regularly.

Reptiles are really very sensitive animals, and neonate corns are often especially so. Things we might never consider as being problems can often times be the very thing that sets a young animal off its feed.

Also, these variables in evironment, which are often too numerous for which to completely account, are often the reason that a breeder will sell a hatchling as a proven feeder, but when the new owner gets the little critter, it refuses to eat anything. Then, when it is returned to the breeder, it eats like a pig. Who knows what any single scenario may bring about as a problem for a specific snake, but the number of possibilities is just HUGE!
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Well, this one eats every time I put food out, and quickly! The problem is in keeping it down. I've been handling the situation for quite a while now, feeding her just a pinkie head every 7 days. This was the first larger meal, being composed of a small pinkie body. Seems like it may have been too much. Looks like I'm back to heads for a month!

How long can they go without a large meal before they get malnourished?

Well, that depends on the snake's size. A hatchling might be ABLE to go two weeks without eating, but there is something in young corns that will simply "shut off" their eating response if they go too long without a meal. It's not that they are malnourished, really...it's just that they simply refuse to eat once they've gone so long without having done so.

What's the magic number of days? I don't know, but much past fourteen is when I've seen problems arising in a hurry for young snakes.

I would wait ten full days from the regurge before you try again with a pinky head, especially since you say your animal is a good eater for you. Give his/her digestive tract time to reestablish its gastric juices levels. Every time your snake regurges, it loses some of what it needs to digest the next meal. Not given enough time in between attempts, your snake won't be able to digest what it otherwise would have been, if you had only given it a few more days.

Further, those regurges are dangerous. I have seen snakes eat well, regurge, and be DRO (Done Rolled Over!) the next morning. Whether they aspirate some of the gastric juices, or whatever, I don't know...but it happens. So, taking precautionary steps to avoid regurges before they happen is essential to getting a younger animal back on the feeding track.
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Funny that you mention that.... Because the only 2 snakes I've ever had die, died exactly that way. I came home, there was a regurged mouse, and a dead snake....
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

As we say in Missouri, "I ain't goin back to Missouri!"

An added note is that this corn never comes out from hiding during the day. She has several spots in which to completely hide, and only comes out after dark to explore her territory. She hasn't been handled at all in over a month, and has been relocated to a lower-traffic area in the house.

Well, you might further try shielding her vivarium from direct sunlight or whatever artificial light is shining on her. So long as it doesn't increase her heat retention and thereby raise her temps, try draping a light (weight, I mean...not color) cloth over her vivarium.

It may help.
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Peculiar thing---I stated that she never comes out during the day (when the natural light shines in the room, but yesterday I put a light on over the cage and she was out in minutes. You can never figure women out....

Last night I fished out the poop in question and examined it.
Turns out that it was a piece of the recycled newspaper bedding that is in her cage. Apparently she ate it and pooped it out after she obviously could not break it down. Seeing as I found it in the area where she usually poops, I can assume that it was indeed a poop and not a regurge.

Why she ate this I don't know. I put all of her pinkies in a small dish in an effort to prevent this sort of thing, but it happened anyway....

You need to physically remove her from the cage during feedings. That will eliminate this problem.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

As we say in Missouri, "I ain't goin back to Missouri!"