Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My snake every time i feed him he throws up 1 or 2 days later. It is a red tail boa. He is 16 in long. HOw many days after i feed him should i wait until to handle him.

You should wait 48 hours after it eats to handle it (normally). Since you know you have a puker, you should wait even longer!

Also, you shoul;d wait 3 weeks after the last puke to offer food again, and the food you offer should be very small, like a mouse pinky. Let the snake keep that down. Don't even handle it for week. Then offer another pinky and wait.

After that, if he's holding them down, you can start to resume normal feeding (1 prey animal, the diameter of the snake at it's thickest part, once a week).

Also, what is the temperature in the snake's enclosure? If will puke if it is too hot or too cold.

If you don't handle this situation very carefully, this snake will most likely die. Avoid the temptation to handle it, or to feed it right away. It can live a long time without eating, but it won't live long if it keeps puking.
-----
2.1.0 Kidletts
1.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Okeetee Corn
2.2.0 BCI
0.1.0 Cat (Ginger)
1.0.0 Pughuahua (Ranger)

Right - make sure you are feeding the right sized prey to your little guy. If he tries to eat something that is just too big for his body to handle, he will throw it up. Wait a few weeks, try very small prey items after that, and don't handle him for a while so he doesn't stress out.

I hope he recovers and starts feeding well for you.
-----
Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com
1.0 Ball Python, 1.1 Hog Island Boas, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python

16 inches long . . . when you do feed him try to pick the tiniest pinky mouse you can. You should actually feed 25% of a regular meal which is hard when a snake is so small. How many times did your snake regurgitate so far, and how soon after did you feed it again? You must wait 2 or 3 weeks and let the snakes insides heal each time. 2 weeks if it only happened once but 3 if it keeps happening. Is this a Colombian bci, or a bcc (Suriname, Guyana etc)? bccs are more prone to regurg'ing, and it is very serious, if it becomes a habit the snake will die. Always keep plenty of fresh water in the cage too, because regurgitation can lead to dehydration.

Good luck,
Caden

Crap i already feed him i feed him fuzzys. The only time he pukes is when i hold him after i feed. SO i am just going to stop holding him for a while. LAst night he was siting in the water dish. Then i went down stairs came back up and there was a reguritated mouse. his mid body is the size of the mouse. I am not going to touch him for a good couple of weeks

stop feeding him for 3 weeks, and don't handle him at all. then try the tiniest pinky you can find, and still don't handle him. Slowly graduate him back up to the right sized prey if he has no problems over a period of a few weeks, and still don't handle him. After he is doing well and has had 2 or 3 normal meals again, Then you can handle him but not for 2 days after feeding him, and since he has a delicate digestion, make that three days. You need to do all this even though it only happened from handling, because a regurg has hydrochloric acid all over it, and it burns the snakes insides as it comes up. It takes a while to recover from this internal chemical burn.

When you handle him always support him with two hands even though he's tiny, snakes are afraid of falling, it upsets them to not support all their weight. When you handle your snake just let him crawl around on your hands and your body, and handle him very gently. Baby snakes are delicate.

Good luck,
Caden

sounds like you have a real problem on your hands.

Since you've already fed him, wait till he regurges again ,which he will.

Do not feed him for 3 weeks!! If you happen to have a fecal sample lying around, take it to the vet and have it examined to rule out internal parasites. Most likely your snake is regurged to start off becuase of excess handling after feeding, and now it has developed chronic regurge syndrom.

I had a friend that had your problem, and kept feeding the snake thinking it was the right thing. The boa regurged a total of 4 times before i took her in. During the first 3 weeks before i fed her again, i administered Pedialite with a syringe to help rehydrate her. I did this once a week for 3 weeks. On the 3rd week, i didn't feed her a rodent, i made a solution containing cat food and pedialyte and administered it orally. just to get the digestive juices going. a week later i fed her a very very small meal. 10 days later if repeated this. slowly i was able to bring her back up to regular sized meals, now she is healthy and ready to breed.

You need to resist the urge to feed again, and to handle the snake. Leave it alone and good luck this is not an easy task.

Keep us posted.

Kevin Ivens
BCI Exotics

AND IF IT DOES NOT REGURITATE. jUST LEAVE HIM ALONE FOR A GOOD COUPLE OF WEEKS.

He seems to do fine if i dont touch also.

Clues like this cant come any clearer !!!
Its pretty scary when ignorance is a bad word.

M/

>>He seems to do fine if i dont touch also.

he is sitting under the heat lamp right now digesting his food.

Most likely your boa has no bile in its stomache to digest the food...i'd be surprised, actually shocked if it didn't regurge. Just be prepared and do what i suggested if you want your snake to live.

Good luck.

i keep you guys posted on how he is doing. He is doing fine right now. I dont remember if i said this but, he is sitting under the heat lamp digesting so we will have to see.

I had a problem a while back with an argentine boa and i cut the tail off of the mouse (a sugg from a friend) and it work never a regurge again. Tail must have triggered a gag reflex of some sort as we get and it worked he never regurged again.

I am going to wait a couple of weeks. I think its kind a mean to cut off a live mouse tail. I am going to switch to f/t.

The Snake is doing fine. I went to a vet he said make it hotter and more hide spaces.