Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a small texas leustic that eats like a machine but has a habbit of regurgitating his food several days later. im feeding him medium to large fuzzies. is this common? could the food be too big?

How big is the snake? If the snake just regurgitated, wait a week before you try to feed the snake again. In the mean time, check the cage temps. The warm area should be about 84F and the cooler area around 74F. If the temp of the cage is not the issue, try smaller prey items. If that doesn't do the trick, take your animal to a reptile vet.

hes about a foot relatively small he has has good temps. ill try smaller prey

Wait for a week or two before you feed it again(even a small prey item),this will give the snake's "auto-immune system" time to deal with the stress that the bacteria caused, this is VERY important!. This is why the snake regurgitated to begin with, the meal(for whatever reason)was not being digested, so it actually putrified(rotted) in the snake's stomach. If it still throws up later on when given it's "smaller meal", it's time to see a vet........hopefully this was just temp. related, and/or too large a meal.........also, it would be a very good idea to isolate the snake with a slightly "higher than normal" temp into the high 80's ,....this helps a great deal with your situation........hope this helps,......................Doug
-----
Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

you touched on those issues on your post, I forgot to read it first before I posted!!!LOL......I agree 100% on your statement!...I appologize...............................Doug
-----
Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Hey Doug,

Don't appologize, I have done the same thing myself a few times on this forum. As a matter of fact, I learned about waiting a week from the good folks on this forum.

You were giving out good advice, and some folks need to hear it more than once before they take it to heart.

If I had a 12 inch Texan, I think I would be offering it two small pinks next week to get it started eating again. It sounds like prey size is the problem with the snake. If that doesn't do the trick, then it should be off to the Vet with that little snake.

If he has a habit of regurging his food, I would suggest that you arrange a vet visit ASAP! If he has regurged less than three times, you can try to treat it at home. Definitely wait two weeks before trying to feed again. Go to the smallest pinky that you can find, since the snake is so little. Make sure that your temps are perfect. No handling or bothering at all of the snake for at least three feedings with no regurging. Feed no sooner than one week after a successful feeding. If the snake regurges, you go back to square one. After the snake has kept down at least three feedings in a row, you can start handling him again, but make sure to observe the 48 hours of no handling after a feeding. But that is only after he has kept down three feedings in a row.

Hope this helps.
-----
phflame
kingsnake.com host

Everyone has given good advice and I am just going to elaborate on it. First, if your snake is really just a foot long, med/lg fuzzies are waaay too big. Second, wait a full three weeks before feeding again. This may seem excessive, but what has happened to your snake's system is, the good bacteria in his gut have all been depleted so digestion is going to be very difficult for the little one until all that good gut flora has been replaced. This takes about 14-21 days. Dehydration is probably an issue at this time, so giving a soak once a week while his stomach rests will be beneficial. Third, when you do feed him again, give him the tiniest pinky you can find. This will help make digestion easier for his compromised little system. Fourth, don't feed him again until he has completely digested and passed the meal (defecated). After this tiny little meal, his poop will probably be very small too so keep an eye out for it. Second, third and maybe fourth feedings, follow the exact same procedure (tiny meal and no food until after a good defecation). After three or four good meals/defecations, then you can move onto slightly bigger prey items, but stick to items not much bigger around than he is at mid-body.

I have had several animals go through this regurge cycle over the years (including boas, corns and rats) and if you stick to this regimen, it should work. If not, you are toying with losing your animal altogether, especially if it has had multiple regurges.

Good luck!
Billy

>>i have a small texas leustic that eats like a machine but has a habbit of regurgitating his food several days later. im feeding him medium to large fuzzies. is this common? could the food be too big?

I'm glad that you mentioned this.

Fishstix,

Dehydration can play a role in this as well. Not always, but certainly in lots of cases.

As mentioned, a soak in tepid water, very shallow so the snake doesn't have to swim to avoid drowning (like 1/4" max) for 10 minutes or so works wonders for hydrating a snake. They do much much better when well hydrated like this periodically, and lots of problems go away. Can't hurt in any case.

And give the snake a nice warm area and leave it alone for at least a week.