Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male Albino Nelson Milk that I had trouble feeding. When I purchased the snake November 2nd I was suppose to have my rack in on Nov 5th. Well the guy I bought it from didn't come through, wouldn't answer e-mails or phone calls for the longest time so I had a hard time getting heat regulated.

Anywho the Male had puked on the 14th and on the 23rd. I had attempted a whole small pinkie again on the 23rd. After finally getting my rigged up heat working right, I offered him a pinkie head on the 30th which he keep down and did not puke.

So I'm asking the guys with loads of experience with Milks how long should I wait before I feed him again, and should I know move to a whole pinkie or offer another head?

Thanks in advance!

I would wait about 7 days...even longer if it appears like it might be going into a shed.

Do you still have contact with the person that you bought it from? I'd be a little concerned about it regurging two meals like that. Did they come up within a day or after more than a couple of days? If they were right away I would suspect that something else is the problem. I've fed a lot of my snakes when it was only mid 70s in the snake room and only rarely would see a regurge problem. Unless your room is in the 60s I would suspect that it's something else, like a parasite.

In any event, try to order a product called NutriBac. It's a powder that contains the bacteria found in a reptile's digestive tract. When they puke they lose a lot of stomach acid and the bacteria that resides in there. Cover the pink head with NutriBac for the next meal and it will start the healing. If you're still seeing problems with puking after you get the heating right a trip to the vet might be in order, or you can just wing it with a little bit of panacur which would cure any type of worm-related problem.

Good luck!
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps

Well,.....from what I could understand from your post, it would indeed seem that low temps were the cause of the regurges.

Hatchling Milksnakes do well with temps in the low 80's. The worst thing you can do is allow a snake to continually regurge meals, as like Paul mentioned, it severely depletes essencial acids/enzymes, and electrolyles in the stomach needed for digestion. The Nutri Bac will more than likely help the snake recover back to normal, but if this happens again after a week or so of the snake being in the low 80's, it's time to make a direct path to a qualified reptile vet. If the snake has microbial pathogens, then Flagyl(Metronidazole) would likely take care of things administered at a dose of 25-50 mg/per kg of animal weight(repeated in 14 days). I use the higher end dose of 50 mg/kg as this drug is very well tollerated by snakes. I have used Flagyl in the past with VERY successful results, but don't really recommend folks administering it themselves unless they are very advanced herpers, unless doses are rationed out from a vet. It can be kind of tricky for most folks to weigh hatchling snakes without the right equipment to give proper doses.

In any case, just make sure the temps are stable in the low 80's for a week or so until the next attempt at feeding, and then only offer a SMALL meal. If after several very small meals are held down, you could then later work gradually back to normal sized meals.

Hope the snake has a speedy recovery!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"