Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Their beautiful new skins after shedding today. They are tender and did not appreciate having their hide removed and a flash camera in their face! Part of their unusual irritability is they are hungry, no doubt. No choice, kiddos, had to do poop patrol, anyway. Will feed them tomorrow.

The moist moss hide with the lid off. You can see the old skins on the edges of the tub. They love to hole up in these little tubs of moss when they are shedding. The little tub of moss is under their big cardboard hide.
They are my Kingsville red x Stillwater hypo babies now 10 months old. Over 250 grams each.

Those are a really pretty snake. They have some nice orange to them and yet still have a nice pattern that a lot of reds seems to lose. Really attractive. I'd like to see some in-hand pics with natural light.

My bull is growing fast... good eater but not aggressive at all... I have to put the mouse right in front of her nose and give it a little push and then she eats it, it's kinda funny.
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- Matt

1.0 Black Milk '04
1.0 Andean Milk '06
0.1 Eastern King '97
0.1 Bullsnake '09

Outside this morning on an overcast day. Rather chilly so photoshoot was brief. Alfonzo on left and Zoey on right.

Indoor shot in hand. They always seem to want to crawl towards me.

Very very nice. Thanks for sharing pics. So I took some pics of my girl today. She's about 6 months old now (August hatch). Oddly, she regurged one of two hoppers that I fed her 3 days, also had a huge bowel movement... it's like she digested one and the other was forgotten in the stomach... barely digested at all. So she's looking skinny but is happy and will probably feed tomorrow.

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- Matt

1.0 Black Milk '04
1.0 Andean Milk '06
0.1 Eastern King '97
0.1 Bullsnake '09

Whooooooooooooah horsey!!!
Matt, out of care and concern for your smoking bullsnake that you have shared pics of her with us many times, let me strongly state some things here, in regards to her regurge.

First, her regurging is a sign that she was probably fed too much, or the temps were not where they needed to be in order for her to digest such a large meal, or both. You need to really consider the possibility of her being fed a little too often, as this now may be critical in her survival.

Second, and this is the most important thing: In my experience, and many others who know TONS more about pits than I do, pits do not fare well after regurging. Most of the time, if one does regurge, it may be the beginning of the end. I am not trying to scare you at all, but just stating something that may be a reality check here. She may fare well, but like I said, the cases I have seen firsthand, and know of from others who are way above my knowledge regarding pits, regurging really takes a toll on pits, and most, do not ever make it back from this sad road.

With all of this said, let me suggest to NOT feed her for 14 days. Again, refrain from feeding her. This is crucial. Her esophagus has most likely suffered strain from the regurge, and the stomach acid has burned it, causing severe irritation. Her stomach most likely may be irritated from the regurge, and the 14 days is crucial for both the stomach and her esophagus to fully regain their strength.

After 14 days, then, feed her a food item that is WAY SMALLER than what she is used to. If you are feeding her hoppers, feed her a small fuzzy. This will be drastically smaller of course than what she is used to, but it is crucial that she is not led back full force with huge meals from the get-go. Then, if she eats, and digests the meal, follow it with a small meal as well, 7 days later. She may lose weight, and it will be alarming, but the snake really needs you to give her as much TLC as you can.

Then, if she seems to be doing ok, then GRADUALLY move up the size of the food items.

Please take all of this into consideration Matt. I know you love your snake, and she is an awesome specimen. I just can't stress enough how her regurging is really not a good thing, and I hope you strongly consider what I have suggested. Maybe others can chime in as well, who may know some more tips, or can share their experiences.
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Genesis 1:1

Word...I'll give her at least a week to recover. It seems to vary by the individual on regurging but never had a pit regurg before.

Been feeding her about once every 4-5 days, usually 2 fuzzies. Just upped her to hoppers over last 2 feedings which she eats no problem... but yeah I'm going to keep it to just one next time and see how she feels about that.

Environment is pretty typical, I worry about too much warmth, but she has a huge water bowel to go into if she wants on the cool side. She's hardly ever over the heat pad, so I'm keeping a close eye on her.
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- Matt

1.0 Black Milk '04
1.0 Andean Milk '06
0.1 Eastern King '97
0.1 Bullsnake '09

yeah but you noted you were feeding her 2 FUZZIES, and now your feeding her 2 HOPPERS- thats a good leap in food intake. If your moving her up to hoppers- which is a good thing, especially if she hardly shows much bulge after eating 2 fuzzies, I would try only offering her 1 hopper for 4-5 feedings - she only needs to eat once a week and she will grow fine- at least in my experience. After 4-5 feedings, you can try to move up to 2 hoppers, but I have found its never a bad thing to go slowly when moving a snake to larger food items. I had my s. pine regurge 4 hoppers after she ate 5 with piggish relish, so I only offered her 3 next time, well she regurged 2 (the snake room always smells so WONDERFUL after a snake regurges.. bleahhhhh!!!!)and after waiting, I only offered her 1 and all was well- cept she sure seems hungry- well thats just T.S until she gets her eating patterns settled down under my care.

Good advice from Discern.
One time of my pits (my big Pacific Gonzo)regurgitated a partially digested mouse of a two mouse meal but pooped the other mouse out successfully. I closely examined the temperature in the place she likes to nest in, to see exactly what are the temperatures in that spot. I figured maybe the thermometer was not reading that exact spot and that I was being misled on how warm the spot actually was. Sure enough, when I put another thermometer probe in that spot and adjusted things to reflect conditions in her actual nest, her digestion improved and there has been no more barfing of partially digested meals. I feed them food no bigger than their biggest circumference as well, leaning towards the small side.

I forgot to mention when she was in recovery mode from her regurgitation I waited several days then fed her small meals gradually working up to her normal size mice. I changed her water every day as well to encourage her to stay hydrated.

n/p

Thanks! They are my special babies for sure!

Those two are beautiful, nice color.
Greg c

Thanks! They are my first bull snakes, and seem to be more aware and intelligent than my other pits and kings, or maybe I am just biased!

nope you arn't .. I find my pitts to be far more entertaining than my kings or rats... the kings while really cool, just arnt as fun to watch and interact with. My rats have some personality, like my baby pair of W. Foxes that just seem to want to move constantly around their cage and crawl up and down no matter what happens- while looking right up at me... the pitts will just look at you, some will hiss and stare and move about always keeping an eye on you, my sonorans and one of my bulls are very good at this... pits are just really fun to keep as you're finding out!!! I hope your pair of beautiful babies gives you pleasure for years to come and gives you some great looking babies of their own!

My partner is not a big fan of my reptiles(he's from the warm and fuzzy camp) but when I brumated the bulls he missed them! He likes to talk to them, and they seem to respond to the vibration of his voice, looking at him with what seems sentient awareness. I talk to them as well, like when I pick them up to put them in their feeding tubs and when I pick them up later to put them back in their habitat. Although they have no ears they do seem to be able to sense our voices through vibration of the air, and respond to kind waves.