Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello everyone;
i have been keeping snake for over 20 years, and for that time i have never ever had a snake throw up. well, i picked up a new snake for my wife. she ate right away when i got her, but threw that up by the following night. then she wouldnt eat for the last 3.5 weeks. two days ago i fed her, she took it, and i see that the pinky is back.
i am no stranger to corn snakes... i have add high humidity just to see if she wants it muggier than the other corns. i have tried high heat, lower temps, large and small sweater bxs. she has plenty of hides yet she never seems to hide.
my wife is a vet tech who works for an exotic vet, plus my experiance, and we are all stumped.
i am also getting worried.
any thaughts would be very much appreciated.
please email me at paul_hernandez@rocketmail.com

thank you...
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www.webstarts.com/mmoc

Paul, I sent you an email.

If you've been keeping snakes for more than 20 years and never had one regurge I think you should probably teach us your secret to success....
In all seriousness one red flag jumped out at me you said it ate right away for you. Leading me to believe you fed it as soon as you got it home. You always want to give your new aquisitions time to aclimate to their new homes. The move into their new homes is very stressful and can lead to it losing it's meal. Second issue is the snakes digestive acids are lost after regurging. You always need to wait a while before trying to feed again. Since you said it was three weeks later that wouldn't have been the issue. Always make the first meal after regurge to be very mild, as small as reasonable. You don't want to offer it a mouse it struggles to swallow if it can be prevented. If it's a tiny hatchling you can try splitting a pinkie so you can offer a smaller meal. I have had good success with that. Good luck with your snake.

yes i did offer food about 8 pm as i baught her about 10 am that day. but this is a routine that i have always done, and so have never really given any other thaught to it.

to respond to your opening line... theres nothing for me to teach as i have gotton my info from everyone here on kingsnake and from kathy love. then i have taken and tried every thing to see what does work and what does not... lol
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20 years of herp keeping/breeding. corn snakes, pythons, boas, milks, kings, lizards etc...

I strongly suspect it has some bad intestinal bacteria and the meal simply putrified instead of being digested. This can be caused by a number of things, fouled water being among the top causes.

Tell her to get it dosed with Flagyl(Metronidazole) at a dose of 50 mg/kg of body weight, and another follow-up dose in ten days. DO NOT attempt any more feedings until at least a week after the LAST dose, as this kills the bad bacteria, AND the good bacteria needed for proper digestion.

I have done this myself with several animals in the past. Many years ago one of my young Honduran milks had an intestinal bacteria problem, and would regurge even a VERY small meal. Dosed with Flagyl, and problem immmediately GONE!.....forever!!

good luck, ~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

ok thank you i will let my know, she can get that...
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20 years of herp keeping/breeding. corn snakes, pythons, boas, milks, kings, lizards etc...

tell her to get you flagyll......

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......JY

i was thinking about this lil snake and her regerge problem...
i am wondering if she doesnt have an intestinal blockage. i only bring it up because i havent seen any poo or urates in the container...
what might be all of your thaughts???

thank you, paul...
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20 years of herp keeping/breeding. corn snakes, pythons, boas, milks, kings, lizards etc...

You very well could be onto something but the bad news is if you're right it's most likely going to turn out to be fatal. I am actually taking part in a similar conversation in the garter and ribbon snake forums. A girl there had a snake die from an enlarged heart. A snake can have many differnt enlarged organs from a number of different reasons. It can be genetic, some viruses can cause an organ to become larger. When an organ becomes enlarged it can block the digestive tract. It could begin with regurge but it wont last long before the animal dies. It seems it won't allow the animal to starve because it don't keep food down but it makes stomach or intestinal contents to "rot" for lack of a better word. I am not sure if a foreign object would cause a blockage I would assume it could happen. You'd only know for sure if you took it to a vet for more invasive testing. Good luck with your cornsnake.