Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

So I am currently having a problem with my little female

Setup: rubbermaid tub, aspen bedding, low humidity, temp around 90 on the hot end, hides present

problem- she decided to go on a bit of a hunger strike this spring but didn't seem to be losing any weight and occasionally began taking meals here and there. More recently she began losing weight and recently began regurgitating (ie today and once before). Today was approximately ~3 days after feeding. And has now lost a noticable amount of weight (within the last week). Recently I moved slightly (last week) that may explain the regurge. Also, the strike and regurge may have something to do with switching to slightly larger mice, but are now fully furred.

I am not sure what to do. She is quite small and thin enough now that I am worried waiting a few weeks to feed is not plausible. I am looking for opinions on what should be done other than a vet visit?

Thanks,
Zeus

Make sure she has water at all times and that she is in fact drinking. Hognose aren't always the brightest crayon in the box and will sometimes overlook a waterbowl until you put it under their faces.

Reduce the size of food. While hognose tend to have a high metabolism, some don't digest food as fast as others. I have a couple of females that are like this despite being kept in the exact same conditions. For whatever reasons, if they are fed anything considered "normal" sized, they will regurge. But they do just fine with something half the size.

Make sure that there's an adequate cool spot. While snakes need heat to help digest their food, I have noticed that a when it gets hotter in my snake room during the summer, I see a few more regurges than I normally do. I believe this happens when a snake can't metabolize the food item fast enough but the excess heat causes the food to rot faster than the snake can digest it. They usually know where to be for proper digestion, so make sure they have adequate warm and cool spots.

I hope that is helpful!
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

I lost one of my baby female hogs due to it not finding its water dish in it's shoe box. I would not have believed it til I saw it.

I had some corns with regurg issues about 10 years ago. I ended up trying some probiotics for reptiles. One rebounded fast after using it. the other never responded to anything. She was a 3' female bloodred tht ate anything but regurged it. i was down to pinky heads for small meals. And she still had trouble. Clearly somethign was grossly wrong with her. I just mention it as an option. I don;t recall the brand or anything but I;m sure it is on most herp husbandy site. good luck in getting her on track.

Oh yea, my water dish was a 3/4" tall dish with aspen in the show box. All my female had to do was crawl over to it. SHEESH. Tim Spuckler taught me years ago to make sure that brumating snake get water once in a while, but I had no idea i had to watch them so close while in full temps. I just continue to learn new things.
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Thanks for reading.
Tom

www.HerpZillA.com
HerpChat

I too used some probiotics! The one I used was called NutriBAC!

I would soak the snake in 1/4 inch of water and add some Pedialite. Dehydration makes digestion even tougher. Try newspaper bedding for the time being as well. Plains snakes are not accustomed to drinking water from bowls. Snakes can dehydrate even with water in a bowl. A snake that lives in a swamp may be fine, but a snakes that lives on sand prairie, not as good with water bowls.

Try a moist hide as well. Again, snakes do not drink standing water in nature most of the time. They prevent water loss in the first place. They make drink "dew" however, droplets, or puddles on their level, but not from raised containers. Some species figure it out, some do not.

Dehydration can allow for infections as well. I would see a vet and get something for it.

A drying heat source (all heat sources cause dehydration) a water bowl that may be ignored and no provision for water conservation - all this does not help the situation. Remedy the water thing while you get some meds for her is my advice.

Sometimes I'll mix a slurry of Gatorade, Miner-All and turkey baby food! I give it too them in a "ball syringe"! Works great on baby Gray Bands and sick animals!