Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son has a baby corn snake who has fed about 4 times already on pinkies. Well last week it started getting colder here, and his under tank heater shorted out the plug in his room. Scared him half to death and almost started a fire. Anyway, we haven't had a chance to get the plug fixed. Tiki had a lump in his belly for longer than normal, then I found the pinky in the bottom of his cage. It had obviously gone through him, but had not digested properly. Is this from him being too cold? I have another UTH and a heat lamp, but can not use them til I get the outlet fixed. Just curious if this is the reason why Tiki's food was undigested.

Thanks,
Shawnon

hello,
Now im no expert by any means. He may have been in the process of digesting. then when it got he stopped digesting it and passed it to keep it from rotting in his stomach. Like i said im know expert my any means but i did hear of snakes reguritating meals when it got cold so he have been to far along in digestion to reguritate it. You will definetly want to get other adivse fro mthe other more experenced people in this forum.

-RV-

There's actually a pretty good chance that the snake regurgitated the pinky. It's not at all uncommon for corns when they are stressed due to temp, handling, etc, when they are trying to digest a meal. To be on the safe side, you should refrain from feeding the snake for at least a week, maybe 10 days. Then, start with a smaller than usual pink, or just cut the head off one you already have if they are all the same size.
Actually, cutting the head off might be good anyway in terms of helping it digest the next meal. Don't handle the snake for awhile until it has eaten and properly digested a few meals. Of course, it will need to be kept warm enough to do so. Good luck.
Duffy
ps. Try not to "jump the gun" and feed the snake sooner than a week. You do NOT want to get into a regurge cycle. Can be deadly to a young snake. D

I agree with previous post. It is more likely that the mouse was regurgitated. If temps drop too low, then the snake will be unable to digest its meal and it will be regurged. If this happens, then stomach acids burn the esophagus and are depleted as well. This is what I would suggest:
It is important to refrain from feeding for around 8 days to allow the esophagus and stomach to settle, as well as allow the digestive acids to re-accumulated for the next meal. At the next feed, cut back on the size of the prey. Cutting up a pinkie is a good suggestion. This should be done for a few successful feeds. Then return to normal sized prey. Do not handle your snake until you are back on a normal feeding schedule to reduce stress.
Remember, this is my opinion only. One of my corns was a repeat regurger and I seem to have settled him down with this approach.
Good luck!