Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My S. Brazilian Rainbow just regurgitated a mouse. I am not happy. Here are the vital stats.

Kept at constant 83 with a temp gradient. The cool side of the cage varies from mid 70s to mid 60s (day/night). Cage is Sterilite--about 6 or 7 quarts. Humidity is 85 always. Substrate is a paper towel which I change every couple of days. I've had the snake a month with 4 good feedings. No other snake in my collection is showing any problems (have 6 others). The mouse was a freshly killed hopper--same size the snake has eaten before. Got all the mice in the same batch and this is the only one that came back up. Snake is about 18" long and weighs about 2.6 ozs. Snake has a hide box which he sometimes uses (mostly just hides under the substrate).

My theories:

-bad mouse?
-cage too wet?
-sick snake

I'm going to try a pinky today and see whether that stays down. If not, I'm going to the vet (she's pretty good with reptiles). Already imposed strict quarantine, though if it's a bug I'm probably screwed already.

I did not save the mouse.

Any thoughts?

I would keep your cool side at 78-80F and give him a hot spot of 90 . I'd bet if you did this he would not regurge again.

Good luck
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Jaremy Douglas

Hot side should be at least ninety. I tried using a plus sign in the last post but the forum does not allow it and it was omitted.LOL!
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Jaremy Douglas

Iblis,
. I disagree with jdouglas. My little BRBs do fine with temperatures like you are using. Last winter I actually let my little BRBs cool at the same temperatures as my adults. They were in the 67 to 73 range most of the time and ate every week with no regurgitation. The few times in the past when I have had little BRBs regurgitate it has been because of temperatures too high or humidity too low or stress. Stress is one thing that you did not have on your list of possible problems. Little BRBs are shy and will regurg if they get too much light or noise or activity while digesting. After they grow a little and become used to you they are less likely to puke due to stress. Of the possible causes on your list I would consider the bad mouse one as very possible. If the mouse had been kept on cedar substrate it may have caused the regurgitation. If the snake is sick the likely problems would be a parasite infestation or an infection. If the snake is okay and the regurg is because of temperature or humidity problems or too much activity it would be best to wait a week and then feed a small meal and see how it does.
Jeff

>>My S. Brazilian Rainbow just regurgitated a mouse. I am not happy. Here are the vital stats.
>>
>>Kept at constant 83 with a temp gradient. The cool side of the cage varies from mid 70s to mid 60s (day/night). Cage is Sterilite--about 6 or 7 quarts. Humidity is 85 always. Substrate is a paper towel which I change every couple of days. I've had the snake a month with 4 good feedings. No other snake in my collection is showing any problems (have 6 others). The mouse was a freshly killed hopper--same size the snake has eaten before. Got all the mice in the same batch and this is the only one that came back up. Snake is about 18" long and weighs about 2.6 ozs. Snake has a hide box which he sometimes uses (mostly just hides under the substrate).
>>
>>My theories:
>>
>>-bad mouse?
>>-cage too wet?
>>-sick snake
>>
>>I'm going to try a pinky today and see whether that stays down. If not, I'm going to the vet (she's pretty good with reptiles). Already imposed strict quarantine, though if it's a bug I'm probably screwed already.
>>
>>I did not save the mouse.
>>
>>Any thoughts?

Thanks for your input, Jeff. I've been pretty careful about dialing in the temp. At one point I had the hot side up around 95 and the snake would spend all his time on the cool side--even though it is more exposed and represents only 1/5 of the area of his cage. At 83 he is always on the hot side, either in his enclosure or under the substrate (I hate it, but they keep doing it). I'll note that while the heating pad measures 90 degrees with the temp gun, the bottom on the enclosure comes in at 83 and the air somewhat cooler.

It has been getting colder at night (I'm in SoCal, where the temp sometimes falls to as low as 50 degress at night!), but the hot side does not vary.

Gave him a f/t pinky yesterday and that has stayed down. Needless to say, I'm cautiously relieved. Only other change I made was to turn the enclosure around so that the water dish is no longer on the hot side, but the cold side instead. The humidity has dropped, but I'm not getting moisture accumulations on the sides the way I had. I know they like it moist, but I think maybe it was too wet in there.

Spent yesterday sick with worry--or maybe it was the smell...