Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can anyone give me further advice on my Applegate Gopher. Recently we changed the size of his food. He is 8-10 months old and was on the smallest pinkies. However, he was eating 3-4 at a time so we put him on the next size pinkies. We feed him once a week but his feeding seems eratic. When he had his first larger pinkie, he took it fine and seemed to be looking for more. About an hour or so later he was still looking so we gave him another. Unfortunately he brought it back up about an hour later. We have fed him twice since then with just the one pinkie and he seemed to take them ok and keep them down. But yesterday we fed him and although he took it ok and seemed to want more (which he didnt get) when we got up this morning he had brought it back again.

So My question is this...... have we jumped the gun and put him onto the larger pinkies too soon or is there a problem with our snake?

Sandy x

Hey Sandy!
Well.......if the larger pinkie/fuzzy you put in is a good meal for him.....giving him more may be making him puke.

Thing is......it is hard for me to figure this out since I can't see how big your snake and your pinkie mice! Thus our luck with just words on the internet! LOL!

How long did you wait till you fed him again? I ask cause if a snake vomits, it is not good at all to feed him again.

I would give him 2 weeks since he last threw up. Then....feed him a smaller item. A week later, perhaps throw in 1 of the bigger size pinkies you are using. And just keep it at one till he gets a tad bigger.

If he has a big swollen area after he eats this one, then one should be fine. In other words, if you can really tell he has eaten a food item by looking at his body, then that may be enough.

When you say he is looking for more, that may be the way he is reacting to just eating. They get all excited, go cruising around the cage flicking their tongues fast, etc. Funny isn't it? It is ok to NOT feed him, even though he may seem he wants more.

I think the best thing to do is just start by giving him a rest for a few weeks....then try again after that. The rest is really important, since his esophagus may have been burned from the stomach acid, thus resulting in no acid in the stomach making him puke.

Take care!
Billy
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Genesis 1:1

Hey Billy

Thanx for the advice...... can stop panicing now....lol. Never thought a snake could go 2 weeks without food (thank god I'm not a snake!!). Poor thing must be suffering a wee bit of heart burn from the throwing up so wont feed him for 2 weeks.

Thanx again hun

Sandy x