Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this on another board and realized that I'd probably find better help here.

Here's my issue.

My fiance bought me a gopher snake about 3 weeks ago. I'm not sure how old he is (he forgot to ask). He's about 3 1/2 feet long and an inch or so around. He gets one live, 4-inch long feeder mouse every Saturday morning (keeping the same diet and schedule the pet shop had him on), and he usually "goes" in the corner of his cage a day or two after he's eaten. We cover the cage after he kills the mouse and leave him covered for a day. He's eaten twice since I got him with no problems; I fed him his third mouse since I got him this past Saturday morning. We left for the weekend to see his parents and came back Sunday evening, and everything looked fine. He wasn't handled at all over the weekend, but we never handle him for two days after he eats anyway. When I looked in his cage Tuesday morning, however, the mouse was back on the floor, still in its mouse shape, tail and all, and covered in what I suppose was stomach acid or mucus. He'd been acting nervous for a few days prior to that, and I noticed that his eyes are cloudy yesterday morning. He was acting peevish all day yesterday, too. I've never owned a snake before, and I'm told that nervousness, laziness and cloudy eyes generally means a shed is about to happen. But do snakes typically throw up right before they shed, or is my snake sick?

Thanks,

Sarah

Sarah,

First no it is not normal for him to regurge prior to shedding, but with that said don't over react. First realize that at the time a snake goes into blue they become nervous etc. because they can't see well and things that normally would not bother them do. Hopefully this was a one time thing and it will not reoccur. Be sure and provide him plenty of clean water, proper temps. in the 78 - 82 degree range and then wait for two weeks before you try and feed him again. This will accomplish two things, it will give his throat time to heal from the acid and stress of the regurge and second he should shed during that time. One of the most common mistakes keepers make is when an animal regurges they immediately try to refeed. This usually starts the animal on a downward sprial from which they may not recover. The throat is seriously irritated by the stomach acids and with each time they regurge it gets worse, so any time you have a snake regurge wait a minimum of 14 days before trying to refeed.

Good Luck

John Cherry
Cherryville Farms

Cherryville Farms - Reptiles

Thanks, John.

Max shed last night and is acting relatively normal again. I'll wait the rest of the two weeks and feed him again next Tuesday.

Sarah