Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know that crocodilians will regurgitate indigestible hair from rodents and what not. But today my one of not both of my alligators regurgitated their chicken that they had the other day. I was just wondering if anyone else has had these issues and do you happen to know what triggered it? Otherwise my gators seem pretty healthy and active. I just was rather puzzled by this and a little concerned. Maybe I just overfed him a little. But at any rate....any info would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

The first thing I would look at is the temperature of the animal. Not the air temp, or the water temp, but the temp of the animal itself. If the food was regurgitated, it may have gone bad in the stomach of the animals.

I'm sure you know this, but the digestive enzymes that allow digestion are not effective below 70 or 72 deg. F. At that point, there is a good chance that the food will putrify before digesting, causing a potentially life-threatening condition. It is possible that the gators got rid of this material for that reason. This is the reason that so many croc keepers (particularly novices) are concerned that thier animals go off food in during the colder months of the year.

The other thing, not as likely, is that there could be a health problem. I would keep an eye on them just in case.

Good Luck,

Bill

Bill,

Thanks for responding. Well I think I was wrong about both of them. Actually I think it was just one of them. My one seems to have regurgitated his food. Do you have any good ideas on how to get the temperature of the animal itself without losing my fingers? Anyways, my other gator seems to be doing fine. He is nice and thick from his last meal. I try keeping their temperature as warm as possible, but I will look a little further into it. Their air temperature is around 82-85 degrees. Their water temp is around 76 degrees but I guess I should work on warming that up a little. I don't think he has any health issues, because he is perfectly active and aggressive as he should be. Any other info would be greatly appreciated.

Chris