Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello.
I recently purchased 25 captive hatched baby balls. They appear very healthy and weigh about 50-75 grams.

Before I received them, I read on the VPI website that Dave doesn't use heat tape for babies. So, to save the expense for heat tape, I built my melamine shoebox rack without heattape.

At the first feeding of fuzzy mice (after they shed), only 15 of the 25 ate. Of those 15, 5 of them regurgitated after about 2 days. My room temperature, including the shoeboxes, is about 83 degrees. Could this temperature....or lack of a hot spot...be the cause of the regurg?? Or is this common with babies?
I hatched out 4 babies last year and had no feeding problems......but they were on heattape.

Thanks very much.

It could be the temps. You say the temps in the room are about 83 degrees. Is this constant, day and night with no drop? I would say 83 degrees is minimal. I like to keep my babies with a gradient from about 80 to 86-87 on the hot end. If your maximum daytime temps are 83, and it gets cooler at night or is not consistent, the temps may well be your problem.

The other thing it could be is a parasite issue. Usually brand new babies are pretty clean internally. They hatch and are usually shipped to the US before their first meal, so they haven't picked up any nasties.

Whatever the reason....DO NOT try to feed the regurgers for a while....let them go at least a couple of weeks if not longer. They wont starve, and it will give their guts a chance to heal....

also you would need to rehydrate them, b4 the next feeding soak in water once a day for about an hour even in some pedialyte would be good u need to replace that moisture in their bodies if not they could gointo shock and die from dehydration

You are going to have to get the correct dosage of Flagyl in them, or you can kiss them goodbye. They probably have severe bacterial infections in their guts. Are their stools nasty smelling? I had the same problem with some CH's last year & 2-3 doses of Flagyl cleared them right up.
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Chad Bachman

Most of them haven't had a poop since I've had them. The one's that have, I have not noticed any bad odors.
Is it possible to have the bacterial infection even though they didn't eat anything before I got them??

>>You are going to have to get the correct dosage of Flagyl in them, or you can kiss them goodbye. They probably have severe bacterial infections in their guts. Are their stools nasty smelling? I had the same problem with some CH's last year & 2-3 doses of Flagyl cleared them right up.
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>>Chad Bachman

Yes it is possible for them to have bacterial infections without ever feeding (dirty water & stress from being shipped overseas will cause bacterial infections to the extent of regurgitation). I see someone has replied that it is probably a heating issue, but I guarantee it is not, mine had the extra heat & still regurgitated. Before listening to others who tell you to just give a hotspot, remember I told you to give them appropriate dosages of Flagyl, cuz the hotspot is not going to stop 90% of the problems with your babies.

Baby Balls will even thrive at 80F, so 83F is plenty good for them.

Good luck, hope somebody listens to me for once.
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Chad Bachman

Where Dave lives in Texas, it gets pretty warm. Where do you live? 83 as the high is, IMHO too low. In addition to helping digest food, heat is also used to boost the immune system. How long after feeding did they regurge? Did it look digested or just covered with mucus?

I would boost the heat in the warm end, hydrate them with plenty of water and a soaking or two and then try to feed again.

Oh, and buy captive bred and hatched (happy woody?) animals.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles