Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently purchased a Sinaloin milksnake from someone who has assured me that the snake is captive bred and is also feeding well. The snake is small at around 8 - 10 inches in length. It has a voracious appetite and a plesent disposition. After the snake has ingested a meal( thawed pinkie of appropriate size )it will disappear for a few days to digest the meal. The problem is 2 - 3 days after feeding,the snake will regurgitate the pinkie. It has done this twice. Would raising the temps help the snake to digest the meal more quickly or should I resort to panicure? I have several other colubrids I keep at the same temp and I have never had this problem before. I am going to go ahead and feed the snake tommorrow on schedule and see what happens. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks

Chris J

P.S. The snake has defecated after feeding prior to the regurgitation incident....

Would raising the temps help the snake to digest the meal more quickly or should I resort to panicure? I have several other colubrids I keep at the same temp and I have never had this problem before.

Chris,

all this talk about temps but no numbers to reference to? Post your setup so someone here can make a logical reply as to what may or may not be wrong: Enclosure (glass tank, tupperware tub, etc), heat source (UTH, radiant, ceramic emitter, heat lamp, etc), heat location (under tank, above tank, left side, right side, middle of tank), substrate, hide locations in hot and cold side of tank?
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"Colubrid-aphilia", adj; An inordinate love of Colubrids.

Temps range from the low to mid 80'3 during the day and drop to mid 70's at night. The container is plastic and I use paper towels as substrate. I keep several other colubrids ( kings and corns ) under these same conditions. I have never had problems until now. Thanks.

Chris J

Do you have a heating source? How long do you wait after he eats before disturbing him (handling, changing substrate, water bowls, etc)? How long after regurging do you wait until you try to feed again?

If he has regurged twice already, this snake is in danger of going downhill very fast. Your best bet right now is to find a qualified, experienced herp vet to diagnose the problem.
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phflame

I have no heat source and I rarely ever hold the snake. I usually feed twice a week but since she has been regurgitating I have backed off to feeding her once every ten days. She is undisturbed and healthy acting. Thanks for the thoughts.

Chris J

a heat source. Apparently that night drop might be what is causing the food to regurge.
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phflame

I will definately get a heat source to try out. The sinaloan occurs further south than the other North American colubrid species that I keep. Thanks for the suggestion, I sure hope that it works. The sinaloan is an excellent edition to my collection.

Thanks.
Chris J