Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a licorice stick black rat snake going on about 2 and a half years. She went off feed last winter, so i put her in brumation. and ever since I took her out this spring, she hasn't been eating right. She'll eat maybe 2-3 meals, then the 4th she regurgitates, so ill go back with smaller prey and start all over again. She's getting REALLLLY BAD. I mean she barely has enough energy to crawl around her tank right now. I've made a vet appointment for tomorrow morning, but my question is.. is there anything the vet can do? I mean when I got her at a year old she was about 20" and eating mouse fuzzies. She went up to rat pinks to rat fuzzies and was gaining weight very well, but now shes really back down small... i've heard of a pinky pres.. where can i get one of these at? It's coming down to the last ditch efforts now I really don't wanna lose her... please help anybody that can...

I just put her in a smaller cage.. back in a 10 gallon thinking maybe she was really stressed... and she turned her head upside down. Never seen this before... is this a sign of something?

after she regurges how soon do you feed her again?

What are the enclosure temps? Have you actually measured the temps in the tank? In a case like you describe, my first thoughts lean toward husbandry. It seems like something about the cage might not be right. If you don't keep the warm side high enough, they can have trouble digesting meals and that can cause regurgitation. If you don't have a reasonable temperature gradient, you can also run into problems. I like to keep my warm side between 83-86 and the cool side around 77. Be sure to get a good thermometer to get accurate measurements? Remember, the snake is on the surface so a stick on thermometer above the surface can give a false reading. Good luck. I hope the vet had good words for you.

Unless something has happened internally to your rat.You should see a decent herp vet and double check the temps..Paul
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Taste like chicken