Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a small '04 red bull that I recently purchased. The last two meals of 3 mice and 2 mice has been regurgitated after a couple of days. She is housed in a decent size rack and has temps of about 78 on one side and 88 on the other. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

don't feed it again for a couple weeks-it's going to need time to heal inside from those reguritations...once they start that,it happens a lot more easily-and stop giving it so much in each feeding!i have an '04 pine snake-it's almost 4 feet long,but i feed it just one mouse per feeding,and do so about every 5 days,sometimes every 4 days.and it really doesn't need to eat that often-of course it would eat more if i offered,but as you've seen,pituophis will eat more than they can hold down.

Don't feed her for 10-14 days.
When you do feed her, give her one smaller-than-normal food item.
Repeat above steps in 10-14 days.

Once the snake has eaten three times, you can gradually increase food size and frequency of feeding.

When a snake throws up you should give it a couple weeks to get its digestive system back in order. If it regurges two or three times in a row, it's very bad.

Also, disturb the snake as little as possible after it eats. Leave it alone for at least 4 days.

Tim

Third Eye

The heat may be what's causing the regurg. Pits are very sensitive to temps, moreso than rats and kings. I wouldn't go higher than 82-84 for pits. Higher temps can cause regurging.

Mine (sonoran gopher) regurged twice as a hatchling, when I was keeping it at temps that I kept my other kings and rat snakes at. Lowering the temp range to 75-82 did the trick. He hasn't regurged since and is now over 5 feet long 2 1/2 years later.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the help - I will lower temps and hold off on any feedings for two weeks.

lafayette gave you good advice. 88* is much too warm! i keep my pits @ room temp & they eat me out of house & home every year. good luck......

room temperature varies to much depending on demographics... the 85F was a goodie though

in addition to following the advice above, you may also want to purchase some NutriBac. You can do a google and find it on Kathy Love's website. Basically it contains the "good" bacteria that is normally found in a reptiles gut. When they regurge they lose a lot of the good bacteria. So after you've waited the 10-14 days before feeding again, dip the tail end of the pinky you are going to feed into the NutriBac. This will help the animal in it's recovery. I've used this product before and it really does work.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps