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Regurges: Rare or No?

MyLittleGuyCyrus

MyLittleGuyCyrus

New member
Fortunately I haven't had to deal with this issue and hopefully won't ever have to!

I was wondering, after reading on here everyday, it seems these are very, very common. Is this true.....has anyone ever not dealt with a regurge?

I understand that most of the people on here have a number of snakes, and the more you have obvisiouly the chances go up (do simply to the numbers). But what if you only have one (or if I am lucky two). If precaustions are followed is it possible that one wouldn't have to deal with this? I am NOT asking people to predict if ones snakes will or won't regurge, I am just wondering if it is as common as it seems?
 
I've had three snakes regurge. The first was my first snake, an adult, who was fed too large of a prey item. The second two were a baby and a yearling, who both regurged when fed while blue, and I couldn't identify any other cause. There are over 7500 members here, so I imagine it seems like there are a lot of regurges, but in actuality, there are plenty of snakes who go their whole lives without regurging, too. The important thing is to follow a few simple rules to avoid regurges, and you will _probably_ be fine. If a prey item seems too large- just don't feed it. Listen to your gut feelings. Don't handle your snake, except to return to its viv from its feeding container, for a minimum of 48 hours after feeding. Provide a temp gradient with a warm spot of about 85, and a cooler end of 70-75. Don't stress the snake by cohabitating it. If your snake is reluctant to feed when blue, don't try to convince it- just put it away. If you have a snake that has been fed WC lizards, or is itself a WC snake, deworm it.
 
Thanks Nanci...as usual another thought out answer!

I am pretty rigid about following feeding protocal but after reading on here I thought maybe that isn't enough. Never thought about the ratio of regurge problems on here to actual number of members......breaking it down like that really put me at ease!

Thanks again Nanci!
 
My first snake regurged multiple times until he died, he was very small and young and I think he had internal issues I could not figure out. Since then, I now have 6 snakes and have never experienced a regurge with any of them. Nanci gives great advice and it seems to be working out fine for me. I will say there is part of me that will always worry and be paranoid...I am constantly on the lookout a day or two after feeding. You should be fine, good luck!
 
When a corn regurges someone sounds the alarm but no one posts about their corns digesting ok unless it's the first meal or there were previous problems with that corn. I've had one regurge and that's because I was stupid and fed an unwanted fuzzy from one corn to another that already finished her meal. The extra one was too much and got regurged.
 
Yeah, no one remembers a non-event. Regurges usually happen the temps are wrong or too large an item has been fed. A certain small percentage of babies just aren't destined to make it, too. If you deal with enough animals, you'll have this happen. In established adult snakes it seems very rare.
 
Looking around my current ones (14 in all), I only have a record of one regurge, and that was when I'd just moved up a prey size from small to medium mice. I gave her a break to recover from regurge, then she had three feeds back on smalls, and was onto mediums without a hitch.

It's rare. It's just that, as said above, nobody posts with good news.
 
I've had 2 snakes regurge. One of them is still with me today, but the other we lost in August. The first one is my '06 amel. He regurged 6 times total, if I remember correctly, and it was heating/stress/cohab issues. The other one that I lost regurged 4 times. He was an '08 king. It seemed to me that he might have had some internal parasites that I didn't manage to catch in time.
 
I've had lots of regurges from babies, but like Nanci said, more snakes who have never regurged than did. You get to know your snakes' habits and find that some are just slower digesters, and can't really be fed every four to five days like most can. Also when one has a problem, I tend to cut the pinky a little more deeply when I feed them.
Most regurges have been timed with shedding cycles that I didn't notice though, and were one off events.
Check your husbandry ruthlessly, and follow the directions well, and you'll most likely be ok!
 
Mark16 said:
If you do not hold him after he is eating he won't regurge.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that's just WAY off the mark. There are so many more factors that could play into regurge issues. Temperatures, humidity, internal parasites, external parasites, stress, the list goes on. While that answer may seem to make sense for certain cases, it does not, by ANY means, explain away them all. When my little king was having his regurge issues, I didn't handle him for OVER A MONTH AND A HALF, and he still regurged. Looking back on it, I should have taken him to a herp vet, but I didn't have the money, unfortunately. Now I always make sure I at least have a little bit of money tucked away just in case.
 
Mark16 said:
If you do not hold him after he is eating he won't regurge.
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily true... a regurge still may happen for other reasons...

I've had two... one when I tried to feed Gunn in a four day cycle instead of thr 5-7 day and when I moved Gailleann up to a small adult because the shops weaned were way too small (more like hoppers). I should have fed her two of the hoppers probably instead of the small adult.
 
I think Stephen said it best...a healthy snake doesn't regurge. Which is really true, most snakes regurge for reasons we know...too big a prey item...shedding....bad temps...high stress.

However the amount of snakes that do regurge vs eating is in the .01 or less percentile I believe.
 
I've got 10 snakes currently and had a max of 12 this year. So far I've only dealt with one regurge which could have been due to several factors: I fed as she was about to go blue (I didn't know it), I fed a slightly larger than normal prey item, and I fed 4 days after the previous feeding instead of the usual 5-6.

I'm now more diligent about feeding a min of 5 days apart and I split the mice up into weight classes so I don't grab a weirdly large mouse out of the pinky bag again.

I did not feed her for 10 days after the regurge, then gave her very small pinks for 3 feedings. She is back on the same schedule as all the rest now and has had no further issues. She is the smallest of my '08s though.
 
One thing I am reading on here is that you are all feeding 5 or more days apart. I have been following the Munson Plan and feeding Cyrus every 4 days. Like I said, I haven't dealt with any regurges and he eats with much gusto (except in blue). I usually feed him 1 bigger sized pinkie, but on Tuesday I gave him two small pinkies (he is 14 grams). I wasn't gonna do two until 16 grams, but these were real small pinkies.

So, should I push it back to 5 days a feeding or since he seems to be handeling it ok should I keep him on 4 days?
 
The Munson Plan was revised not long ago, adding a day to feeding times for the smaller snakes. Where it did say "4-5" it's now "5-6." "5-6" likewise became "6-7."
 
Saffleur said:
I think Stephen said it best...a healthy snake doesn't regurge. Which is really true, most snakes regurge for reasons we know...too big a prey item...shedding....bad temps...high stress.

However the amount of snakes that do regurge vs eating is in the .01 or less percentile I believe.
Click to expand...


I'll be nitpicky here... healthy snakes WILL regurge under certain circumstances... just because my little one can't eat every four days, but can every 5 or 6 doesn't make him unhealthy... just because I bumped up my Ultramel in size before she was ready doesn't make her unhealthy. Our eyes were just bigger than her stomach :)
 
Except that the feeding schedules is your responsibility...not the snakes which has nothing to do with their health.
 
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