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Regurgitation?

enchantress62

enchantress62

In love with Frank
What causes regurgitation? How dangerous is it to the snake? Should you try to feed the snake again or wait for awhile? I am new to snake ownership and have not had a chance to get a book yet. My baby corn was fed on Monday and this morning I found shed skin and a partially regurgitated meal. I place him in a separate cage for feeding which requires a small amount of handling. Now I'm wondering if that was the cause of the regurgitation or if it was because of the shedding?
 
I know there is a protocol that most people try to follow after that happens, but I don't know what it is, I thought it was stickied but I didn't see it.

Someone else will answer, for sure. I don't know but I would guess it had something to do with his shedding. I certainly hope that the small amount of handling required to move them to their feeding tub isn't enough to cause it. That's how I feed as well.
 
enchantress62 said:
What causes regurgitation? How dangerous is it to the snake? Should you try to feed the snake again or wait for awhile? I am new to snake ownership and have not had a chance to get a book yet. My baby corn was fed on Monday and this morning I found shed skin and a partially regurgitated meal. I place him in a separate cage for feeding which requires a small amount of handling. Now I'm wondering if that was the cause of the regurgitation or if it was because of the shedding?
Click to expand...

The reason is more likely caused by him shedding.

For help look in Health Issues/Feeding Problems in the sticky Health Issues/Feeding Problems FAQ.

Two good books are

Corn Snakes in Captivity (Professional Breeders Series) by Don Soderberg (Oct 1, 2007)

or

Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide (Herpetocultural Library, The) by Kathy Love and Bill Love (Sep 1, 2006)
 
Feeding in a separate container won't cause regurgitation. The small amount of handling it takes to move a snake from its feeding container back to its home simply isn't stressful enough. I frequently even rinse snakes under the faucet after feeding to clean them from bloody mice, vitamins, Nutribac, etc. and have never, ever had a regurge after moving a snake. I feed 80 snakes and move all but three of them for feeding.

I have, however, noticed a definite relationship to feeding while blue, before you can tell a snake is blue, when the snake is in the clear phase right before shedding and even, rarely, right after shedding, and regurgitation. I would call this somewhat common. I will not feed a blue snake, and try to avoid feeding when I suspect a snake may be blue but it is not apparent yet.

Other causes of regurgitation would be temps outside the preferred range, handling while the snake is digesting, a meal size too large, and more rarely, infection, parasites and disease.

Moving forward, do not feed your snake for 8-10 days following the regurge. This sounds drastic, but really it amounts to skipping one meal. Feed a prey item half the size of the meal that was regurged. If at all possible, obtain Nutribac and use that on all meals for a long period of time- months. Gradually increase the prey size back up to what the snake should be eating (prey 1 to 1.5 times the diameter of the snake at the snake's widest part). Take it easy; you don't want to cause a second regurge. Slit the back and sides of the mouse just through the skin with a small scissors to make it easier to digest. Do not handle for 48 to preferably 72 hours after feeding. Step up to the next prey size conservatively and gradually.

Do not feed your snake when it is blue, ever again. If you can't tell by looking, become observant so you can tell by behaviour. When the snake is hiding away in the evening, when it would usually be active, for several nights in a row, chances are it is blue. Young snakes shed about once a month, almost like clockwork. Keep a record of sheds and if the snake is due to shed and inactive, even if you can't visually detect the blue phase, you can bet the snake is blue. Just skip that meal. Sometimes you might even have to skip two meals. This will not harm your snake.
 
Okay, I have not fed him again and will skip his next feed. I've been giving him two small pinks just because he seems so hungry when I do feed him but maybe that's too much. Next question; His shed skin seems to be intact but I want to check and make sure the caps came off his eyes. Should I wait to handle him or is it ok to pick him up now?
 
I would avoid handling him until the next meal, but if you can't rest until you check his eyes that would be fine. You just want him to be stress-free. Can you check the shed for the eye caps?

In all the thousands of sheds I have seen, I have only had one snake retain an eye cap. And it was such an awful experience that I always check _his_ sheds carefully, and mist the snakes so they have nice sheds, but I have only had that one retained spectacle, that one time. It is rare. OTOH it's not so rare for the tail tip to not shed, and that is something you should always inspect the shed for, or search the viv for, and if you can't find an intact tail tip shed, inspect the snake.

Regarding snakes who seem hungry after feeding- they all do that. In the wild, a snake would keep eating a nest of pinky mice until they were all gone. After you put a snake back it is typical to see it continue to roam around for several hours until it finally retires to digest. Don't be fooled; the snake does not need more mice.
 
I'm going to buy a book on corn snakes this weekend but in the mean time I can use all the advise I can get. I removed the regurge from the viv and inspected the shed. All seems well. The caps and tail are definetly attached to the shed and I even lifted Frank's hide and found him cuddled up just resting. I think he's going to be fine but I don't want to cause him anymore stress so all advise is appreciated.
 
I just had a similar thing happen. My hatchling regurged close to a shed. He ate his second meal since the regurge 3 days ago (after refusing 2) and I'm really hoping to find properly digested remnants when I get home, especially because he struggled so much to get the it down.

When would a trip to the vet be warranted? Sure, it was probably hopefully just being in blue, but there's always that horrible "what if".
 
I know what you mean. This is my first corn and I hover like he's a newborn baby. lol I feed Frank on Monday's but I'm going to wait until the middle of next week before feeding him again. He's been a good eater since I brought him home I just hope this doesn't stop him from eating. He's so tiny and seems so fragile although I think I'm being over protective sometimes.
 
I would consider a trip to the vet if a snake had repeated regurges after all conditions that could possibly have caused a regurge have been eliminated.

I would consider a trip to the vet if I aquired a new snake who was thin, had a sharp spine, a swollen stomach that I could feel, who regurged one time. These are symptoms of crypto. It would be rare to find crypto or any other disease in a new hatchling, although not completely unheard of.
 
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