Restoration of digestive juices, time line?

[Groenslang]

Hey guys!

This is a question for the guys/gals with some experience. One of my neonate corns are having/had problems with regurging. I followed the whole wait 6 or 7 days and then feed a pink head and see if he keeps it down, well this was on the 28th that I fed him the very small pinky head which he kept down and digested already (he defecated on the fresh newspaper that I put out) . Tonight he is very active and obviously hungry. I fed the others and the about 10 minutes after I took the pinks out of the fridge to defrost, he was the first one out and about looking for food.

What I want to know from you guys: In YOUR opinion, how long does it take for their digestive systems to get up and running after regurges?

Thanx for the help!

Arno

 

[diamondlil]

It's actually more a case of letting the lining of the oesophagus heal rather than digestive juices building up. The stomach continually secretes liquid, and more when a meal is being eaten. Most people advise 10 days wait after a regurge. Then how quickly to build up to normal meals really depends on why the regurge happened, and a slower build back with hatchlings because a cycle of regurging can lead to death so easily with them, having so little resources to repeatedly heal themselves after each regurge. (So each time, healing the oesophagus uses precious energy and protein and stresses the ability of the snake to survive and grow)

 

[Nanci]

I would not feed at a shorter interval than five days. Some people even go to seven day feedings post-regurge. My main goal is re-establishing the "good" gut bacteria and providing easily-digestible meals that will not stress the digestive system. I want the post-regurge meals moving through quickly and easily.

I have a current regurge "patient" right now. He is a 13g 2009, probable cause of regurge was very slight increase in pink size; it would be devastating to my future breeding plans to lose this snake. This is what I have done with him so far:

Regurge

Tubed Nutribac every other day for 10 days

10 days later- fed pink upper half

Regurge next day

10 day waiting period with tubed Nutribac E/O day

Tube-fed 1ml ground pink

NB tubed Day 3

Then, these feeds, every five days, coated liberally with Nutribac:

Small pink head

Larger pink head

Front half of pink

Rear half of pink

Whole pink, cut in two (I'd prefer thirds, but I have to hand feed him and it's too hard to hold a third of a pink)

For the next however many meals, he will be eating pinks, then 1.5 pinks, then double pinks, then peach fuzzies, then fuzzies, all cut in half. With Nutribac.

To answer your question, I'm not sure if anyone can quantify the number of days till the snake's system is back to normal. I _can_ tell you that I treat a snake who has regurged with caution for the next year. Maybe that is overly-cautious, but I haven't lost one yet, and up till the case I told you about above, never had a repeat regurge. By treating with caution I mean always using Nutribac (probiotics for reptiles) and cutting the mice into thirds or halves up till the hopper stage, and then slitting through the skin of the mice on all three sides, copiously. I increase the prey size conservatively, following the Munson Plan, but being extra-cautious; making sure the snake is well into the next range before moving up. If there are no further problems, the snake goes back to normal feedings after a year.

 

[Groenslang]

Thank you d=dill and nancy for your replies! It was very informative and usefull! That is why I asked for people with experience with this, because I knew that I would get informative answers.

I think mine regurged because they took a little longer than the rest of the shipment to settle in. It was only single regurges (so far) so I am not too worried about it right now. Day ten is going to be tomorrow, so we will see how the feed goes!

Once again, than you so much for your help!