Hey all,

Im a little bit worried - had the snake for 6 weeks now... he just came out of his hide, wondered around a bit then stopped mid tank in a nice open space and started convulsing from tail to mouth... ending in him throwing up this:







apologies for the quality of the photo's they were taken on my phone as i couldnt find my camera quickly... I removed it from the viv within 5 minutes of it happening...

any help identifying this would be much appreciated, as well as advice on if anything needs doing to help him out.

bit about the snake:
approx 2 years old - July 07
Male - Anery A
Feeds - 1 small mouse every 5 days (is due a feed tomorrow)

Thanks,

Matt

looks like mouse to me

He might need feeding every 7days rather then 5days it might be hes not having time to digest the mouse before hes being fed another one

I wouldnt be worried if hes ok in himself and acting normally i also wouldnt worry if he doesnt eat his mouse tomorrow

If you are worried those see if there is an vet who knows a little about snakes and see if he can just put your mind at rest

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

i would say its what ^^^ above said.

at two years old he is prob better off have less meals. for example 1 mouse every 2 weeks may be better.

snakes can get obese if fed too much and if not placed into hibernation

have u ever hibernated him/her ???

may be a good idea.

many hatchlings will do this as they tend to eat as many mice as they can fit in and then find they cant digest them all and sooo bring them back up.
recent boa hatchlings that i work with done this, wasnt too nice to clean up the next day lol.

i would worry about him as long as he seems fine in himself, just provide feeds less often.

hope tht helps x

hey,

firstly thanks... nice to get a quick response from people who clearly know more than i :-)

i was at an animal place recently and manager to collar one of the reptile handlers and he mentioned that a snake of that age and length (1 meter or so) should be eating 1-2 mice every 5 days...

he was eating 1 fuzzy every 7 days... but then i upped the food size and regularity to small mouse every 5... guess its just too much for him to handle, but this is the first up chuck since the change (1 month ago).

I'll try him on 1 mouse every week... will also give him chance to recover from this as i wont feed him tomorrow now.

never hibernated him - I'm not sure what that involves or what the benefits are... is there some kind of guide? I've had a corn before and never hibernated that one either.

Cheers,

Matt

If he had his mouse 4 days ago, i doubt it would be a mouse, unless you have held him in the past few days to irratate him?

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You either love me or hate me, Abit like marmite...

well i always found that with my corn snake, it would take her around 3 days to digest the mouse to the point where she had a poop.

But then im sure it wouldnt look anything like that? More decomposed.... How did the "Thing" feel? Squidgy? Hard? Furry? Boney? More details more help! Thanks.

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You either love me or hate me, Abit like marmite...

hes not been handled since his last feed, i haven't had time... but we can rule out irritation through handling.

the temperature in his viv hasn't gone below 72 or above 80 in the entire week.

i cut the item removed open and spread the contents out a bit... no bones or hair that i could see... it looked a bit paste... like congealed milk with clear liquid around it.

it was entirely squidy, and didnt smell particularly offensive, i've not seen the snake since (he went back into his hide after wondering around following this event)... will check on him tonight when i get back from work.

I dont think thats a mouse!! i would just keep an eye on him and she how he is after his next meal xx

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Mummy to
Kyle our Son
Slim our corn snake
George our baby bunny R.I.P
Lizzy and Mocha our Leo's
Missy moo our gorgeous kitty
and Spongebob our goldfish

If your corn has regurged, the only thing it can be is a partially digested mouse. If it regurged 4 days after a feed, then that is pretty much what is would look like by then.

You should leave your snake for another 10-14 days before trying to feed it again to give the stomach time to settle. Feeding before then will likely cause another regurge. When you do next feed it, offer something smaller, depending on how big your snake is, maybe a fuzzy or large pinky, and then gradually increase the size of the prey item each time.

What does your snake weigh? Weight is a good guide for prey size. An 07 corn should really be on a large/extra large mouse every 7-10 days by now, but if it has only been on small mice, then it might not be very well grown, and you certainly can't increase it's prey size yet. I have 08 corns that are on large mice already, and they are not fat.

Low temps are the most likely cause of regurge here, I think, and too frequent feeding. A corn should have a hotspot of 28-30 degrees C, which is 82.4 - 86 degrees F.

Edited to add, you do not need to brumate (hibernate, well sort of) your corn at all. People often do so when they want to breed, as it encourage sbreeding behaviour, but you don't even have to do that.