Northern Pines Puking!

thanks. they're in the new rubbermaid 45qt snap toppers with about 3" aspen to burrow in. they work prety well - like how the lid is even with the brim of the tub. they will be moved to large Iris X-mas tree storage boxes as adults and possibly something bigger if they look cramped.

I keep all of my pits and Drymarchon in the low to mid 80's all the time. I brumate my pits in winter at 60 degrees (except Mexican Pines).

I brumate my pits in winter at 60 degrees (except Mexican Pines).

What do you brumate your Mexicans at? Just curious because I started cooling my jani down gradually about 10 days ago. They're at 65 now but I was planning on taking them down further.

Originally posted by evansnakes
On the practical side of things, aquariums are not ideal. If you are using a screen top that is where all your heat is exiting your tank. Try covering 1/2-2/3 of the top with a towel or something. They should be a bot warmer anyhow as the outdoor and indoor temps are dropping this time of year.

On the other hand, many colubrids that regurg have digestive track or intestinal blockage or other problems that can be solved by a dose of Flagyl. Almost always after a single dose your problem will be solved.

Thanks for the info on Flagyl. I took my Rosy Boas to the vet and it turned out they DID have internal parisites. So the vet gave my Flagyl to give them. They were puking so that's why I originally read this thread.

I wasn't going to brumate my jani this year at all. For one thing, they are juveniles and I want to get some size on them first, and for another I'm not sure how they should be brumated. I don't have any information yet that wil tell me what their requirements are going to be.....I need to find someone who's had some experience with them.

I want to thank everyone who has replied to this thread. I had several NPS that were being kept in 10 gallon aquariums with acrylic lids, on Pine Shavings, at about 70F. I was feeding them fuzzy rats, about mouse size.

I did a lot of research on the pine shavings, I have used them for 30 years with Boas, Balls, bull snakes, king snakes, rat snakes, etc. and had no issues at all! I checked with several vastly experienced people around the country and with a local source that has forty years of experience extending to tens of thousands of snakes of all kinds. The result of this inquiry is that pine shavings are fine if natural and not treated. Aspen seems to be preferred if shavings are desired.

Some people keep their NPS at 70F and some closer to 80F, all agree that newspaper or paper towels are the most safe substrate.

I did the following: I increased the temperature of the room to 80-82F and removed the locale heat from all tanks in the room (which contains corns, kings, pines, and gophers). I removed the pine shavings in favor of newspapers. I also quit feeding anything with much hair in favor of pink rats. The most sensitive snakes I also started feeding prekilled to make things less dramatic.

Results: I had some success in decreasing the regurging but not entirely. I do agree that the larger the item or total meal, the more inclined they are to regurg. The temperature seemes to help a lot. These snakes, which do not all come from the same sources, seem to like soaking and all seem to do better at a constant temp of about 80f. When I provided a gradient, they seemed to seek the cooler temps but then they regurged??! I regard the best combination as pink rats, one a week, temp about 80f constant. I am going to put them back on shavings at soem point because they are more clean, but I think I'll try aspen. Of all factors, I think the shavings seem to be the least of an issue, and my suspicion is that the shavings are less disturbing that messing with getting the snakes out from under the paper to check on them.

By the way, I also had a corn snake hatchling that was not eating. Nothing worked until I finally started feed it pink mice in a very small margerine container with stinky shavings. Worked like a charm and it feeds everytime I leave it like this for a few hours.

Hope this helps some others,

Val Campbell