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Kenyan Regurgitation

B

BullSnakeME

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Hello, I have a kenyan sandboa (female) who is three years old, I aquired her april 11 at a herp expo. on Friday I attempted feeding her 2 rat pups, saturday morning i found 1 that had been thrown up and the other one had never been swallowed. she has eaten 1 rat pup successfully for me 3 times prior to this. I think i may have offered the second (on foreceps) before she had completely swallowed the first one, she did grab the second one so i figured she was all set and left her alone for the night. and the next day i discovered the conditions described at the beginning of the thread. any ideas would be greatfully apreciated.
 
3-4 four? holy cow, do you think 2 rat pups, (when all is normal) is too much for her? she's a good 30-33 inches long, I also have her on Sani Chips substrate right now, and i think i'm going to switch her to aspen shavings, i think she likes the chips all right, but she seems to insist dragging her mouse under the substrate and then drags it back on top to constrict it. so i'm afraid of the chips sticking to the food. also her temps in the day had been mid 80's lately, which i have read is within range, but it is the bottom end of the range. so i have taken measures to get the day time temps up.
 
The reason you want to give her a long break is so she can recover some of the natural bacteria lost when they regurge. Regarding size of the meals, that depends how large the rat pups are. (they vary from dealer to dealer etc). The bedding I usually use with my Kenyans is paper towels/newspaper, and aspen chips, but you will find many different types of bedding recommended, and most are just fine. Temps sound fine, I've found with my animals mid 80s to low 80s is where I prefer to keep them at most of the time and have good results.
 
thanks for all the tips, this is the first time i've had a snake toss its cookies, so i was very nervous. i have a lot of books, and most dont say much about what to do when a boa regurgitates. The ones that do adress it say wait "several days". which begs the question, how many days is "several"? i think that what happened looking back on it, was that i offered the second rat pup before she had completely swallowed the first one, and i think it spooked her, because everything else seems to check out. My plan is to offer her a hopper at the next meal so it should be easy for her to swallow and digest.
 
I'm at a loss now, she kept food down two weeks in a row, and this last feeding she didnt keep down, i dont know what to do, she looks dehydrated, and skinny, she has an incomplete shed, but she has the exact same setup as my male who is doing fine. i've taken out all the aspen bedding and have her on paper towels till i figure this out, but its really killing me. i'm going to give her a few weeks off food again and then try a hopper mouse, i can't believe that a weaned rat was too big for this snake, she's 30+ inches. but maybe 3 hoppers is the way to go instead of rat pups/weaned rats? i wanted to get her feeding on rats because she looks so thin. is it possible that because she was going into shed she would eat something and then freak out and throw it up?? any experts please help, i keep logs and should be able to answer any questions you'd have for me.
 
If your husbandry is on target, I'd recommend a getting fecal sample to your vet. In most cases, they'll want you to bring the animal in for an exam.
 
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