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Milk Snake Regurgitating Food

I

InFocus

and I will lift my hands
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I have a small albino Nelson's Milk Snake, about 6 months old who has begun to regurgitate his feeder fuzzy every time I feed him. (The last two times) Any idea as to what is causing him to do this?

Thanks,
bob
 
any number of things could be at fault. too big a food item, temperature variance, stress, illness, *not waiting long enough* (once a snake regurgs, you should give it a couple of weeks to recover...then offer a smaller than norm prey item)
 
I notice that with my Cal kings I need to feed them pre-killed or stunned prey. The activity of constricting live prey (active) is too stressful for them. They also have a more difficult time digesting more mature food sources (more difficult to digest the heavier fur?). Never have that problem with my Mexican Black Kings. I don't have milk snakes but the Cal kings aren't very precise hunters, they flail around the cage striking and mostly missing the prey animal. MBKs are much more skilled and courageous, in fact I marvel that Cal kings ever survive in the wild, my suspicion is that as young (and I imagine that milk snakes may fit into this category) they mostly prey on pinks in the nest for quite a while, certainly longer than six months. I have a number of Cal kings that are around 30" and most of them won't eat anything more than small popcorn mice (boy, they will eat a lot of small or pink mice!). They also seem to prefer mice, but I am gradually getting them off onto Pink Rats as rats are so much easier to raise and have a higher fat content. This also allows me to feed larger, more appropriate meals without the stress of eating more active mice. As you can tell, I mostly feed live food, long story there, but I have been at this almost forty years and have better results and never had a problem feeding live foods.
 
I have been feeding the Nelson's live pray. He will not eat the frozen as of yet. This was the first fuzzy I fed him, although he regurgitated a pinkie the last time I fed him. He is very shy, I have to leave the pinky in with him and he will eat it during the night which he has had no problem doing until the last two feedings. The pinkey is gone the next morning and back the next night. Nothing has changed in his environment though.
Any suggestions?
 
Get a fecal checked. Sometimes the hair, I think, is what puts them off being able to hold down food.

Feed smaller pinks than normal for the next 2 or 3 feedings and then try a fuzzy-pink, eyes closed but a little bit of hair, for a couple of feedings then try a small mouse again. You may need to go more than just 2 or 3 feedings to get your snake back into shape.

Post a pic if you can.
 
I agree that a fecal check is a good idea, but more importantly - you really need to give it a little break. As I mentioned in my last post, after a regurg, you should wait 2 weeks and try with a smaller than normal prey item. You can sometimes (often) get away with feeding after a week...your problem here was feeding a larger prey item to an already stressed system. Also, you stated that nothing else has changed with the environment. sometimes little things such as cooler room temps or direct flow from a fan or AC can affect our animals. (just want to be sure that you have considered everything - I had a problem with a large snake going off food and into a repeated shed cycle because he was in the middle of a stacked cage unit and had higher temps than the others in the rack. you wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that our...or how dumb I felt when I did.
 
I had a sand boa give birth and then start regurging. Nothing changed except she gave birth. I don't know why she started regurging but she did. I was feeding her hoppers so I waited 10 days, fed her a fuzzy. She regurged. I waited 10 more days, fed her a large pinky. She regurged that too.

A friend of mine gave me some NutriBac for reptiles & amphibians. I waited 10 days and coated a pinky in the Nutribac and fed it to her. She kept it down. 5 days later I coated a fuzzy in the Nutribac and she kept that down. Now she is back to her regularly scheduled feedings of hopper mice. She has not reguged since.

If you get this stuff, just coat the rear end of the pinky or your snake may not take the pinky. If you could get your snake to eat F/T, those are easier for a snake to digest because the freezing process has already started to break the prey item down and may help you snake.

I don't feed F/T or live either. I feed prekilled, which simply means I whack the mouse before I feed it. I don't whack pinks & fuzzys though.

Good luck w/your snake. I hope it gets better. The Nelson's are beautiful animals. I bought an albino one for my boss for Christmas and he is getting huge.
 
1


Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I went back last night and rechecked the room conditions and, as far as I can tell, there have been no changes. He did have a partial shed since the last regurgitation. I'm going to wait the two weeks to let him settle down and try again. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks
 

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When did the snake last shed? If you just found the stuck shed, if the snake just shed, then that alone could cause the regurg.

If the shed was prior to feeding then it was most likely not a factor.
 
Well I took everyones good advice and waited two weeks to feed to let him settle down. Hew was getting anxious the past few days coming out and looking at me every evening when I came in the room and wondering when his next meal was coming. I fed him a smaller than normal pinkie, he still would not take it from me so, as usual, I left it in the tank but as soon as I got the top back on and the tank put up he was eating, with no waiting for the middle of the night! I quietly checked this morning and no pinkie or regurgitating. Hopefully he'll keep this one down and we'll be on the road to a fat and happy Albino Nelsons! Thanks everyone for your help!
 
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