problems with my Cal King

Syco · 01-05-04, 10:35 PM

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I have a female Cal King that is about 2 yrs old and was eating fine until this past May. We fed her a meal that was too large for her and she regurged, we waited 10 days and fed her again (a smaller meal) she regurged again. Now after several times of regurging and a period of not eating at all, she started to eat but nothing but small fuzzies. I seem to remember someone metioning somthing you could give them to build up their digestive enzymes. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

Will · 01-06-04, 12:15 AM

I don' t have any specific suggestions off hand, but I was wondering if you could clear something up:
Is she refusing other prey items all together(she won't accept Hoppers), or will she take them and then regurge them back up(she can only 'handle' small fuzzies, nothing bigger)...? Just curious, that may clue someone else into what is going on.

I would think if she could keep down fuzzies, there's no reason to think she would refuse hoppers. If she keeps regurging hoppers, maybe get a vet to check her out...?

Syco · 01-06-04, 09:27 AM

She was regurging any prey item that was large enough to leave a lump

, after a while she started to refuse anything larger than a sm fuzzy (could this be a learned behavior?) and she is losing weight. Last night we got her to eat a large hopper, almost weaned mouse size, I hope she keeps it down.

Vanan · 01-06-04, 12:14 PM

Syco, always remember that the #1 killer of a regurgitating snake is not its inability to eat but dehydration. A snake dehydrates alot when it regurges one meal, let alone two. I've done the same mistake and reduced the size of subsequent meals. Wrong thing to do. Always ensure there's water available and maybe even encourage a drink. In fact, at this stage, I would suggest getting some Pedialyte every 3-4 days into your snake. Give it about a week or two to let the stomach settle. Only then should you try a smaller meal. In fact, if you can find some Ornabac, or better still, Nutribac, add that with the food item too. Just to aid in digestion. The weight loss is mostly due to water loss. I'd bet she'd start looking better once you start rehydrating her. Good luck!

Edit: Sometimes we even go further by giving them an egg, syringe fed, as the first meal after regurging. Easier to digest.

Tim_Cranwill · 01-06-04, 12:49 PM

Syringe feeding can be tricky but if you want any tips, send me a PM.

Syco · 01-06-04, 01:16 PM

Vanan- do I just replace her water source with pedialyte or add it to her water? Nutribac is the type of thing I was trying to remember, Thanks!
Tim- Thanks for the offer of help, if she doesn't keep this meal down I am going to consider syringe feeding.
So far she has kept down the hopper she ate last night and I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Would rat pinkies or pups be easier to digest and maybe put a little more weight on her?

Vanan · 01-06-04, 01:29 PM

It's better to syringe feed her some pedialyte as you don't want to waste it if she doesn't drink it off the dish. Try dribbling it down her chin a lil. If she doesn't make the drinking motions then squirt (Slowly!) some down her throat or better still use a stomach tube.

Simon Sansom · 01-06-04, 04:59 PM

Hi Syco,

Your mention of chronic regurgitation has me a little worried, particularly as it's been going on for quite some time.

First, let me make a point - I am NOT a veterinarian. I would just like to offer a bit of advice. You are free to take it or leave it, it's up to you.

There is an extremely nasty little parasite called <html><i> Cryptosporidium </i></html> which infects reptiles and affects the stomach lining causing repetitive regurgitation as one of it's symptoms.
As far as I know, it is quite contagious and can easily spread to any other animals in a collection. To the best of my knowledge it is fatal, unless someone's come up with a cure in the last ten years or so..

Now, I'm not one to go running off to the vet's every time something goes wrong, but in this particular case I would urge you most strongly to have the snake examined by a competent vet, if possible.

- Is the animal losing an appreciable amount of weight?
- Does she regurgitate one or two days after feeding?
- Does the snakes' stomach area seem swollen at all?
- Are your other snakes okay?

I hope that I haven't upset you, but I would really feel a whole lot better if you could get the animal checked.

Let us know how things go.

Simon

Syco · 01-06-04, 05:59 PM

Simon- I appreciate your concern, She hasn't regurged for about the last 4 meals. It's just that she wouldn't eat anything larger than a fuzzy once every 7 days. That's just not enough to keep her body weight up. She's still active and she ate a fuzzy and a weaned mouse last night. All my other snakes are fine and eating like champs and growing like weeds

She was doing great and was one of our best feeders until we got stupid and gave her a mouse that was way to big for her, she got it down but regurged 3 days later and then the problems began. It's almost as if she is scared to take larger prey now. If this one doesn't stay down I will get her checked out. Thanks for the heads up!

Oh, and she doesn't have any swelling in her stomach.

Vanan · 01-06-04, 10:04 PM

Yea, watch out for that swelling Syco. *knock on wood* Just in case it may be what Simon suggested. Although I doubt it. Besides, with crypto, the swelling doesn't show up all the time. Sometimes it shows up after the snake's dead.

Simon Sansom · 01-06-04, 11:03 PM

You're quite welcome, Syco.

I certainly hope that it is not <html><i> "Crypto" </i></html>.
When I hear about on-going regurgitation, I get a bit worried.

I hope that the problem ends up being easily resolved.
Just wanted to warn you.

All the best!

Simon

Simon Sansom · 01-06-04, 11:08 PM

Syco,

You mentioned that you had fed her an over-sized prey item prior to the beginning of the regurges - I wonder if something inside her might have been damaged? Unlikely, but possible, I suppose.

Anyone have any viable input on internal damages caused by too large a meal in snakes...???

Just an after-thought.

Simon

Syco · 01-07-04, 12:13 AM

Simon- I never thought of that, I really hope it's nothing that serious

She's still keeping down the meal from last night, a couple of good meals like that and I believe she will pull out of this.
What are your thoughts on switching to rat pinkies? Do you think that might put the weight back on better? Would they be easier to digest? Assuming I could get her to eat them.

Simon Sansom · 01-07-04, 06:27 AM

Aye, there's the rub - you'd like to give her more, or bigger prey to get some weight on her, but you can't because she yacks it up, becoming, as Vanan has previously stated, more and more dehydrated.

I don't know if switching to rat pinks would help. You might want to try it.

Simon

Vanan · 01-07-04, 01:09 PM

Syco, I've been in your situation before with some species which are known and able to take large prey (eg. bulls). Didn't work as they aren't designed to take large prey items all the time. Only occasionally. So if your snake too it once, doesn't mean it's a size which you should feed it all the time. What I find works for me, as far as growth is concerned, is smaller prey items, fed more regularly. Ever since, I've been having less problems and more weight gained.

Besides, the only reason why I was trying to get them to gain weight was cos they were on the skinny side to begin with. Otherwise, no reason to rush things.