My boa regurgitated his last meal, should I be concerned?

[PaleStag90]

Hey guys, please give me some advice. I've never had this happen before and I'm worried.

So backstory.

Drogo is an approximately 2 month old Sharp Sunglow boa that i purchased from LLLreptile who arrived Friday 12/18/15.

I noticed upon his arrival that he seemed a bit bloated, but after a day he had a good normal looking poop and was happy to eat on feeding day the following monday. He ate a small hopper mouse with no problems.

Now his initial housing was not ideal. I had him under an infrared heat lamp that warmed his hot spot to about 90 degrees, which i checked and rechecked constantly with a thermometer as I'm a little neurotically sensitive to the happiness and comfort of my snakes and their temperatures.

So he ate that monday, 12/21/15, a small hopper mouse.

Once my flex watt arrived, I attached it to my racks, testing my temperatures reading a nice consistent 92 degree warm side.

So he moved into there Tuesday night, 12/22/15, and noticed he still had quite a bulge from the feeding monday which i thought seemed a little odd. It still looked like he'd just eaten it.

Once inside the rack tub, he was happy to cozy up on the heat, everything seemed fine.

Then this evening, Thursday 12/24/15, I went down and discovered he'd regurgitated what was left. I forgot to get a picture (it stank so bad I just wanted to get it cleaned up and out of there), but it was mostly hair and what looked like to be maybe a bit of a tail left, and about 2 3rds of it was black, while the other bit was obviously white fur. (He ate an all white hopper).

Visually, he appears in good health now, no bloating, or anything out of the usual.
But I've never had a snake regurgitate a meal, and it worries me. Should I be worried?

I'm thinking its probably from the temporary set up he was in prior not getting adequate heating that caused the meal to not digest properly. Even once on the proper belly heat it was just a little too far bad and so he just threw up the stuff that was going rancid? Something I should be happy about, right? Does that seem like sound logic?

I'm just really nervous guys, I love my little guys and this is seriously unfamiliar territory for me.

By the way the mouse was purchased frozen from Petco... I've never liked purchasing frozen items from them, but my own rats haven't produced anything yet. Could it have been a bad mouse? Nothing seemed disturbing about the feeder when I fed it.

[serpentgirl123]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like he was in one enclosure and then moved into a rack a short time later?

IF that is the case, I suspect the reason he regurged might be because he was moved so soon after eating. Some are sensitive to being held/moved so soon after eating. I would leave him alone for at least 10-14 days (because of the regurge mostly), minimal contact, and then try again with the feeding, but a size smaller.

Good luck!

[bigsnakegirl785]

Regurges are always a cause for concern. I wouldn't have moved enclosures that soon after eating, since that can stress them out.

That said, the bloating you describe on arrival has me worried. LLL Reptile is pretty well-known to be a reptile flipper/wild caught broker, so unhealthy animals are a real concern.

I'd give the snake 1-2 weeks without any food and make sure it stays hydrated. When it comes time to offer another meal, offer something half the size. In your case, I'd opt for a fuzzy mouse rather than a mouse pinkie since the milk bellies are hard on their digestive system and it's already regurged which puts enormous stress on their bodies.

I may be being paranoid after my loss, but if you suspect it was low temps, I'd take it to the vet and make sure it didn't form any infections. A bad mouse/rotting meal can easily cause a blood infection.

[Nightflight99]

As both of the previous posters pointed out, this was likely due to an overwhelming amount of stress factors. Being shipped around the country is a major stress factor, as is being placed in a completely new and/or different enclosure. It is usually a good idea to err on the side of caution and give the new animal a solid week to settle in properly into its new environment. For the first couple of feedings, I like to provide a slightly smaller prey item than necessary, and then leave the snake alone for several days to allow it to fully digest the meal. If your timeline is correct, then you moved the snake the day after the first feeding from one enclosure to another. That in itself is a large enough stress factor that can trigger a regurgitation.

I'd follow the advice of serpentgirl123 and bigsnakegirl785, and give the snake a couple of weeks to recover before feeding it a fuzzy mouse. Then go another 10-14 days and feed another (slightly larger) fuzzy. If those two feedings are trouble-free, then you can slowly start decreasing the feeding intervals and increasing the size to small hopper mice again.