Anyone here have experience with dwarf boa regurgitation??

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 07:14 PM

My caulker cay boa ate a pinkie rat two days ago and just regurgitated today. Shes about 13 inches long. I don't know the age on her. She is captive bred. The previous owner did tell me that his clutch of dwarf boas regurgitate sometimes. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of behavior? She came to me in pretty bad shape(I think). She is skinny and has folds of skin so she is obviously underfed, or if properly fed, she has been regurgitating a few of her meals every now and then. Here are some pics of her. You can tell shes not up to standards in terms of weight.

I know pics may not show up, I will fix this issue in a bit

**lady_bug87** · 06-01-13, 07:21 PM

What are her temperatures and humidity like? How often are you attempting to feed her and how many consecutive meals has she regured? Also what are you feeding her?

If the regurges are not consecutive, how often does she puke it up? How long after she eats does it come up? How digested is it?

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

What are her temperatures and humidity like? How often are you attempting to feed her and how many consecutive meals has she regured? Also what are you feeding her?

If the regurges are not consecutive, how often does she puke it up? How long after she eats does it come up? How digested is it?

I keep her in an aboreal enclosure. 12x12x18. So the thermal gradient goes from top to bottom. At the top basking side(which is a perch) it is 90-92F. There is a second level below the perch and around there it is around 85 degrees. At the bottom there are hides and inside those hides are around 75-80 depending on the time of day. Humidity is kept above 50% and below 70%.

I actually had her for a little over a week, so that would have been the first time I tried feeding her. I fed her a rat pinkie, which left a small bulge but nothing too big. Was about 1.5x the thickest part of her body. She puked it up after 2 days of eating it.

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 11:12 PM

**Aaron_S** · 06-01-13, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

I keep her in an aboreal enclosure. 12x12x18. So the thermal gradient goes from top to bottom. At the top basking side(which is a perch) it is 90-92F. There is a second level below the perch and around there it is around 85 degrees. At the bottom there are hides and inside those hides are around 75-80 depending on the time of day. Humidity is kept above 50% and below 70%.

I actually had her for a little over a week, so that would have been the first time I tried feeding her. I fed her a rat pinkie, which left a small bulge but nothing too big. Was about 1.5x the thickest part of her body. She puked it up after 2 days of eating it.

Why is she in an arboreal set up?

Right there is your problem. She's not getting warm enough to digest her meal. She's a terrestrial species.

Fix that...all will be better.

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Why is she in an arboreal set up?

Right there is your problem. She's not getting warm enough to digest her meal. She's a terrestrial species.

Fix that...all will be better.

I may do that, but from what I have researched they are more aboreal than the mainland bci. I also see her perched during the night and hiding out during the day. Since I keep an infrared light I leave it on during the night so she goes up to bask.

**lady_bug87** · 06-01-13, 11:38 PM

I think its worth a shot. Pick up a tub with a lot of floor space add a heat mat and maybe some perches and see if that helps.

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

I think its worth a shot. Pick up a tub with a lot of floor space add a heat mat and maybe some perches and see if that helps.

I will keep her in that enclosure for a week or two to check on her behavior, and then try feeding her a smaller meal at the end. If she continues to go up to perch at night to bask then I will assume that the arboreal vs terrestrial setup isn't the problem, and that it may be parasite/disease. If that's the case I will need to take her to a vet. However, if I see that she doesn't climb to bask(although I'm almost sure cay caulkers are semi-arboreal from research and what I have seen in the past week from keeping her) then I will get her a tub with floor-space based dimensions and see how that works.

Mikoh4792 · 06-01-13, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Why is she in an arboreal set up?

Right there is your problem. She's not getting warm enough to digest her meal. She's a terrestrial species.

Fix that...all will be better.

I forgot to ask in my previous post in response to yours. Do you have any proof that Cay Caulker BCI are a terrestrial species? If you can confirm that point it would help me a lot by letting me skip the 2 week observing period I have planned and go right ahead to getting her in an enclosure with more floor space and less height.

**lady_bug87** · 06-02-13, 12:21 AM

If you offer BCIs climbing room they will use it. Some will anyways. It is universally accepted to keep BCI species in predominately terrestrial enclosures

**Aaron_S** · 06-02-13, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

I forgot to ask in my previous post in response to yours. Do you have any proof that Cay Caulker BCI are a terrestrial species? If you can confirm that point it would help me a lot by letting me skip the 2 week observing period I have planned and go right ahead to getting her in an enclosure with more floor space and less height.

From your research you state that they are "more arboreal than the mainland" but that doesn't make them a true arboreal species! Just means they will use branches or whatever more often.

Note the difference between how your animal sits and how a true tree boa, such as the emerald tree boa sits. They are not active snakes usually the arboreal boas.

Lady_Bug is right.

Trust me. It's your set up. The heating isn't working right.

I highly doubt it'll be from parasites if it's from a breeder as you state.

**lady_bug87** · 06-02-13, 12:52 AM

Aaron makes a really good point. Here is picture of my green tree python. Note the difference between her and your BCI

Mikoh4792 · 06-02-13, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

Aaron makes a really good point. Here is picture of my green tree python. Note the difference between her and your BCI

Actually my boa was perched just like that the night before. Very nice looking green tree python.

Mikoh4792 · 06-02-13, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

From your research you state that they are "more arboreal than the mainland" but that doesn't make them a true arboreal species! Just means they will use branches or whatever more often.

Note the difference between how your animal sits and how a true tree boa, such as the emerald tree boa sits. They are not active snakes usually the arboreal boas.

Lady_Bug is right.

Trust me. It's your set up. The heating isn't working right.

I highly doubt it'll be from parasites if it's from a breeder as you state.

Sorry, I never meant to make it seem as though I was trying to promote the idea that Cay Caulkers were an arboreal species. I don't know why you took it like that.

If the boa does go up to perch and bask, and at the right temperatures, could you tell me how the heating isn't working right?

**lady_bug87** · 06-02-13, 01:06 AM

I would bet she isn't like that 100% of the time. tree boas spend the majority of the time perching

Perching doesn't make her arboreal most species will do so on occasion. However I would offer an environment where the snake can do both. If you choose to do so you may find the issues disappear