Regurgitating Rainbow Boa!!!

[nicolerae]

She has a heat pad but doesn't utilize it. And the odd thing is she stays under the light even at night after it has turned off.

I'll be triple checking the cage temps when I return home tonight.

[moshirimon]

Rainbow boas are not Boa Constrictors. Try posting in the Epicrates section next time.

As for the regurgitating problem, if your conditions are all correct, i'd say just give her some time. offer food once a week see how it goes. she might just need to settle. If she continues doing this for a while i'd visit the vet. Hope everything turns out okay for her.

[Aaron_S]

I'd be checking all the hides to make sure they are super snug.

As said, they are more of a shy species and needed to be treated like one.

It's your husbandry is my guess.

[Jendee]

So I have new info on this. If she has a habit of regurge...meaning more then once. A week after the last regurge tube feed her greek yogurt. Yogurt carries natural probotics that help the digestion track, also greek yogurt has 22g of protien, and this will help with the dehydration problem that comes with regurge. You can get a tubed syringe at thebeanfarm. Com under health care. Id use the stainless steal ball tipped attatchment as the rubber tube can catch on their teeth. A vet will inject fluids and most likely send you home unless it proves to be some kind of infecton. The regurge discussion last week with Aaron sent me on a mission and i got this advice from 9 out of the 11 old school 20 plus yrs breeders of bcc and bci boas. They all said they used to use nutribac but that yogurt seemed to bounce them back faster. If the regurge is a one time thing i wouldnt recommend putting more stress on her with tube feeding. Only if this becomes a problem that she is becoming weak/malnourished from

[lady_bug87]

Interesting info Jen!

[nicolerae]

Thanks guys. She is what we consider a rescue. We went to the breeders and they gave us probiotic powder to coat the mice in. Hopefully it will help. The cage has been adjusted so that its all good. We will feed her this sunday and see.

[jarich]

Originally Posted by Jendee

So I have new info on this. If she has a habit of regurge...meaning more then once. A week after the last regurge tube feed her greek yogurt. Yogurt carries natural probotics that help the digestion track, also greek yogurt has 22g of protien, and this will help with the dehydration problem that comes with regurge. You can get a tubed syringe at thebeanfarm. Com under health care. Id use the stainless steal ball tipped attatchment as the rubber tube can catch on their teeth. A vet will inject fluids and most likely send you home unless it proves to be some kind of infecton. The regurge discussion last week with Aaron sent me on a mission and i got this advice from 9 out of the 11 old school 20 plus yrs breeders of bcc and bci boas. They all said they used to use nutribac but that yogurt seemed to bounce them back faster. If the regurge is a one time thing i wouldnt recommend putting more stress on her with tube feeding. Only if this becomes a problem that she is becoming weak/malnourished from

The use of probiotics in reptiles, especially probiotics commonly used for people, is an unusual practice and a weird theory. All animals have different bacteria, of course, which compete for dominance in the gut, and there is no evidence that suggests any of the bacteria in typical probiotics have any positive effect on reptiles (especially given the fact that 'reptiles' are such a diverse group of animals, with each species being different) For instance, it has been proven that reptile guts do not contain any species of the lactobacillus bacteria, the most common probiotic listed in yogurt. What would be a better treatment, though it sounds gross, would be to feed your sick snake food that had crap from a healthy snake of the same species on it. At least then they would be getting the right bacteria.

[Jendee]

It sound weird but apparently has been used with positive results for yrs. Even on nwb neonates ghat are being difficult starts a few yogurt feedings and they are 100%. Its just interesting to me

[jarich]

I can see it being possible to effect a change in bacterial growth more with neonates as opposed to adults, as the intestinal flora arent really established yet. However, I have a feeling its one of those things that works because the user wants to think it works.

This would all presuppose a gut bacterial cause for regurgitation as opposed to any other cause though. Which again, I think bacteria from a healthy snake of the same species would work better anyway. Would be an interesting study though.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by jarich

I can see it being possible to effect a change in bacterial growth more with neonates as opposed to adults, as the intestinal flora arent really established yet. However, I have a feeling its one of those things that works because the user wants to think it works.

This would all presuppose a gut bacterial cause for regurgitation as opposed to any other cause though. Which again, I think bacteria from a healthy snake of the same species would work better anyway. Would be an interesting study though.

Who'd have thunk it that we fully agree?

Anyway, I would side with the fact that yogurt isn't really making the snake better. Have tests been done by these "old timers" before and after yogurt has been administered or were they just eye-balling the health of the snake?

Personally, I don't shove anything into their systems unwarranted by tests or otherwise. Old timers had to rely on themselves some years ago but now we have advanced vet technology. Time to start doing away with the old stuff in certain situations.

[jarich]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

Who'd have thunk it that we fully agree?

I'll have to do more research, but I thought there were rules against that.

[Jendee]

Theyve said it works far better then vet care so Im not sure what new technology your talking about. I dont even know what kind of advice your give for regurging beside checking husbandry and not stressing the animal. Regurge can and does become habit forming it does effect the digestio. System and they will dehydrate from it and die. Something at that point needs to be done. And at this point it seems you 2 are the only people i know who say literally no to any idea out there. If people producing 200-300 baby boas a yr tell me this works better then over the counter stuff. Im certainly going to give it a try it is much better then sitting around spending money at a vet over an over for a "problem" child to die

[Ddub]

This is a shot in the dark but how are you measuring your hot spot?

[Aaron_S]

I think these people need to re-check their husbandry if they have that many regurges. I personally just am adverse to shoving things down into my snakes at the sign of a regurge and not being humble enough to admit I may just be doing something wrong with this particular animal.

You are taking these people at their word because they "say it works better than vet care" and because they are 'experienced'. Experienced people can be wrong too and like I said, have they done testing before and after with yogurt? Without yogurt? With this "bad vet care" whatever it is?

I'm not saying it's definitely a no but what's good for us doesn't mean it works for these animals who are known to have a more comprehensive digestive system then we give them credit for.

For the record, I may have never bred boas but I've dealt with a few hundred neonates in my years and I never experienced regurges so I have some experience to draw from.

[Jendee]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I think these people need to re-check their husbandry if they have that many regurges. I personally just am adverse to shoving things down into my snakes at the sign of a regurge and not being humble enough to admit I may just be doing something wrong with this particular animal.

You are taking these people at their word because they "say it works better than vet care" and because they are 'experienced'. Experienced people can be wrong too and like I said, have they done testing before and after with yogurt? Without yogurt? With this "bad vet care" whatever it is?

I'm not saying it's definitely a no but what's good for us doesn't mean it works for these animals who are known to have a more comprehensive digestive system then we give them credit for.

For the record, I may have never bred boas but I've dealt with a few hundred neonates in my years and I never experienced regurges so I have some experience to draw from.

if you haven't experienced a regurge then how would you know how to treat it...baby boas are hard to get going your average litter is what 20 babies at least 2-3 of those 20 babies wont eat or will puke up what you give them. Last season I lost 2 babies one wouldn't eat at all the other gurged once and never recovered from it. Sold the rest all are nice healthy happy babies. I wish I knew about this method then .I wont name drop with the lists of breeders but if I could lol I doubt youd be questioning so much but they are all scrictly bcc/bci breeders so maybe you wouldn't know them and maybe this wouldn't work on other species as that has not been "tested"
but wouldn't hundereds of baby boas using this method for yrs be enough testing? as I said nutrabac used to be the "thing" vets would give/subscribe sometimes most will just give the boa fluids and send you home. and like you say check your temps lol but if your whole snake room or that baby rack that boa is in has perfect temps why would that one baby have a problem. because other factors can play in a roll in a eating problem . once things start going down hill you have to do something to help recovery and all Im saying is this is the #1 thing being used high protein greek yogurt. The big boys swear by it and that enough for me.