Hairless Feeders

[phenyx]

Jerkface is currently trying to digest his third post vomit feeding right now and I'm not hopeful. His last 2 post vomit feeds were 3 gram pinkies, and he kept those down fine, so this time I went with a 4 gram dusted peach fuzzy because he is now looking emaciated (concave belly, prominent spinal ridge). He's 2 1/2 days out from his feed and he still has the same belly bulge he had when he first ate the fuzzy so I have serious doubts about this feeding staying down.

Since he seems to be able to digest and keep down the hairless pinkies ok, I was thinking that maybe hairless fuzzies (and eventually on up the hairless rodent size scale) would also be easier for him to digest.

Before I make this switch though I was wondering if snakes get any nutritive value out of furred prey items that would be missing from a diet of fur-less prey items? Does anyone have any experience with snakes on a long fur-less diet?

[kudzu]

Can't answer the questions, but am so sorry Jerkface has lost so much body condition. Such a sad situation for you both.

[Zellnera]

I know my sister's boyfriend had a friend who bred hairless rats for her python; I can't imagine they get nutrition from the hair..but there may be another reason for not keeping them down. Stress or too big of a mouse can make them puke

[Andy_G]

Fur is not digestable and is passed. I know that some species whose natural diet doesn't include rodents may have digestion issues in captivity, but that's not the case with rainbow boas. I'm not sure how to advise much beyond that because the situation with jerkface is unique and not something I've encountered before.

[phenyx]

Fortunately, he made a liar out of me and kept down the fuzzy. That's three feeds in a row he's kept down this time.

The next feeding, tomorrow, is the really dicey one - three out of his four regurges were of his fourth consecutive feeding. Those were weekly feedings though and this time I've extended him to every 10 days with a strict 96 hour post-feeding, hands-off policy. I've always kept hands-off for 48 hours, but he's upchucked a virtually undigested prey item as late as day four after feeding. He's been well dosed with NutriBACdf by now so hopefully he'll keep tomorrow's fuzzy down.

[kudzu]

Good news so far. Fingers crossed for today's feeding.

[phenyx]

Today's feeding has been postponed due to Jerkface being in shed.

I'm not sure how long he's been in shed; it's hard to tell with him, but he's all cloudy and dullish and he's been hiding out all day, so I'm not going to try to feed him again until I see a skin.