regurgitate and eat directly afterwards again

[Snaky]

Today, my th. marcianus marcianus regurgitated 1 very little rat it ate 2 days ago and directly afterwards ate it again. If I wasn't looking to her by accident, I wouldn't even have noticed it. I'm not worrying at this moment, since she immediately ate it again. I know there can be alot of reasons why snakes can regurgitate, and there can be serious reasons for it. But I've never heard of them eating it up again. What can be the reason(s) for this? Or are it probably the same reasons as when they don't eat it up again?

I will certainly keep an eye on her and see if it happens again...

[drache]

that's weird
did you see what shape the rat was in?

[Snaky]

I found that is was rather well shaped for being 2 days in the stomach. Although part of it came loose (still she ate that to again), so I suppose it was already being digisted.

Found it also very weird, but the dog of my parents does it also... With the dog it's because it's not getting digested proparly. And after she eats it again, it digests just fine. ( Though we still prevent her from doing so if we see it, it's really not a nice sight. )Still a dog is no snake, so I also found it pretty weird.

[adamanteus]

I have seen this rarely before. As you say there can be many reasons why a snake regugitates, some of them serious. You say the rat was not well digested? Have you thought to check that the temperature is high enough? If it is not warm enough for digestion to take place, this will cause a snake to regurgitate. As you said, best keep a close eye on things for a while.

[Snaky]

At this moment it's 31°C in Belgium (well that's the highest temperature of the day), of course it's a bit chiller inside, or I couldn't sleep but it's still at the moment of writing 25°C. It will be a hot night:). And I still have the light on in 1 end of the enclosure, so in the hot end it's certainly more than 30°C.

I know that temperature is sometimes a problem, but this certainly can't be the case this time.

[adamanteus]

It was just a thought, but obviously off the mark. I hope it was "just one of those things" and that you have no problems. Keep us informed.

[Cazador]

Hi Hans,

I wrote a detailed reply earlier, but somehow I managed to lose it. I've got to type fast, so please pardon any errors. I'll use the term "vomiting" in this case since it refers to the expulsion of partially digested food. Regurgitation normally applies to food in the esophagus or undigested food that has recently entered the stomach.

I realize that not all of the following apply to your situation, but I want to be thorough in case anyone else has similar problems. Temperature is normally the first and easiest thing to check and correct. If it is too cold, snakes are unable to digest properly and will sometimes vomit. Other conditions that typically lead to vomiting include:

Stress (recently adding another snake, recent relocation, too much attention and inadequate hiding places)
Over handling (particularily right after a meal)
Overeating (too large of an item or too often)
Overdrinking after a meal
Dehydration
Sudden temperature changes
Parasitic infection
Bacterial infection
Food that is swallowed backwards can irritate the GI tract (like spines on fish, or even fur pointing the wrong way).
Food that is thawed, refrozen, thawed, refrozen, etc.
Blocked GI tract
Pregnancy

If the outside temp is 31C, and the light is still on inside the enclosure, it may be a bit too hot. I'd start by taking a hard look at those temperature changes.

[Snaky]

Thanks for the list Rick, knew most of them myself and can delete quite a few of them. I still can keep this list

Overeating (too large of an item or too often)
Overdrinking after a meal
Dehydration
Sudden temperature changes
Parasitic infection
Bacterial infection
Food that is swallowed backwards can irritate the GI tract (like spines on fish, or even fur pointing the wrong way).

As she ate more than 1 baby rat, I'm thinking it's more 1 of the first 2 at this moment. But will still keep an eye on her. And it's good thinking to put the whole list, it's a reference for everybody. Maybe I'll put it on the wiki? ( or is it already on there? )

About the temperature. I don't think it's to hot. The maximum temperature in the low temperature part of the enclosure is 25°C. It starts around 20-21°C in the morning. I changed the bulb from 60W to 40W in the warm end. And it's a fully enclosure in glass, so almost only underneath the lamp it's warm. Finally, it's only for 2 days now and the temperature will start to drop again... ( It's not really a normal temperature here in April ). In summer the light is out when it's > 25°C, but that's because it will stay that way for a longer period.

[Cazador]

Hans,

It would be great if you could add that list to the wiki. I was thinking last night that it should be added, but I was a bit pressed for time and hadn't decided where to put it. Finally, studies show that providing fresh water promotes drinking. I know that doesn't help if the problem is over-hydration, though. Take care,

Rick

[boeh]

Hi Hans

I have also observated something like that. The snake didn't took the mouse very smart, so she had problems to get her into the mouth. After a while of trying to get her into the mouth, she regurgitated the mouse and started immediataly to try it again - with success.

Cyrill

[Snaky]

I guess you can say that they really want to eat what they have in front of them, sometimes animals can have strange behaviour :rolleyes:

Rick, by 'fresh water', do you mean new water every day? Because I refresh the water every 2 days, which I always thought was ok.

I will surely add it to the Wiki and will try to put some tricks to help with it. I can't do it today probably, but I'll surely do it;)

[Cazador]

Replacing the water every two days is great, Hans :).

[boeh]

I also change the water every 2 days. Excepting those that have some excrements in it. Then I gonna take the water bowl out and desinfect it with some disinfectant (usually alcohol). From time to time I'll do that with every bowl. If I have problems with calcification, I fill the bowl with vinegar (yes, the one we use to make dressing) and let it there for a night. Afterwards they're like new.

[Snaky]

I do exactly the same:D There is a lot of calcium in the water, so I also let the vinegar soak for a night.