Wrong worms?

[Selkielass]

I read an article once where a scientist who had experienced redworm poisoning. In her lab animals said that the toxin is only sporadically produced. You can get dozens of good batches, then suddenly a batch from the same supplier under the same husbandry and conditions, will cause convulsions and death. They had no clue what triggered production of the toxin, so chose to avoid red worms to prevent future loss.

You may have got lucky with this batch. I sure hope they are fine.

[CrazyHedgehog]

I think I left it too late to regurgitate
I managed to remove a lot, on closer inspection of the tub, it seems like there are mixed worms, I used the smaller ones for the babies, but still needed to be cut up, One baby seemed to have eaten all of it, one about half and one I managed to get before it had had more than one piece.
The Similis male has had one, got the rest out.
The santa cruz had about one each (3 of them, about 3 worms missing - not sure who ) before I got the rest out,
I got the others before any eaten. but the first ones did not seem as red. so I am hoping, ....
the snakes all seem fine so far, no puking...no odd behavior...

if its bad....how soon would I know? is there a safe time limit?? ie:'24 hours later and ok, then they will be fine'?
gutted at my stupidity!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

If possible, have them regurgitate them now. What I do it I will palpate the snakes to find where the end of the worm is. I will carefully push the worms back out of the snakes mouth, this will work if the worms are barely/not digested. Please keep us updated!

Greg, you sound like you have done this before..... why? No offense but this is terrible advice, especially from someone who hasn't been in this that long. If you do this the wrong way, you risk causing serious damage to the snake's internal organs, breaking ribs, as well as when the worms come up, the snake aspirating on the caustic fluids that come up with it.

Worms break down very quickly. by now they are likely a pile of sticky goo. Which would be really hard for the snake to get out of it's mouth :/

[CrazyHedgehog]

The differences... why I got fooled!
worm2.jpg vs worm 3.jpg
One looks ok, the other not...
This is the same worm!! just flipped over!!

I had washed and refilled with fresh water less than an hour before feeding, I have left them with fresh trout tonight in the hope it might 'dilute' any nasty effects!
,

[d_virginiana]

Just a tip in the future, if you're not 100% sure on what kind of worm you've got. Kind of squish the worm a bit and get it to move. Red wigglers have that name because they have a distinct sort of thrashing that's a bit different from how other types of worms move. If you compare them once the difference becomes more noticeable.

I've never fed wigglers, but a year or two ago I fed some mice that had been previously offered to my frog (a supposedly non-toxic species who apparently has toxic skin). Both times he regurged within a day. I feel like, especially with adults, that if there is something their body can't handle toxin-wise they are pretty likely to regurge it. I'd be more worried about very little ones.
The suggestion of feeding other foods to the ones that ate the wigglers sounds like a good idea.

[Selkielass]

Wow, that's hard to say...
Throw in the fact that are many species of worms, and its even harder to say.
Steve posted a link to athe nice web page w pics of different worm species, and great lakes worm watch has a key for identification, but it requires counting spiracles and such.

[CrazyHedgehog]

Thanks all, a quick update, all snakes seem fine this morning, YAY!!
I am hoping that enough time has passed to be safe!

on a thorough check I also found the 3 missing worms from the Santa Cruz tank under the water bowl ( - damn they move fast!) so got them out too,
the chickens have had an expensive snack this morning!! they like red wigglers!

[kueluck]

Happy to hear all is a-okay. Just how long with it take for them to pass that crap out. I know when I feed worms they usually poop in 2 days.

[guidofatherof5]

Glad things are looking better. Thanks for the update.

[d_virginiana]

Good to hear