Bloody Regurge

[d_virginiana]

First of all, I'm not posting for my snakes, I'm posting for my dad (I think his username is EKS). I don't actually have internet for the moment so I won't be able to check this, but he has to go to work so I'm writing this from his computer since it's pretty urgent.

The snake that regurged is a female blackneck that is 8+ years old (don't know the exact age). She regurged seven pinkies and a LOT of blood. The pinkies had not been digested at all really. He said that when he fed her last night she got over excited and accidentally bit herself, and he saw a drop of blood in the corner of her mouth and assumed it was from that, but could never find the spot where she bit herself. She was acting alert and completely normal literally up to the moment of the regurge. I happened to be there and thought it would be a good idea to snatch her cagemate out before he could come into contact with any of it and put him in a separate bin. If it does happen to be something contagious, hopefully that was quick enough.

I know it doesn't look good for the female at this point, but if anyone has seen anything like this and can help us identify the cause it'd be good to know.

My recommendation was to basically do three quarantines of 90 days (they also have a 1-2 year old female that is the littermate of my blacknecks and is housed separately). As in, not use any of the same equipment between the sick female and the other two, and not use any of the same equipment between the male that was living with her and the female that is housed separately. Not knowing the cause, I'm just playing it safe and running under the assumption that whatever this is is contagious.

I might not be able to reply to this until I get my internet set up, so I'll tell my dad to check this thread for anything you guys have to say as far as what this could be and how strictly he should quarantine.

[guidofatherof5]

Might be bleeding caused by the regurge. Broken blood vessels from the pressure. Any photos? When or was this snake dewormed? Give me a call EKS56 if you want.

[EKS56]

No photos. The pinkies were small, very little digestion if any. She looks like she still has some to throw up. We were handling her just before she threw up. That should not have been the problem. Had a good appetite when I fed last night. The only thing out of the ordinary was she missed her pinkie and bit herself twice. She has never been dewormed.

[Rushthezeppelin]

Hmmmm, I half wonder if handling it within the first 24 hours after feeding might have had an effect. Especially with something that takes a while to digest like pinks I try to leave them be for at least 24 hours before handling. I'm just going by the general warnings I've seen from most people who handle snakes. Was she showing any signs of being overly stressed by being handled (was she trying to run away or anything.....she might have regurged to get a faster escape).

[Albert Clark]

Wow, sorry to hear about the dilemma wth the blackneck female. Usually a regurgitation episode comes from too big of a meal at one feeding. Is she a captive bred blackneck? I see where you stated she had never been dewormed? The other possibilities are husbandry related especially the temps. Too high or too low. Excessively low is mostly the cause due to poor digestion. The other is excessive handling after a meal. Why 7 pinkies instead of a single appropriate sized meal? Were these small pinks or large. Either or it seems like quite a bit for 1 meal. The blood could be from the superficial veins of the pinkies. Hope this helps.

[Rushthezeppelin]

Very good point too Albert. I'm always careful to only feed pinks in the morning so they have a full day of basking to get it as digested as possible before it's lights out. Perhaps it wasn't digesting right because of being fed in the evening and decided it was best to just regurge the meal. Also could me size of the meal too I suppose or a combo of the two.

[Albert Clark]

Thanks, certainly could be parasitic as another possibility. I think that is a long shot though. Parasitic is usually accompanied by inappetance, lethargy and diarrhea. Hopefully it's not that. What are the husbandry numbers? Ambient, warm side, basking temperature? She will need a rest from feeding in general for about a week. After that I would just go with maybe a couple of guppies to start and nothing more bc the gastric acids from the regurge can cause irritation to the esophagus and upper gastrointestinal tract.

[EKS56]

When I came in from work tonight she was nearly comatose. Had to watch her for a while to see if she was breathing. There had been no more vomiting. I have no idea how old she is. I've had her for almost four years and my daughter seemed to think she was old when I got her. I don't think this is parasitic. It may just be her time. I might add nothing has changed in my feeding routine. Also, no new snakes have been introduced in nearly a year.
One thing out of the ordinary. When she went after her first pinkie she missed and bit herself not once but twice. That had never happened before. I noticed she had a very small amount of blood on her lip but I couldn't see a mark where she had bit herself. She went on to eat a good meal.
Thanks for everyone's advice.

[EKS56]

Not at all agitated by the handling. Cool as a cucumber.

[BLUESIRTALIS]

I had a plains garter bleed out the mouth one time and i think it was an aneurysm she was comatose after and passed the next day. She was captive bred and born and only fed frozen thawed mice from birth so i don't suspect parasites were the cause of her death. The sad thing is we don't never know what's going on inside these critters. I sure hope this one makes a turn around and recovers!