What am I doing wrong here? Here are the specs. I keep my yearling carpet python in an 18 x 18 x 36 enclosure, deep heat projector for heat, somewhere around 95 in the higher perches and 75 at the bottom, he usually likes to spend his time in a cork tube fixed near the middle (around 85 degrees). Humidity seems to be fine, he has constant access to clean water and he doesn’t have trouble shedding. Substrate is eco earth. There are places to hide at pretty much every level of the enclosure, he’s able to access every part of the enclosure. I feed him once a week, he’s on hopper mice. In the past month and a half or so he’s regurged twice, which he’s never done before. Any idea what I could be doing wrong? The one thing I can think is he tends to be a pretty nervous snake. I’m slowly getting him to chill out, but he still isn’t too keen on this whole humans thing. So maybe I didn’t give him enough space while he was eating and he got nervous and regurgitated. Thoughts?
Here’s the setup, there were also a few thinner branch perches in it until today, took those out though because I never saw him using them and the ended up being a bit too much of an obstacle for me to get through when trying to get into the enclosure.
Has anything else changed aside from you attempting to handle them more?
How long have you had them and they were eating well for you?
How long did you wait between regurge and next feeding?
Temps seem pretty good, but I’m not really up to date with the species. But still good to get some extra questions in for someone who knows better to peel at
Not really, minor changes to setup here and there, but nothing too major
I’ve had him for about a year, got him pretty soon after he was born, just after he had gotten established on food. He’s been a good eater for me this whole time.
About 3 days, then the next feeding after that would be a week afterwards. He regurged once about 5 weeks ago, and then he also regurged 3 days ago, fes him again a few hours ago, haven’t seen any regurge yet but I’m monitoring him
Oh my, really didn’t so my research there then. Man, poor guy, I feel awful I can’t believe that I didn’t conduct my due diligence on something so important. Thank you. Can’t go back on the feeding I gave him a few hours ago, but if he does end up fully digesting it and passing it, should I wait longer to feed him next? And if he regurgitates it again, should I provide some sort of extra care or monitoring or bring him to the vet?
It happens, at least now you know. If he digests this one without issue, I’d say wait a solid 10-14 days at least for the next feed, just to make sure his esophagus is okay. If he regurgitates again, wait the two week minimum and offer a smaller feeder at the next feeding. If he’s good to go from there, I wouldn’t worry too much about a vet visit, but if he has continuous regurgitation issues, it might be worth taking him in for parasite testing and an overall wellness exam.
You might also want to think about changing up his enclosure, though I’ll see if anyone with more Morelia experience than me chimes in here, as my experience is solely based on having watched one for a friend for several months. Carpet pythons are semi-arboreal, whereas the setup you have is more full arboreal.
Maybe it’s not up to date, but from what I remember when I was doing my research on how to keep him before getting him, more arboreal oriented setups work well for younger snakes, then by the time they’re older than 2 you wanna transition them into more semi-arboreal setups. Plan is to move him into a 4 x 2 x 2 or a 4 x 2 x 3 around next summer. Ultimately his final home will be around 6ft long and 3 or more ft high. I have it planned out and the funds to get it done, I’m just operating based on what I’ve heard is best for each age.
I second the suggestion to wait a bit longer between the next meal.
Basically the concern is that there’s only so much stomach acid that they have available and it’s very caustic. They can burn the esophagus on the way up and if not given enough time between meals they may not fully digest properly because they haven’t had a chance to replenish enough acid.
So also if his next stool looks a little weird, that’s not too surprising…but also consider a fecal culture just to make sure there’s not a bacterial bloom causing a stomach issue as well
I can’t believe that I didn’t conduct my due diligence on something so important. Thank you. Can’t go back on the feeding I gave him a few hours ago, but if he does end up fully digesting it and passing it, should I wait longer to feed him next? And if he regurgitates it again, should I provide some sort of extra care or monitoring or bring him to the vet?