One of my juvenile sand boas looks to have passed a pinky mouse that’s mostly undigested. The thing is completely dessicated and covered in now-dried foulness, but its head, all four legs, tail, and ribcage are identifiable. I’m not particularly worried at this point as the animal is outwardly healthy, temperatures and humidity are solid, etc. Will be paying attention to the animal’s hydration, but otherwise she’s due for a feeding this evening.
I’ve just not seen this in my collection before and was wondering if anyone had experienced this before.
I’m not ruling out that this may have been a late-stage regurgitation, but it doesn’t really look like one to me.
Thanks in advance!
Take the snake to a specialized herp vet, if it’s a problem you don’t want to leave it to get worse. I’ll also tag @westridge, who knows a lot about sand boas.
I appreciate the advice. I’ll get in touch with a herp vet to see if this seems concerning to them. In the meantime, I’m going to go ahead with her scheduled feeding and monitor her weight closely. She just came out of quarantine and out of an excess of caution, I’ve moved her back into quarantine until I see her taking a couple meals normally.
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If you did not see it pop it could be a regurgitation. If it is give it a three or four weeks off of feeding. Then give it a very small meal. Half the size or less than a normal size meal. The snake needs to replenish the good bacteria in its digestive system before eating again.
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I agree to hold off on feeding until the vet appointment. How old is the snake? Is it able to go without food until the vet? How long was it in quarantine for?
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The animal is about a year old. Received her on June 29. Quarantined her until July 20 (generally would have kept her in quarantine for longer, but I was travelling frequently around that time and it was significantly easier to have all of my animals in the same room at that time (perhaps a bit irresponsible in hindsight)). She’s definitely in a position to go without food for a bit if need be, healthy weight, everything looks good.
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Just in case, to be on the super safe side, maybe take care of her husbandry needs last of all your reptiles, and handle her minimally, with lots of hand washing, until you know everything is smooth sailing again. Just in case- it can’t hurt.
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For sure. That’s typically how any animal in quarantine is handled to prevent cross contamination. She hasn’t been out of quarantine long enough for this not to have been the case at any point in time, thankfully.
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