Snake's throat badly swollen after regurgitation

[RoachGirlRen]

We fed our snakes their typical (F/T) meals on Saturday night and just found that the baby Argentine boa had freshly regurgitated (food was still down this morning when I put the lights on). This is worrisome in and of itself, but its neck is BADLY swollen (though does not look "bruised" as I would expect if this was a hematoma). Has anyone ever heard of this happening? We are waiting to hear back from the vet but in case we can't get an appt today, does anyone know what on earth is going on or has anyone had this happen? Quite concerned despite the fact that the snake is active and acting normal.

And before anyone asks: the snake is being kept at species-appropriate temperatures & humidity, and the meal was a freshly and fully THAWED mouse - so this is not a bite related abcess or injury. The meal seemed an appropriate size but was larger than his normal meal, so perhaps that is why he regurgitated?

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Ah, possible false alarm. We have an appt for tomorrow just in case, but the swelling is already going down. I'm guessing that forcing up this big meal caused some fluid retention. Now let's hope the regurg itself wasn't caused by anything serious.

 

[jere000]

Could you perhaps post up what your temps and humidity are so we know.I have only seen this in a green tree python and don't remember what caused it.

 

[Jmugleston]

The rodent could have scratched the esophagus on either of its passes. If the swelling is from a scratch, and if the snake is otherwise healthy the swelling should go down rather quickly. With boas smaller meals seem to work better. The vet appointment is a good choice just to have more confidence it was related to the size of the meal and not something more serious.

 

[Dyn]

I'm not sure about BCO but I know BCC's are prone to regurge on larger meals could just be something simple like that just have to keep feeding alittle smaller.

 

[Matt K]

I have found that for myself and any issues my friends have, my copy of Maders 'Reptile Medicine and Surgery', 2nd Edition, is much less expensive than a vet bill. So IF a vet is actually required they can have possible diagnosis/medical history at arrival and create no second/third vet visit. Many vets don't have this book and/or left it at vet school, when they should have it in thier office....

 

[pitbulllady]

I've seen this a couple of times, in Colubrids, though, following a regurg. It apparently resulted from a scratch from a rodent claw, since both times, the rodent was a recent meal and barely digested. In both cases, it resolved on its own. I HAVE, though, seen snakes develope swelling in their throats due to mucous from a RI, which had nothing to do with regurging food, so it probably won't hurt to get this guy checked out to be sure that there isn't something else going on. RI's will also cause a snake to regurg, IF it eats at all, but as Dyn suggested, some of the Boa subspecies do need smaller meals. I know that BCC's will puke for sure if you give them too large a meal, and they cannot handle anywhere near as large a prey items as can BCI's of the same size, but I've honestly never kept BCO's, so I can't give you any information on their prey size requirements.

pitbulllady

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Thank you for all of the feedback, everyone.

I think your suspicions that the regurg was due to too large a prey item and the swelling from irritation caused by spitting it up was spot-on. By the time I went to work yesterday it had gone down significantly, and the snake is 100% better today. Will probably still have it looked at to err on the side of caution.

This is our first BC and I guess we really underestimated what was meant by smaller meals! They prey item, while larger than usual, definitely didn't seem inappropriately large. We will keep this in mind and feed smaller meals more often from now on.

 

[Dyn]

I never tried to feed my boa anything larger than it was around just because I didnt know exactly what was too big for her. Just one of those things I was overly cautious about.