Heres whats been going on with my Suriname red tail boa (Libi). A few weeks ago I found odd "crystal like" formations in her poop. I took her to the vet, he determined shes not absorbing calcium like she should so he gave me some liquid vits to put on her prey items before I feed her. Ive been doing that every week including last week. She has been getting 2 med mice everyweek for a while now and I was going to switch her over to small rats tomorrow. But I went downstairs to check on her (temps, humidity) only to find her regurging her food from a week ago, it was fully digested and looked just like she defecated. She eats every thursday, usually defecates wednesday or thursday in her water bowl. Her temps have been a consistant 92 deg.F on the warm side 86-88 on the cool side, humidity has been a little low around 65%. After cleaning out her enclosure and giving her new water I went upstairs to watch TV. About an hour later I went to check on her to find urate and what I think is her poo, its rather runny and nasty looking, not healthy at all. In the urate there were little black dots, some round some oval shaped..and I have NO idea of what this could be. I think it may have had something to do with the mice she ate last week, I noticed one of them had runny poo, but I fed it to her anyway ....She has been on paper towels for over 3 months now, so I know its not her substrate. I saved both the regurge and the urate, along with the water it was in. Ill be bringing it to my vet prolly tomorrow, but until then anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong? She was just checked for parasites a couple of months ago as well. Ill be skipping feeding her tomorrow and continue her on her normal feeding schedule next week. All comments/suggestions and whatnot are welcome

Wait at least 10-14 days before feeding again. Vomiting is hard on a snake and it will take time to get its digestive enzymes back in balance.
Did your vet determine WHY she wasn't absorbing calcium? (Maybe there's a connection there).
I'd have another stool test done to rule out anything that wasn't caught on the first one. (They are only about 40% accurate because parasites don't get shed in the feces regularly.) Also, if you're feeding live mice or F/K, the mice can transmit parasites to the snake. Frozen food is safer, as the freezing process kills most parasites, but it's not a 100% either.
Let us know what the vet finds out!!
Good luck with Libi. Keep us posted!!

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Andrea

Alrite, ill wait 2 weeks rather then one to feed her again. And the vet said he thinks shes not absorbing calcium properly cause shes lacking certin vits. so Ive been giving her the extra vits and I have seen a major difference in her activity levels. I feed either live or F/K, depending on what she will take. Also what I failed to mention earlier is that Ive been taking her outside alot lately to sunbathe with me, so she could have possibly caught something from outside. I am having the hardest time switching her over to frozen, when I first started she took F/T eagerly, not so much anymore. Someone said she may have gotten giardia from the mouse? Ive been doing research on giardia and am not having too much luck finding info on how it affects reptiles? Anyone know? And thanks a bunch Blackjack for your input I really appreciate it

Some parasites are host-specific others can be spread from species to species: sometimes a parasite will live and reproduce in one animal but not cause symptoms in that animal, but can be passed on and cause symptoms in another animal.
Besides parasites, there are bacteria and viruses that have to be considered. Finding those would require a blood test or a swab.
I don't think you'll be able to guess what it is -- and you may never find out for sure or find out how she got it.
Your vet should be able to help you find the problem.
Keep trying with the F/T: My BP will only take it if it's REALLY warm (40C) and if I make it move a bit with feeding tongs.
Let us know what the vet says! Good luck!

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Andrea

AWW good luck with her sav.
i know you really love her and will hopefully be able to get her back up to full health.

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Live for today Not tomorrow.

Hello,

If I were told one of my snakes wasn't digesting calcium correctly, the first thing I would have done is toss a UV light on the enclosure.

Everything I have read in regards to UV and herps is that UV helps with the absorption of dietary calcium through a process of breaking down d3 and binding proteins. (I won't get into it. lol) The UV should help with the digesting of the calcium though. (I am guessing that the vitamins the snake is lacking is D3.)

Odd looking stool is normally a sign of some sort of parasite or infection. I too suggest having another stool done. If that comes up negative, I would follow up with some blood work. Between the 2 tests, you should have a clear picture of what is happening.

Good luck and keep us posted!

(Keep trying with the F/T.)

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Keep us posted girly and get Libi well

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

I think I am gonna get some UV on her and stop giving her the vits. I took the urate and regurge to the vet he said he really cant do anything with those so I have to wait until she defecates and bring him that. So we play the waiting game...(note to self: teach Libi to poop on command )Thanks for all the advice and kind words, I reallly apppreciate it!

Why is it that all the herp medicine books tell you to bring regurgitated remains to the vet for testing and all herp vets seem to say they can't do anything with it?! My vet gave me the same answer here... I felt silly carrying around vomited rat remains for nothing! (I thought it was a Swiss thing since the advice came from an American medical book)

Anyway, hang in there Savannah. Make sure Libi has clean drinking water available at all times. Try not to handle or disturb her too much and try the UV lighting that Rich suggested... then wait for the poop. (Did your vet give you the containers to put it in? If not, you might want to go back and get some to have ready.)

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Andrea

No he didnt give me any container, and I too was assuming he would be able to test the regurg...and this lady who was bringing her iggy in for something looked at me like I was disgusting with the vomit in a ziplock bag, then the poo...It was rather amusing ..the things we do for our monsters.. And I already changed her water a little bit ago..shes just chillin out on top of her hide..she looks so sad, but thats just cuz I know she cant possibly feel good lol. Thanks again for the kind words