• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Black Pine regurge syndrome

T

TomC

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Messages
83
Reaction score
4
Points
8
Location
Montrose Ca
I've had this four year old male black pine het for pied for 4 freakin' years with regurge syndrome. Tried everything including stool transplantation from healthy black pine. Fecals always clean. Tried flagyl many times despite the clean fecals. Tried "probiotics for snakes," which is pretty much BS. He can eat exactly one pink rat (with skin peeled back for easier digestion) every four days. anything more and it's yak or partially undigested stool. anything with a bit of fur on it... yak. he's about 4 1/2 feet long and looks like a rail but is always hungry. Many times, I just thought about euthanizing him but did not have the heart to do so. I don't brumate him because he's too thin to survive the brumation and eats throughout winter.
 
Maybe he could take larger size hairless rats since fur causes him issues?

Has the vet considered scoping him to see if there's a physical abnormality preventing larger feeders from passing?
 
I agree with Helenthereef's post: probably has a slow-growing tumor or other malformation internally that prevents him from consuming normal-sized prey. Sounds to me like he's slowly starving to death, which honestly isn't kind. I'd either go the vet-route, see if you can identify the problem & fix it (that's likely to be a big invasive deal to put him through and expect survival, especially in his already-thin-ie. weak condition), or euthanize him out of kindness....so sorry.
 
x-rayed him up and down. nada... he is not by any means weak. has a robust feeding response. digests single pink rats without an issue. anything more, even two pink rats, yak. he's not starving to death as he's been like this for 3 plus years. tim, i thought about it about 10 times but couldn't get myself to do it. it just seems like he wants to live and i just can't put him down. he actually comes out of his cage looking for food. maybe, one more trial of flagyl followed by fecal transplantation from my healthy black pines. unfortunately unlike humans, there's no scope small enough to do fecal transplantation from the rectum and i have to do it via fecal oral route which is not as effective.
 
just to clarify, he does not have a issue taking larger prey. he has an issue with digestion. he'll happily take down a large mouse/small rat if i gave him one. he will just regurgitate it a day or two later partially/minimally digested.
 
Personally I'd try tube-feeding him, I've used the technique for years on various snakes with good results & it's truly not that hard: not for us to do, and not hard on the snake receiving it. I'd try adding reptile "probiotics" (Benebac etc) or fecal transfers from healthy snakes. What have you got to lose?
 
It's not common but not impossible that he has weak digestive enzymes for whatever reason. I had a rattlesnake many years ago that was like that, but his situation was made worse (& thereby obvious) by whoever made him "venomoid". He was given to me, able to eat but unable to digest fats, resulting in greasy foul-smelling stools; his body was thin (triangular). Venom starts the digestive process, & while perhaps most snakes have good enough digestion that they don't "miss" using venom, obviously it was a huge problem for him. (I used a venom donor to envenomate rodents for him.)
Obviously since I wasn't the original owner of that snake I can't tell you if he was born that way (weak digestion) but I'm assuming he was. He was an adult snake when he came to me, & from that experience, I have to assume that some small percentage of snakes might suffer likewise, cause unknown.
You say this snake has been like this for 3 years? A snake that is slowly starving is probably NOT producing digestive enzymes: they need to eat enough to keep up with all their bodily functions & I believe that if he got more nutrition, he might slowly regain his digestive abilities, if what you say is true (no physical blockages). I don't blame you for not wanting to euthanize him, but you need to do more for him than what you've been doing, IMO. It may take a while, not just one tube-feed: I've always used Gerber's (2nd foods) chicken babyfood, thinned w/ water. Do not try to feed a large amount at once: even though it's easier to digest, you want to gradually increase the amount...see how he does & let us know?
 
I have seen this before with lodingi. No idea why. Also happens with other pits, especially the Mexican pines.
 
You might try to use day old chicks, we have used them in the past for animals that were having regurge problems. They seem to be easier to digest, even though the caloric and quality of the prey animal is not as high rodents. Smelly feces is also a resultant fact when using them.
 
thanks for the advice john. i euthanized him in the end. got a whole new breeder group of black pines. one adult proven female is prone to regurge and i'm very careful on what/when to feed her. i never feed her before she passed her last meal. as for chicks, it's slightly easier for them to digest. have to cut the legs off and pull off the feathers. makes kinda of a mess when i do that:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top