Vote for BP.Net for the 2013 Forum of the Year! Click here for more info.

» Site Navigation

» Home
 > FAQ

» Online Users: 976

0 members and 976 guests
No Members online
Most users ever online was 47,180, 07-16-2025 at 05:30 PM.

» Today's Birthdays

None

» Stats

Members: 75,945
Threads: 249,142
Posts: 2,572,345
Top Poster: JLC (31,651)
Welcome to our newest member, SONOMANOODLES

quick help!

Printable View

  • 07-31-2010, 07:02 PM
    cweimer4
    quick help!
    I just fed my ball python, max. I have aspen bedding and he went to strike and missed and got like 2 or 3 slits of aspen in his mouth. at first it looked like he wasnt gunna eat cuz they were stuck in there. He was fiddling around with it and couldnt get it out but instead of trying to get them out he just struck at the mouse with them in there and is now eating. is that gunna be a problem if he digests that stuff or anything? sorta freakin out.
  • 07-31-2010, 07:07 PM
    bsash
    Re: quick help!
    I have never had a problem with substrate being ingested, but always keep an eye out just in case.
  • 07-31-2010, 08:22 PM
    fire-eyes
    Re: quick help!
    I remember the first time this happened to me, I did panic. Panic is unwarranted, snakes get all sorts of things in their mouths in the wild when eating, their digestive system can deal with it easily, especially such a small amount.

    It would be a concern if it was a big pile of it in the snakes mouth. Regardless, keep an eye on it for a while, more so to calm yourself down :)
  • 07-31-2010, 08:25 PM
    stormshadow
    Re: quick help!
    So many people worry about this. Snakes have the strongest digestive enzymes going. They can even digest bone, hair etc. A little bit of substrate is not going to hurt a snake at all. Eating substrate happens all the time in wild and captive
  • 07-31-2010, 10:43 PM
    WingedWolfPsion
    Re: quick help!
    A snake's digestive tract is a fairly straight shot compared with many other animals, and they can pass some decent sized pieces if need be, so it's pretty unlikely that a wood shaving will cause a blockage. If they ate a whole bunch of them at once, it might.
  • 07-31-2010, 10:44 PM
    RichsBallPythons
    Re: quick help!
    Snakes digest bone with out a problem, Small amounts of bedding will be completely digested with the meal.
  • 07-31-2010, 11:02 PM
    DJ_Bizarre
    Re: quick help!
    I am going to agree with everyone up top, i was scared when my snake ate substrate, most of the time while coiled ill take my tongs and gently tug aspen out of his mouth while biting a mouse. But he has eaten a piece or two and he digests food just fine. Unless yoyr bp eats like a mouseworth of it (lol), i wouldnt worry at all
  • 07-31-2010, 11:16 PM
    Dixie Serpent Den
    Re: quick help!
    It wont have a problem. I agree with everyone else. These snakes are a lot tuffer than most think.
  • 07-31-2010, 11:20 PM
    WingedWolfPsion
    Re: quick help!
    They do digest bone...but they will not digest a wood chip. They are not termites.
    However, it will pass through their system, most likely broken into pieces, without incident. Just make sure they don't eat a bunch at once, or eat anything bulkier (like a big old bark chip instead of a wood shaving).
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v4.2.1