Feeding on Aspen

Has anyone had any problems with feeding in an encloser that has aspen bedding? I feed my new boy last night in a seperate tub then moved him back to his tank just becuase i didnt want to haev any problems with him eating the first time(I dont like the idea of moving him after he eats). Would you suggust to keep feeding him in a seperate tub (kind of a pain) or just feed him in the tank that has aspen. I dont want him to eat the aspen. Also I am concidering going to papertowl or newpaper as bedding but I dont want it to stress him out.

I've tried aspen in the past but was always concerned about them eating it or getting an impaction...of course they somehow manage to survive in the wild eating in less than sterile conditions. :D Lots of big name breeders use natural bedding and seem to have no issues. It's up to you and what you're comfortable with.

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Originally Posted by rgang

Has anyone had any problems with feeding in an encloser that has aspen bedding? I feed my new boy last night in a seperate tub then moved him back to his tank just becuase i didnt want to haev any problems with him eating the first time(I dont like the idea of moving him after he eats). Would you suggust to keep feeding him in a seperate tub (kind of a pain) or just feed him in the tank that has aspen. I dont want him to eat the aspen. Also I am concidering going to papertowl or newpaper as bedding but I dont want it to stress him out.

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I have all of my BPs on shredded aspen and they all feed inside their enclosures. I have not had any problems doing so and all of my snakes are doing very well. I'm sure you will get other opinions but I've not had one issue in three years of using aspen.

I also use aspen and haven't had any issues. IMO eating a little aspen can't hurt if they can digest bones and pretty much every part of a rat. Obviously a lot can probably cause impaction but the chances of that are so slim. I've had to pull a tiny piece out of my boys' mouth once because it got stuck, I left him alone for two days and it was still there. Nothing a pair of tweezers didn't fix :)

As LGray said a few small pieces of aspen stuck to the prey item that gets ingested won't hurt you BP. It's rare though that the aspen stuck to the prey makes it into their mouth, it's such a tight fit that most shavings fall off as your BP eats it.

If you do go ahead and start feeding on aspen I would recommend to of course supervise feedings to make sure no big chunks of substrate are stuck to the prey and to keep some kind of deification record to make sure you BP is going regularly and isn't impacted (how much they go depends on how much they eat and how old they are).

When I still used aspen, i fed my bigger girl on it without any problems. my smaller girl is a little bit challenged though, so I had to be careful that she didn't ingest a ton of aspen because she would get the mouse all saliva-ed and then drop in the aspen and make aspen covered mouse. I typically tried to lead her with the food on her hide or in an area that only had newspaper.

They guys at BHB have been feeding thousands of snakes on Aspen and even Sani Chips with no problems at all.

I will dry the mice off when I feed, that's about it. I do try to guide the mice in my snakes' mouths instead of laying it in the aspen, as it tends to get coated in shavings.

My f/t food comes in bags so after I leave them out for a couple hours then heat them in water, they are dry when it is offered. You might get some aspen ingested if the prey was damp, but I haven't had that issue. I made the switch from separate enclosure and wish I'd made the switch sooner. So much easier on everyone and everything involved!

This comes up every month or so - someone expressing a worry or concern about feeding on a wood substrate.

Here's the definitive answer:

It's nothing to worry about.

As people have said there really isn't anything to worry about, but if you are concerned you could lay a paper towel down over the aspen when you feed.