Please Help! My Ball swallowed some cypress mulch :(

Hi there,

While feeding my ball Dexter moments ago with a f/t he split it open in the process of constricting it, I may have put it in the hot water too soon, and while trying to swallow it some of the cypress mulch got stuck to it's entrails and he swallowed it along with the mouse. It was two smaller to medium sized pieces and some smaller bits. I know the acids in their stomach can dissolve the bones of animals so I am assuming the mulch will go along with it but I am so afraid of it getting impacted. Has anyone ever experienced this? Please help!


Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much.

Take a deep breath. There is a very good chance that your BP is going to be just fine. From your description, it doesn't sound like he got too much of it. Chances are very good that it will pass through his system. In the wild they don't always have a clean surface to eat off of, and will pick up foreign objects while eating. Keep an eye on him, and remember it may take some time for the mulch to work through his system.

What is his current weight?

I would say he's about 400 or 500 grams? I am in the process of buying a scale but he's pretty young. After he ate the first one with the cypress mulch stuck he won't eat the second one I'm offering him, so that worries me even more. He's almost acting like he's afraid of the mouse. This is the third time I've fed him and every time before this he'ss eaten very well.

I wouldn't worry too much. They can digest bones. A little substrate isn't going to hurt them. My boa missed her rat last night and got a mouth full of aspen. She has done it before, and I'm sure will do it again. And she is fine. :) Just let your guy be with his meal, and carry on as normal with the next feeding. He simply may not feel like another after the messy exploded one.

He's actually enjoying a nice soak in his water dish so I think that's good. The exploded mouse was definitely unsightly so I could understand not wanting another, haha. Thanks so much for all of your help!

the only risk would be a non-digestible piece too large to be passed. in nature it happens all the time, and in captivity it also happens. they cannot digest cellulose-based fibers, so they cannot digest wood (cows can do that and they need half a dozen of stomachs and re-chewing to do so). but thats no problem as long as the pieces are small. in nature they often get small stones, or leaves, or small pieces of wood, or some sand or soil or feathers. and in captivity they gulped down chunks of sphygnum moss, paper towels, and all kinds of substrate. and when it comes to food items, teeth cannot be digested and hair and feathers are really hard to digest. so, relax. its nature. what goes in and cannot be digested/utilized goes through. and F/T food items exploding is most often because the skin has been heated a bit too much, when you go over a certain temperature the skin really loses its resilience. one extreme case would be human dishes like crispy duck or chicken wings, without the heating the skin would be as sturdy as leather.

thats weird, somehow editing doesnt work, and my formatting got removed, turning my post into a difficult-to-read wall of text... so ill try doing a second post: the only risk would be a non-digestible piece too large to be passed. in nature it happens all the time, and in captivity it also happens. they cannot digest cellulose-based fibers, so they cannot digest wood (cows can do that and they need half a dozen of stomachs and re-chewing to do so). but thats no problem as long as the pieces are small. in nature they often get small stones, or leaves, or small pieces of wood, or some sand or soil or feathers. and in captivity they gulped down chunks of sphygnum moss, paper towels, and all kinds of substrate. and when it comes to food items, teeth cannot be digested and hair and feathers are really hard to digest. so, relax. its nature. what goes in and cannot be digested/utilized goes through. and F/T food items exploding is most often because the skin has been heated a bit too much, when you go over a certain temperature the skin really loses its resilience. one extreme case would be human dishes like crispy duck or chicken wings, without the heating the skin would be as sturdy as leather.

dammit, technical issues, i just deleted browser cache files, anyway.... i cannot do line breaks right now, my post was supposed to be formatted into 4 smaller pieces. i dont think i can get it fixed in the 10 minutes i have for editing. sorry.

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Originally Posted by mere_dith

He's actually enjoying a nice soak in his water dish so I think that's good. The exploded mouse was definitely unsightly so I could understand not wanting another, haha. Thanks so much for all of your help!

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Ok, so the soaking is abnormal. Things to check are your temps (too hot?), humidity (too low?), and for mites.