My snake keeps trying to eat her bedding :(

Yesterday I fed my snake and she ate perfectly fine and then I was watering her cage and she tried to bite the water but missed and bit a stick in the cage instead (it was a bit of bedding I use cypress) and so I flipped out picked her up and safely removed the stick from her mouth with tweezers and she was fine. But I just fed her in her tank again today (I am changing her feeding a little bit to make it two mice instead of one) and she had some more bedding in her mouth. I left for a bit and just came to check on her and I don't see any bedding in her mouth. But bedding is expensive and I am starting to feel it isn't safe for her. But I saw a sort of *carpet* bedding like a green mat for the floor of the tank (yes I use a glass tank and her humidity is FINE) but I was wondering if it would work for her? I need her humidity to stay up thats why I use cypress but I don't want any more accidents to happen and I should be heading to petco or petsmart tomorrow (they are the only pet places around me that I trust). So do you guys have any suggestions for non-wood bedding? Not using coconut husk or whatever it is I don't like the idea of something so finely milled in her tank and getting in her water and stuff. But if I do go with the 'carpet' will it keep humidity up? Or is there something else.
Thanks in advance :)

They eat dirt and who knows what else in the wild and they're fine. Some bedding won't hurt her. If it concerns you that much you can put down some cardboard when you feed her. As for feeding, how big are the mice?

Paper towels are probably the most commonly used substrate for ball pythons. I used very tightly woven carpet pieces for a while and they worked well. You do have to run them through the washing machine every time they soil it though. I used color safe bleach with each load. No spot cleaning. I bought a yard at a time at Lowe’s off of the big roll. It comes in brown and dark blue. The grass looking stuff won’t hold up to vigorous cleaning that is needed to keep the bacteria from settling in. I stopped using it after I had about 10 snakes and the stack of clean carpet pieces took up a slot in my rack. Now I use paper towels. I suppose a chunk of wood chips could cause an issue if it got stuck in the mouth splinter like. However, swallowing a piece would go through okay. If your snake needs two mice to satisfy hunger, it is time to switch to rats.

The mice aren't big they are fuzzies and I am worried about giving her any bigger of mice because she is not super smart and bites them from the side and then has to move it to the butt or head position to put it in her mouth all the way. But I am thinking of trying bigger mice she only has one more of her fuzzies. And the stick getting in her mouth freaked me out because SHE COULDN'T CLOSE HER MOUTH. Her mouth was lopsided and she was clearly very uncomfortable but I love the idea of cardboard! But I don't know how to use paper towels I feel like it would be too possible to make mold and yeah I think I will look into types of carpets for her but I would have to get multiple for when she does her business.
But thank you both!:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by neocatlove

The mice aren't big they are fuzzies and I am worried about giving her any bigger of mice because she is not super smart and bites them from the side and then has to move it to the butt or head position to put it in her mouth all the way. But I am thinking of trying bigger mice she only has one more of her fuzzies. And the stick getting in her mouth freaked me out because SHE COULDN'T CLOSE HER MOUTH. Her mouth was lopsided and she was clearly very uncomfortable but I love the idea of cardboard! But I don't know how to use paper towels I feel like it would be too possible to make mold and yeah I think I will look into types of carpets for her but I would have to get multiple for when she does her business.
But thank you both!:)

---

Fuzzies are too small for Ball Pythons, they start on Hoppers for their first couple meals and they quickly move up in size to small mice. She'll figure it out, as for paper towels I use them on my quarantine enclosures and I've never had an issue with mold. Weigh your snake and follow the feeding chart below.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F98qfzDH.png

I don't have anything to weigh her :(
but she is pretty young less then a year old (the person who sold her to me didn't tell me her age) and i know about measuring the biggest part of them and then getting one about that size