In-tank Feeders: Do you worry about substrate being swallowed?

yah, my bp never drags his food around once he starts to eat but if he did, what i do now wouldnt really work. I would take him out to feed him if he did drag his dinner around.

I've been wondering the same thing, as far as I know, only cows and termites.. and horses.. ans I'm sure some other animals have the microbes to break down cellulose.. I've never read anything saying that snakes can do this, since they are not herbivores they have no use for breaking down plant fibers.

I feed both of my corns in a separate container, so I don't worry about them.. but my boas/pythons will only eat in the cage. I can get my 3 pythons and one of my boas to strike the food out of my tweezers, and I blow dry the rats before hand and I haven't noticed any aspen getting in their mouths when I do that.. But my biggest boa will not strike her food, I have to leave the f/t in her cage so I usually wipe an area clear of aspen and place her food down and she eventually eats it and doesn't get aspen on the rat.

We feed on cyprus mulch, the live ones dont drag any cyprus down with them, but the FT do. We put down a piece of card board if the snake doesnt strike. I'm not worried about it.

I used to have my corn on Bed-A-Beast which is basically dirt and I'd notice little bits getting into her mouth. After seeing that, I switched her back to newspaper. I never have problems feeding on newspaper so that is what I use for ALL of my snakes.

For cross reference, there's another thread about this in BP husbandry right now.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=60640

Greenmonkey, I think using wild snakes isn't the best example, as Raul pointed out, b/c the longest lived snakes are those in captivity with proper husbandry and veterinary care. There are no vets in the wild either.

I feed my BP in a tub half filled with aspen and then I put the dead mouse on the other half of the tub that doesn't have any bedding and he went after it today for his first meal and ate it on the side with no bedding then went and coiled up on the aspen until I felt he'd ate long enough ago to pick him up and put him back in his tank. He's now on his UTH digesting.