Help! Mouth full of aspen?

i just fed him and was watching him. his mouth is full of aspen shavings now! he's trying to get it out of his mouth and it doesn't seem like he can what do i do?!?!

He's now eating the mouse again. Should I hope that he got it out of his mouth or whould he have just given up and swallowed it anyways?

I'd say take a gentle yet firm grip behind his head and help him remove the aspen or let him try to do it himself.

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

He's now eating the mouse again. Should I hope that he got it out of his mouth or whould he have just given up and swallowed it anyways?

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As long as he hasn't swallowed too much he should be fine. Keep an eye out to make sure he is still pooping and the aspen hasn't blocked anything in his digestive tract.

I don't think he would of ate the mouse with such a discomfort in his mouth. I would say hope he got it out. Take advice from more experienced people though, they will be able to tell you what exactly to do.

Also, don't feed in the enclosure if you have loose substrate, thats really the main reason why I have a feeding box for my BP.

I'm not an expert, but I would think if they can digest bones and teeth, aspen shavings are no big deal. I have removed them from my snakes mouth when it happens though.

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Originally Posted by toddstj

I'm not an expert, but I would think if they can digest bones and teeth, aspen shavings are no big deal. I have removed them from my snakes mouth when it happens though.

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Aspen is different material then Bones thus it will not digest the same. Aspen can get very sharp also and cut up a BPs mouth and insides if swallowed.

Thanks to all. It was a fairly big piece that he had in his mouth, I don't think he would have been able to eat with it in there, so I'm fairly certain he got that out, and then I watched him eating it and picked off all the pieces of aspen from the mouse before it entered his mouth, so I think I can calm down now, right? (sorry. newbie spazz. i know.)

when my snake was on aspen, he had a huge chunk of aspen in his mouth and worked to get it out - it was keeping his jaws seperated and i just used tweasers and poked it - it fell down and he was able to get it out

hmmm i'm using cypress mulch as a substrate...i should probly feed outside of the enclosure huh?

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Originally Posted by mommanessy247

hmmm i'm using cypress mulch as a substrate...i should probly feed outside of the enclosure huh?

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Yep, if you have any loose substrate I would recommend feeding outside of the enclosure.

I am brand spanking new to this forum as I just received my first two BP's on Tuesday this week. I have 39 colubrids and I do keep them on aspen. I feed all of the colubrids in seperate containers. Since I wanted BP's I have been reading up on what I should do for these guys. The majority of what I read states to feed in the enclosure due to some possible stress issues. So the main question is when keeping on loose substrate is it better to feed in a separate container to minimize stress or feed in the enclosure but lay down a piece of plastic or paper bag or towel over the aspen to minimize injestion? Not trying to hijack this thread with this question, sorta thought it fit in. I am not sure my new snakes would be comfortable with me trying to pick out some aspen pieces. I purchase Harlan in bulk so I think it is better shredded than others but still, probably not a good relationship developer for me and a new snake

I used to use newspaper because I was worried about my snakes swallowing wood chips while eating. After seeing a few breeders setups, I made the switch to cypress mulch. It works much better for humidity and you don't have to clean as much. Little spot cleaning here and there and replace the entire thing when needed.

I've never had any problems with snakes eating wood chips. If I happen to see them swalling a piece I just grab it. Usually if they are swallowing a piece though, they will regurge the rat/mouse a bit until the wood chip falls out. Feeding live I really never have this problem, The frozen thawed ones that I defrost in warm water though, tend to have wood chips stick to them like crazy so I'd be careful in that scenerio.