Substrate stuck in nose again!

This has happened to me twice now. My male cinnamon got some substrate in his nose and now hemsounds like he's has trouble breathing. This happened to my female albino spider and I freaked out thinking I had an RI on my hands when the vet assured me that it was only the aspen that was stuck in her nose. They removed it and then she was fine. Not making anymore noise. But now she got some back in her nose. I know it's not Ri because the symptoms aren't there. But I'm wondering how do you get it out? Or if I'm the only one that this happens to?

Bump plz

Sounds like I'd quit aspen

yeah i dont go for aspen for a number of reasons this being one of them, i prefer cypress mulch, bigger chunks and as long as your not feeding on top of this substrate you pretty much eliminate accidental ingestion.

Hmm I've never had aspen get stuck in my red tail boa or ball pythons noses ever and my red tail loves to destroy her cage and push the aspen all over. But if it is getting stuck in yours, then yes I would probably switch. I like aspen for the fact its cheap and since I do full cage cleanings every month or 2 months at the most, it doesn't break the bank to buy 3 bags every month. Plus it absorbs piss pretty good.

I'm curious how did your snake get aspen lodged in her nose? I mean sometimes my red tail gets dust or some particulate in her nose but you know it when she does as she does a big huff and expels a bunch of air clearing her nose. She does sometimes make a slight whistling noise when she is ready to shed but I attribute that to just the skin inside her nose holes are loosening up. You can tell an RI from just a whistle. RI has a gurgling wet sound where as the shed whistle is just a crisp whistle. But anyways im curious as I know in the wild they root around into rodent burrows and dirt holes, termite mounds and stuff like that so im sure they get that stuff in their nose too but like I said, they probably just huff and expel/clear their nostrils.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Hmm I've never had aspen get stuck in my red tail boa or ball pythons noses ever and my red tail loves to destroy her cage and push the aspen all over. But if it is getting stuck in yours, then yes I would probably switch. I like aspen for the fact its cheap and since I do full cage cleanings every month or 2 months at the most, it doesn't break the bank to buy 3 bags every month. Plus it absorbs piss pretty good.

I'm curious how did your snake get aspen lodged in her nose? I mean sometimes my red tail gets dust or some particulate in her nose but you know it when she does as she does a big huff and expels a bunch of air clearing her nose. She does sometimes make a slight whistling noise when she is ready to shed but I attribute that to just the skin inside her nose holes are loosening up. You can tell an RI from just a whistle. RI has a gurgling wet sound where as the shed whistle is just a crisp whistle. But anyways im curious as I know in the wild they root around into rodent burrows and dirt holes, termite mounds and stuff like that so im sure they get that stuff in their nose too but like I said, they probably just huff and expel/clear their nostrils.

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this is actually the second time it's happened. The vet told me what happens is that the nostril being closed won't allow it to breath out of there and lots of mucus build up behind it. So she said it may sound like an RI but it almost always with these cases it isn't. But a trip to the vet is pretty expensive. But by any chance does someone know how to get this out of their noses?

I'd love to see a pic of this. I mean, how far up it's nose is it?

I've been using aspen for all my snakes for years and have never ran into this issue. However, I feed my snakes in a separate cage without any substrate to avoid any potential ingestion issues.

Wow, I can't believe how many posts people have mentioned using separate feeding cages. And nobody crucified them. Or brought up cage aggression feeding myth. Some people due it because they don't want feeder "contamination", or risk accidental substrate ingestion. Wow,maybe it is a friendly community after all. Sorry to get off subject. And yes I know it can possibly stress some animals.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

Wow, I can't believe how many posts people have mentioned using separate feeding cages. And nobody crucified them. Or brought up cage aggression feeding myth. Some people due it because they don't want feeder "contamination", or risk accidental substrate ingestion. Wow,maybe it is a friendly community after all. Sorry to get off subject. And yes I know it can possibly stress some animals.

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There have been many threads on this subject.

This horse has been beat to a pulp.

I think folks arms are still tired from the beatings.:D

I don't see how it is possible to get the Aspen in the nose.

While I dont use Aspen, I still have a huge bag from when I used to use it. And those shavings appear too large for a schnoze.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

There have been many threads on this subject.

This horse has been beat to a pulp.

I think folks arms are still tired from the beatings.:D

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I thought maybe people had to much substrate in their nose.:P

now he has substrate in both nostrils! Not sure what to do can someone please help me? I want to give him a bath but I'm unsure if that would be safe.

Post a picture of this please...

Are you sure he doesn't have an RI and the substrate is sticking to the mucous coming out of his nostrils? I'll say it again but in the 2 years I've has my BCI girl, I've never seen aspen stuck in her nostrils. Same with my old BP which I had for 10 years. I mean they live in termite mounds and in dirt holes where there is tons of debris around and they do fine. I just cant figure out how your one snake has managed to get aspen in his nose multiple times and not be able to expel it with a huff.

And bathes are fine as long as you are using warm water. Some don't like it though. Both my snakes act like its acid but they don't mind a nice rubdown with a warm wet washcloth. When my BCI got poop on her head(god knows how she did it), I gave her a bath and used a washcloth to wipe her head down. She isn't head shy so it wasn't too bad. You can try that.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Are you sure he doesn't have an RI and the substrate is sticking to the mucous coming out of his nostrils? I'll say it again but in the 2 years I've has my BCI girl, I've never seen aspen stuck in her nostrils. Same with my old BP which I had for 10 years. I mean they live in termite mounds and in dirt holes where there is tons of debris around and they do fine. I just cant figure out how your one snake has managed to get aspen in his nose multiple times and not be able to expel it with a huff.

And bathes are fine as long as you are using warm water. Some don't like it though. Both my snakes act like its acid but they don't mind a nice rubdown with a warm wet washcloth. When my BCI got poop on her head(god knows how she did it), I gave her a bath and used a washcloth to wipe her head down. She isn't head shy so it wasn't too bad. You can try that.

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I am going to clear things up. I have 9 bps. My humidity is still getting under control. Which I know is a problem. My problem is my snake has had coconut fibers in his nose for almost 2 weeks now. When I said aspen it was another ball python(I have more than one). But before all of this. I bought a vpi axanthic adult male. He was sold to me with an RI infection. Now 2 weeks go by I get another ball python( which was the first one with substrate in its nose). It was weezing about 2 weeks after I purchased it. I instantly went into panic mode and took her to the vet. I was convinced she had an RI. But the vet seemed certain it wasn't. This is when the vet pointed out to me that she had some aspen in her nose. The vet took my ball python to the back and when she came back, she said that the reason she was weeping was because the aspen was stuck in her nose and caused mucus to build up behind making the wheezing sound. Now flash forward to today. I still have the vpi axanthic male, which still has an RI. He is not in the rack system. And now my male cinnamon has substrate which is loose coconut fibers in his nostrils. I switched to loose coconut fibers as my substrate for all my bps. Also the same female that had the substrate in her nose that I took to the vet, has loose coconut fibers in one of her nostrils. Now, what leads me to believe that neither of them have RI infections, is that they are both still slamming rats. Also they are not bubbling at the mouth. They are active. The only problem is they have substrate in their nostrils. The male cinnamon has it in both. The female albino spider has it in one nostril. The albino spider is the one that I took to the vet thinking she has an RI when it was just substrate. The Vpi axanthic male adult with the RI does not have substrate in his nose either, so if the other bps with the substrate in their nose had an RI the plugged nostrils would not be a side effect. Now can someone please just tell me how the hell do I get the substrate out of their nose? Because i am extremely fustrated.

If you want some help post a picture so people can suggest something can't help going into situation blind...

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If you want some help post a picture so people can suggest something can't help going into situation blind...

Sounds to me like you need to ditch the Eco Earth. I used that stuff for my BCI girl when she was a baby for about a year and never had those issues. My issues with it was it was messy and stuck to everything. Also if you didn't keep spraying it down, it dried out and became dusty. Also I had it mold on me once and cause the underside of her wood log to mold as well so I threw everything out, tore down her Pro-Line cage and took it outside and completely cleaned each piece with about 3 different cleaners. Then I reassembled the cage and switched to aspen and haven't looked back.

I'm at a loss as like I've said, I've never seen a snake with stuff stuck in their nostrils. Sorry. And yeah pictures would probably help a lot. And if one of your snakes has an RI, I would be very worried about the others. Unless you got a culture done to verify if it was bacterial, viral or fungal as the last 2 are contagious. My beardie had a slight RI which turned out to be bacterial and the vet said the type of bacteria she had was transferred by fecal to oral so my snakes were safe. Of course I pretty well bathed in Chlorhexadine after touching anyone and wiped down every thing once a day at least for the next 2 months. Anyways good luck and hope you find the problem.

This is the first I've ever heard of substrates getting stuck in noses...either coconut or aspen. Like someone else mentioned, I'd be worried that the mucus came first and the fibers stuck to the mucus, not the other way around.

That being said...what can you do NOW to help the situation?

Switch to a paper substrate, first and foremost. Paper towels, clean newsprint, or good ol' newspapers...whatever you choose, you can then be certain that no fibers are there to get stuck in noses and IF something else is going on, you'll have a chance to catch it without confusing the cause.

Second...a bath could help. Make sure the water is just lukewarm. (NOT warm to the touch...what feels "warm" to you will feel hot to the snake) The water should feel neither warm nor cold when you touch it with the inside of your wrist. Not too deep, but deep enough for her to dip her head under if she chooses to do so. Don't leave her unattended for a moment while bathing, but do keep in mind that they can hold their breath under water for a long time, so don't freak out if she dips her head under the water for more than a minute. If you do this in a bath tub, then make sure to clean and rinse the tub really well first to make sure there are no soap residues in the water. I'd recommend a large, clean tub with a lid, though.