What did I do??

My boy was eating and a lot of people on here suggested trying in his cage, especially since I didn't know his background, so I did and...he had a huge mouthful of eco Earth so I had to scoop it put and now he's eating the rat but I'm super worried he ingested some! Is it bad for him?

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He'll be fine. I'm not a huge fan of "in the wild" reasoning, but it's not like they have had friendly humans watching them eat throughout their evolutionary history. :)

As long as he doesn't get a lot of it on a frequent basis he should be just fine. Eco earth boasts that it's digestible, you just don't want them chowing down on it. I use eco earth as my topsoil in loki's enclosure, if you feed frozen/prekilled feed him on the center of a paper plate/piece of cardboard. It cuts down on substrate injestion a ton. I'm sure you could apply the same strategy if you feed live by placing the pray in a tupperware in his tank?

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

He'll be fine. I'm not a huge fan of "in the wild" reasoning, but it's not like they have had friendly humans watching them eat throughout their evolutionary history. :)

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Thank you :/ after he finished, I opened his mouth and he allowed me to scoop the rest out. He continued opening and closing his mouth for a few minutes and now he is back to normal and roaming his cage. :3 positive thinking!

In the wild I'm sure they eat quite a bit of dirt, they're not presented with clean feeders regularly.

If you're worried about it in the future put some newspaper or a plastic plate on top of the eco earth and feed on that.

229 hit it on the head there.
Just remember its all good, there is a lot that they do in the wild that would freak us out.

They digest meat, fur, bones, claws and teeth a little substrate is not gonna do anything.

I have been feeding HUNDREDS of animals each week over the years on aspen and I am sure they have swallowed some.

Thank you all so much! I am receiving a lot of hate from the people I live with for doing this :( My fiancee won't even talk to me. She is horrified and says I'm going to make her snake cage aggressive and now she will never be able to hold him. KEEP IN MIND, I touched the rat with my hands to entice him after he let it go and didn't eat right away, and he showed no signs of biting. He calmly let me stick a moist towl in his mouth to remove the gunk and then promptly resumed eating. Aggressive my rear end!

Tell her to quit watching animal planet :rofl::rofl:

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Thank you all so much! I am receiving a lot of hate from the people I live with for doing this :( My fiancee won't even talk to me. She is horrified and says I'm going to make her snake cage aggressive and now she will never be able to hold him. KEEP IN MIND, I touched the rat with my hands to entice him after he let it go and didn't eat right away, and he showed no signs of biting. He calmly let me stick a moist towl in his mouth to remove the gunk and then promptly resumed eating. Aggressive my rear end!

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HognoseWash (had to lol) sapphire was fed for 10 years in her enclosure and never once attempted to strike me or anyone else. Maybe if you ONLY open the tank to feed. But if that's the case you have bigger problems than cage aggression. In MY experience, feeding in cage causing aggression is a total myth.

Everyone i know feeds in the home cage and non of there snakes are agressive, im the only person i know that uses a seperate feeding tank... i find that while cage agression thing to be a bunch of bs

Again, thanks! I will have to prove it by continuing my work ;)

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Originally Posted by SCWood

Thank you all so much! I am receiving a lot of hate from the people I live with for doing this :( My fiancee won't even talk to me. She is horrified and says I'm going to make her snake cage aggressive and now she will never be able to hold him. KEEP IN MIND, I touched the rat with my hands to entice him after he let it go and didn't eat right away, and he showed no signs of biting. He calmly let me stick a moist towl in his mouth to remove the gunk and then promptly resumed eating. Aggressive my rear end!

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People with large collections don't have separate feeding enclosures because it's too much of a PITA moving dozens if not hundreds of snakes into separate tubs, and then moving them all back hours later.

People with large constrictors don't have separate feeding enclosures because they don't want to end up bleeding like a stuck pig after wrestling with a foody adult reticulated or burmese python.

People with venomous snakes don't have separate feeding enclosures because they don't want to end up in the ER or on life support after taking a hit from a foody viper.

So, if keepers with a lot more snakes, a lot bigger snakes, a lot more dangerous snakes, and a lot more snake experience than most people on this board, including me, you, and your fiance have, feed their snakes in their enclosures, can your fiance explain why it's a good idea to feed in a separate tub?

We have allot of animals on all kinds of different bedding (sometimes it's not worth stressing them them to switch) and see various things stick to wet...F/T rats. Bottom line is sometimes they don't "need" us as much as we wish they did.

if they swallow a small piece of "something" they will be just fine. If you find that the same stuff is sticking to the rat every week you can throw a bit of news print underneath in the area they strike. (After interest is shown....but before strike.). That works well for some of our lazy girls. :/. The lazy ones that I catch trying to eat an Aspen coated rat...tail first. :)

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Originally Posted by bcr229

People with large collections don't have separate feeding enclosures because it's too much of a PITA moving dozens if not hundreds of snakes into separate tubs, and then moving them all back hours later.

People with large constrictors don't have separate feeding enclosures because they don't want to end up bleeding like a stuck pig after wrestling with a foody adult reticulated or burmese python.

People with venomous snakes don't have separate feeding enclosures because they don't want to end up in the ER or on life support after taking a hit from a foody viper.

So, if keepers with a lot more snakes, a lot bigger snakes, a lot more dangerous snakes, and a lot more snake experience than most people on this board, including me, you, and your fiance have, feed their snakes in their enclosures, can your fiance explain why it's a good idea to feed in a separate tub?

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That makes sense to me but they tend not to care...

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Originally Posted by The Iron Python

We have allot of animals on all kinds of different bedding (sometimes it's not worth stressing them them to switch) and see various things stick to wet...F/T rats. Bottom line is sometimes they don't "need" us as much as we wish they did.

if they swallow a small piece of "something" they will be just fine. If you find that the same stuff is sticking to the rat every week you can throw a bit of news print underneath in the area they strike. (After interest is shown....but before strike.). That works well for some of our lazy girls. :/. The lazy ones that I catch trying to eat an Aspen coated rat...tail first. :)

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We were gonna try that and I guess she has an idea of her own that I will share with ya'll later

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So I guess the plan is to take our extra glass tank and set it up 2 days prior to feeding and move Boots into it with his hide and water. Then we will feed him in it, wait 24hrs, and replace him into his usual cage. This way he is comfortable feeding without 'aggressive behavior'... 😒

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That would have the same effect as moving to a feeding tub. Due to the fact that particular tank will be associated with feeding. Not to mention the stress it would cause

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Originally Posted by bcr229

People with large collections don't have separate feeding enclosures...

So, if keepers with a lot more snakes, a lot bigger snakes, a lot more dangerous snakes, and a lot more snake experience than most people on this board, including me, you, and your fiance have, feed their snakes in their enclosures, can your fiance explain why it's a good idea to feed in a separate tub?

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Originally Posted by SCWood

So I guess the plan is to take our extra glass tank and set it up 2 days prior to feeding and move Boots into it with his hide and water. Then we will feed him in it, wait 24hrs, and replace him into his usual cage. This way he is comfortable feeding without 'aggressive behavior'... ��

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I like how you read the well-reasoned recommendation from bcr229, have decided to ignore it completely and put a lot of work into trying something no one else does and which by design will stress your snake.

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Originally Posted by The Golem

I like how you read the well-reasoned recommendation from bcr229, have decided to ignore it completely and put a lot of work into trying something no one else does and which by design will stress your snake.

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The problem is I am walking on glass here. I have to be careful or I get evicted. I feel like no matter what I do, I'm wrong to either the parents or the forum.

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Originally Posted by SCWood

The problem is I am walking on glass here. I have to be careful or I get evicted. I feel like no matter what I do, I'm wrong to either the parents or the forum.

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When faced with that decision, and as long as your animals are and continue be healthy, there is no real wrong decision. You'll find what works for you. Ultimately your parents are the reality that you'll be facing (not us internet folks), so take the advice you're receiving on here as far as it'll take you but don't let it cause troubles for you in the "real world". :gj:

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

When faced with that decision, and as long as your animals are and continue be healthy, there is no real wrong decision. You'll find what works for you. Ultimately your parents are the reality that you'll be facing (not us internet folks), so take the advice you're receiving on here as far as it'll take you but don't let it cause troubles for you in the "real world". :gj:

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Understood ^^ I will try it their way and if it fails I'll do it my way

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