My ball python ate substrate | help!!

​Ijust fed my ball python her first small rat tonight. It took her a while to swallow the prey in her hide but when I looked in the cage she had 3 or 4 pieces of small cypress mulch in her mouth. They looked like they might damage her and I got nervous. Am I just worried or should I take her to a vet?

It's not a problem! They digest it easily, as long as your temps and husbandry are on point.

Mine eat substrate every meal- I don't even watch them eat anymore LOL.

Thanks for the help I can sleep with a clear conscience

This is a controversial topic .... Whe I started I was told to place card / cardboard down first and feed over the top of the card - just to avoid any swallowing / ingestion of the substrate as it can supposedly lead to impaction .
That's what I've done for years with no issues .

Maybe it depends on the type / size of the snake /substrate and how much they swallow . I've seen odd pieces occasionally stuck to the rat when they're munching on it and I've pulled the bark off with tongs .

It will be intersecting to see what the others think.

Some snakes will never see anything like apsen or bark chippings in the wild like sand boas maybe ...


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Mine has eaten a few pieces of reptichip/coco fibers. Havent had any issues.

Mine has ate a ton.....well I'm not gonna say a ton..a lot of aspen, back when I used it. Even though I would place the rat on a paper towel he always managed to eat a bit of the aspen. Now I use newspaper, so I don't worry about him eating bedding anymore.

Like redshepherd said, as long as your temps are good, your snake should have no problem passing it.

Our guy likes to 'season' his rat with eco earth dragging it around before eating both... no issues.

Nothing to worry about. They digest bone and fur. Nobody cleans their food in the wild.

All above comments may well be true but I'd guess digesting bone maybe different to digesting wood chips !?

Can't see that many Sand boas , for example, will ever come across wood bark in the wild so why would their digestive system be able to cope with it ?!

Not being awkward here , just intrigued ..


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My snakes will occasionally digest a bit of substrate when they eat and I've never had any issues.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

This is a controversial topic .... Whe I started I was told to place card / cardboard down first and feed over the top of the card - just to avoid any swallowing / ingestion of the substrate as it can supposedly lead to impaction .

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Fear of substrate impaction is more relevant to lizards however it tended to get brought up for snake care as well in generic 'reptile care sheets' over the years so the idea of it stuck around.
nothing wrong with being overly cautious however.

Snakes are normally fine with odd bit of substrate but to save any bad come backs I always remove him from the hide and take the hide out and lay half a sheet of news paper down them I'll place him on the paper to feed him and it's never bothered him and he will always take it and eat it on top of the paper then I will leave him and with in the hour he will always go into his other hide that's when I'll remove the paper and put his hide back in its more to put my mind at rest coz when he has ate a bit of substrate in the past I'm normally worrying for next few days hoping everything is fine haha

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That's not a problem. Its when it starts snacking on it inbetween feedings you should worry.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

This is a controversial topic .... Whe I started I was told to place card / cardboard down first and feed over the top of the card - just to avoid any swallowing / ingestion of the substrate as it can supposedly lead to impaction .
That's what I've done for years with no issues .

Maybe it depends on the type / size of the snake /substrate and how much they swallow . I've seen odd pieces occasionally stuck to the rat when they're munching on it and I've pulled the bark off with tongs .

It will be intersecting to see what the others think.

Some snakes will never see anything like apsen or bark chippings in the wild like sand boas maybe ...


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Thats a really good idea. I've had to feed my bp in a separate tub (which I know is frowned upon, luckily I haven't gotten any weird aggression when taking him out of the tank because of it) because if my snake gets substrate on his food (which he always dose due to constricting) he won't go near it anymore and refuses to eat it *eye roll* maybe he's just a neat freak idk, but anyways thats a great idea I'll have to give it a try!

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Normal doesn't mean boring! [emoji4]

Yep, long as the husbandry's on point they shouldn't risk anything like a bowel impaction from the substrate any more than the rodent's fur/bones would cause on its own. This is why humidity and hydration are good.

Humans get constipated when dehydrated too, after all.

I keep mine on hemp (about the same as cypress) but it's cut a little finer. Mine's eaten bits and pieces with meals (they usually get stuck on his saliva while he gums at it or on blood if he had a strong strike). No issues so far.

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Originally Posted by hollowlaughter

Yep, long as the husbandry's on point they shouldn't risk anything like a bowel impaction from the substrate any more than the rodent's fur/bones would cause on its own. This is why humidity and hydration are good.

Humans get constipated when dehydrated too, after all.

I keep mine on hemp (about the same as cypress) but it's cut a little finer. Mine's eaten bits and pieces with meals (they usually get stuck on his saliva while he gums at it or on blood if he had a strong strike). No issues so far.

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I'm just harping back to a excerpt from a scientific paper I saw a while back which suggested that whilst snakes can digest feathers and bones they can't digest wood ...

Kinda made sense to me at the time but if anyone can show proof or evidence to the contrary I'll continue to be wary.


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Hair, claws, scales (keratin) and carapace (chitin) are two well-known undigestibles, at least in the majority of snakes.

Logically, plant fiber SHOULD be digestible in small amounts, since it's what their prey feeds on. Thus what's in the rodent's belly ends up in the snake's belly. Hemp should definitely be fine far as I can tell since it's not sharp-edged or hard and is a plant fiber like beans, coir, and esparto. It's all cellulose, so plant fibers are probably just not nutritionally viable vs an actual threat in the amount a normal snake would digest them.

Really, pythons have a pretty cool digestive process.