BP ate some substrate

I feed my baby BP in its enclosure and it swallowed a few pieces of the substrate too. I use cypress mulch. I didn't want to try to help remove it from the mouse because I didn't want to stress Jade out and have him regurgitate. I figure that they can digest bone so it's nothing to worry about, but please let me know if it's a concern and what, if anything, I should do in the future. Thanks :-)

There is a risk of impaction (almost always requires a vet visit) when feeding on any loose substrate . He should be fine if he swallows a small piece here or there - but the less, the better. If he's eating a lot of substrate I would recommend putting a piece of cardboard in his enclosure during feeding time so that the mouse doesn't catch any on his coat. Hope this helps.

I just put some paper towel down before I feed. This keeps the feeding area clear of substrate - also, my snake always knows it's feeding day when I put the towel down while thawing the prey.

you should get a box or something to feed it. I have my "Death Box" that is only used for feeding. no substrate, just and empty box

I wouldn't be too worried if he/she ate a little bit of substrate. The acids in a ball pythons stomach are strong enough to dissolve bone, and teeth. And thats a lot harder to digest than a small piece of wood.

i have one tank that has substrate and i also pull those animals out and put them in a tub to feed them. the rest are in tubs with paper towels so i do not worry about them.

Pretty good idea!!:gj: I use a large plastic(round) container, put holes in the top of the lid. I put that inside my bp's home, to keep it warm. I put the mouse/rat inside the container for a few min, then I add my bp. It only takes him 5-10 sec. & he has already got the mouse/rat. Then you don't have to worry about it eating any substrate.

If it was a small piece of substrate, then it should be ok. I am not sure, but cypress mulch isn't good to have as substrate.
Aspen, newspaper is much better - just some ideas.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by flip9688

you should get a box or something to feed it. I have my "Death Box" that is only used for feeding. no substrate, just and empty box

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by reptile3

Pretty good idea!!:gj: I use a large plastic(round) container, put holes in the top of the lid. I put that inside my bp's home, to keep it warm. I put the mouse/rat inside the container for a few min, then I add my bp. It only takes him 5-10 sec. & he has already got the mouse/rat. Then you don't have to worry about it eating any substrate.

If it was a small piece of substrate, then it should be ok. I am not sure, but cypress mulch isn't good to have as substrate.
Aspen, newspaper is much better - just some ideas.

---

Cypress mulch is perfectly fine...

Thank you all so much for your quick replies. I do not plan of feeding Jade in a seperate enclosure so I think I'll try to paper towel idea :)! Thanks again....I love this site, it is such a HUGE help. I have come to the conclusion that the average people who work at pet stores know nothing about true BP care...and it's a little disheartening that there could be misinformed BP owners whose animals are suffering for it. I have tried to educated myself as mch as possible and this site helps alot!!

i feed most of my snakes in a smaller sterilite container. my male ate a bit of aspen on his first feeding with me and after that he went into a seperate container. the paper towel/cardboard works too if you feed F/T not so much if you feed live.

Would there be generally less incidents of substrate ingestion with feeding live prey on cypress mulch in comparison to feeding f/t (when wet/moist)?

Cypress mulch is a very good substrate but many people do not use it because it costs alot if you have a large collection. CEDAR on the other hand is the big no no for bedding as it is toxic.

Personally I do not use live prey, and if your BP is already eating thawed, it is much more intelligent to keep it that way. Live mice or rats can cause serious damage to a snake VERY quickly. For example if the snake were to strike and coil around the wrong end, the head of the mouse could bite and knaw at the snake enough to do damage before it would die. To any others that do use live, I am not telling you to change, this is just my opinion.

So I would just say, as funny as it sounds, serve your F/T "prey" on a platter for your snake, which could be anything from paper towel to a nice flat rock. If you are concerned about the snake moving once he has begun to eat, put his meal in a plastic container in the tank.

Opinions aside regarding live vs. f/t and substrate type, would feeding live on cypress generally pose less ingestion issues than feeding wet/moist f/t prey on cypress?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bender29

Cypress mulch is perfectly fine...

---

Thank you, I had no idea...:gj:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dvas_Romeo

Opinions aside regarding live vs. f/t and substrate type, would feeding live on cypress generally pose less ingestion issues than feeding wet/moist f/t prey on cypress?

---

Feeding live might make substrate less likely to be injested because F/T prey just sits on the substrate(if you dont put something under it) while live are on all fours but that may not stop a bp from striking the prey and catching some substrate in the process. But please if you are feeding thawed, don't switch to live. It looks cool but so many bad things can happen. If you want to its your choice but look up what can happen on google.

For reference, I recently posted this thread:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=60878
Sounds to me like we should worry. Maybe switching to newspaper is worth it. Put a dimmer/rheostat on the UTH to prevent burns.
Melissa