should i be worried, wet mouse bum= alot of aspen

[ms381]

I was reading a thread debate about feeding in tanks and if your snake eats some aspen, well the general opinion was that it would not cause to many problems if only a small amount and it would be ok to feed in the tank. So i fed in my tank! Now Here is the worry!

Henry struck the wrong end of the mouse (bum end) and even though the constriction was good, he decided to eat bum first. After much struggle and worry from myself he decided to give up and go to the head. The problem was that he made the back end of the mouse so wet it was covered in spit and apsen was all over it.

He ate alot of aspen and for a few minutes after was desperatly trying to get it out.

In hind sight i should of taken the mouse out, but i was worried about causing stress to henry.

I am worried, as it was a hell of alot of aspen to take down. And he looked like he was struggling after to get the aspen out of his mouth.

Should i take him to the vets or keep an eye on him, and maybe not feed in th etank if this happens again. This scenario wasnt mentioned on the thread.

Matt

[ballpythonluvr]

I would definitely keep an eye on the snake. Sometimes they will ingest a bit of the substrate. If you want you can put down paper towel or newpaper in the enclosure before you drop the prey item in with the snake, that way he will not get a mouth full of substrate or you can feed in another container, this is entirely up to you. I personally would not move the snake, I would just put down the paper towel or the newspaper for the next feeding.

[ms381]

What are the signs of compaction, will they just go off feed? If he regurges because of the aspen i will take him to the vets immediatly.

But If he eats next week can i assume he is ok?

I have used the paper towel trick but for the 3 feeds (have not had him long) he has always seem to eat just past the towel and on the aspen, but the last two times he ate little or no aspen. This time it was alot different. This has worried me!

[NWReptiles]

This is one of the two reasons I do not use wood substrate.

When I did use aspen, I also tended to spot clean... The odors in my snake room went up drastically.

I now use unprinted newspaper. This is similar to the packing paper you can get at u-haul, but I get it in roll ends from the local newspaper. They give the stuff away free.

The unprinted newspaper never gets in the way of feeding.

Sorry, I cannot offer advice on your immediate question, being how to know if the snake is okay or not, but you might consider newspaper in the future.

[wilomn]

Unless it ingested bedding equal to the size of the rodent you fed, I don't think you need to worry.

There are no paper towels or newspapers in nature and they generally seem to do quite well when it comes to eating.

Remember, these snakes are designed to eat dirt and pebbles and all sorts of debris.

So, unless there was a LARGE amount of bedding swallowed, and I mean a LARGE amount, chances are very good your snake never even noticed it was eating more than a mouse.

[shaunwithbite]

i think as long is not a really huge lump.. he should be fine.. next time just to be safe... put a news paper or papert towel over the aspen then..offer food after he finished his food.. then remove

[ms381]

I did think about wild ball pythons and how much dirt etc they would eat during a feed. I guess alot, but i also guess alot more have problems as well.

But anyway, thanks for the help. He seems to be fine, only seen his head as he has been digesting in his warm hide, no regurge and will hold him for a while to check him out as its been 48 hrs or more.

I will put the paper towels down next time for sure!

Thanks

Matt

[MitsuMike]

Unless it ingested bedding equal to the size of the rodent you fed, I don't think you need to worry.

There are no paper towels or newspapers in nature and they generally seem to do quite well when it comes to eating.

Remember, these snakes are designed to eat dirt and pebbles and all sorts of debris.

So, unless there was a LARGE amount of bedding swallowed, and I mean a LARGE amount, chances are very good your snake never even noticed it was eating more than a mouse.

Yes but they also don't live in a place where the floor is covered in shaved aspen wood either, nothing of that mimics natural environment. But I do agree that it shouldn't be a problem.
Switching to reptibark or a not to stick friendly substrate may ease your mind during feeding.

[enchinoman]

Unless it ingested bedding equal to the size of the rodent you fed, I don't think you need to worry.

There are no paper towels or newspapers in nature and they generally seem to do quite well when it comes to eating.

Remember, these snakes are designed to eat dirt and pebbles and all sorts of debris.

So, unless there was a LARGE amount of bedding swallowed, and I mean a LARGE amount, chances are very good your snake never even noticed it was eating more than a mouse.

I just switched from aspen to INDENTED KRAFT PAPER. I've read all the threads and I know that aspen is well liked but I just spent $3,000 on my man-made snakes and had to pull out a lot of aspen from the mouth of one of them. I can not afford to take the risk just because "in nature they eat a lot of debri". These snakes are not from nature, they have been born in captivity for many generations and their natural habitat is that which we provide for them and not nature. I used unprinted newspaper under indented kraft paper for twenty years and recently switched to aspen. This switch got me real worried by the amount of aspen the snakes eat with their meals. I switched back to INDENTED KRAFT PAPER it is the best substrate for your unnatural man-made babies.

[wilomn]

I just switched from aspen to INDENTED KRAFT PAPER. I've read all the threads and I know that aspen is well liked but I just spent $3,000 on my man-made snakes and had to pull out a lot of aspen from the mouth of one of them. I can not afford to take the risk just because "in nature they eat a lot of debri". These snakes are not from nature, they have been born in captivity for many generations and their natural habitat is that which we provide for them and not nature. I used unprinted newspaper under indented kraft paper for twenty years and recently switched to aspen. This switch got me real worried by the amount of aspen the snakes eat with their meals. I switched back to INDENTED KRAFT PAPER it is the best substrate for your unnatural man-made babies.

It is good that you are pleased with your decision to switch.

I wonder about your manmade babies though. How many generations of captive production are in your manmades? 10? 12? I can't imagine it being any more than that.

I wonder if 12 generations, being extremely generous in that 12, is enough to change millions of years worth of reptile evolution.

What you do to PROTECT your manmade investments is good. However, it has little to do with those investments ability to ingest without harm bits of substrate.

I believe the original question was will the snake be OK, or should the OP be worried about it. He was not asking what to do to best protect his manmade investment.

It is often the case in an online forum that the question morphs, heh heh heh, into something other than what it began as.

Your answer is good. But not for this question.