Question About Feeding

[Kit]

I have a female Ball Python and I feed her In a separate tub. At first I put old towels down in the tub so she would be comfy and it wasn't a problem at first. When I was feeding her last time she got a hold of the mouse and the towel. But she handled it like a champ and knew that the towel wasn't the mouse and opened her mouth enough to let me get the towel out. She was fine, no lost teeth and she ate none of the towel. She gave me a scare! As soon as she was done I immediately removed the towel and put substrate in instead. I learned my lesson and felt so bad afterwards! I kept an eye on her and she was perfectly fine. But the whole reason I didn't but substrate in there was because it would get on the mouse. My question is will it hurt her if she gets substrate on the mouse? And if it is, what alternative things can I put on the bottom of the tub?

Thanks ahead of time and hope you have a safe and fantastic day!

[StillBP]

Why feed in a separate tub at all it isn't necessary. But if you do use newspaper. She will not get that in her mouth

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[Kit]

I feed in a separate tub just to be safe. Also her tub has substrate in it as well. And thank you! I will try newspaper!

[SPIDERBALL]

The towel thing will work still. Just a freak accident. Mine does it sometimes too. It just eventually releases what it isn't suppose to have is all. So I keep doing it that way cuz it's cleaner and I put a new towel in the tub each week.

[Kit]

Thank you!

[Hannahrenee]

I feed in a separate tub with paper towel on the bottom. It's comfortable and easy to clean.

[Kit]

Thank you!

[Craiga 01453]

There is no need to feed in a separate tub.

If your concern is substrate ingestion, consider this: nobody cleans their food in the wild, they digest bone and fur. A small amount of substrate will not hurt them. You can always set a paper plate or something similar down if you're still concerned.

Also, the cage aggression myth has been proven to be just that, a myth. I feed all of my snakes in their enclosures and always have. Never once has any of them struck or showed any sort of food aggression.

It is actually counter productive due to stress of handling prior to feeding as well as after feeding.