Ball Python Ate a Piece of ReptiChip

[ssmith73]

So a have a 700g female that got a piece of Reptichip stuck on front teeth. She was trying to dislodge it but was having issues so I tried to reach in with tongs to remove it and she retreated. While retreating she frantically worked it into her mouth and swallowed it. I know from a past post, ball pythons have a pretty hardy digestive system but this was a solid piece of the coco husk.

What should I be looking for to make sure she is not impacted.

Thanks for reading!

[Zincubus]

So a have a 700g female that got a piece of Reptichip stuck on front teeth. She was trying to dislodge it but was having issues so I tried to reach in with tongs to remove it and she retreated. While retreating she frantically worked it into her mouth and swallowed it. I know from a past post, ball pythons have a pretty hardy digestive system but this was a solid piece of the coco husk.

What should I be looking for to make sure she is not impacted.

Thanks for reading!

As much as we do to prevent or at least minimise ingestion of bark - I feed over pieces of card .... snakes do swallow bits of substrate ... I've never had an issue in all my years .. maybe I've been lucky ..

Anyways , maybe best you just forget about it ..


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[ssmith73]

As much as we do to prevent or at least minimise ingestion of bark - I feed over pieces of card .... snakes do swallow bits of substrate ... I've never had an issue in all my years .. maybe I've been lucky ..

Anyways , maybe best you just forget about it ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you! I mean the rat was at least 500 times larger than the piece of bark. I just like it when it's all clean and no issues.

[Bogertophis]

They cannot actually digest it but hopefully it will pass with no problems. You'll just have to wait & see.

[ssmith73]

They cannot actually digest it but hopefully it will pass with no problems. You'll just have to wait & see.

How do I know if she has passed it?

[Bogertophis]

How do I know if she has passed it?

You can make an assumption if she continues to eat & defecate, & you can also search thru her poo to your hearts content.

How big was it? If larger than the stool she passes (or jagged?) it could cause irritation & even bleeding issues with her cloaca too, but hopefully it will "re-emerge"
cloaked harmlessly in snake poo to ease it's exit from her body.

[ssmith73]

You can make an assumption if she continues to eat & defecate, & you can also search thru her poo to your hearts content.

How big was it? If larger than the stool she passes (or jagged?) it could cause irritation & even bleeding issues with her cloaca too, but hopefully it will "re-emerge"
cloaked harmlessly in snake poo to ease it's exit from her body.

I am struggling to find a size comparison. Only thing I can think of is a two knob Lego.

Going for the best.

Thank you for replying.

[Bogertophis]

I am struggling to find a size comparison. Only thing I can think of is a two knob Lego.

Going for the best.

Thank you for replying.

Doesn't help me any, but I looked at ads for product...appears to me no bigger than thumbnail? Nothing you can do now but wait & hope...it happens in the wild too,
but most of us try to protect our pets by feeding on some sort of 'plate' (box lid, etc). Also I suspect that our pets are a lot less active than wild snakes, and all that
activity probably makes wild snakes LESS likely to get "blocked up", compared to our pets. ReptiChip looks like a pretty safe product as far as I can tell- haven't used.