My BP ate a bark chip...

[mainbutter]

on the subject of snakes missing the prey item:

BPs seem to really rely on their heat pits for strike aiming. The one time I fed a room-temp prey item rather than a slightly warmed prey item, she had the worst time figuring out where to strike.

Always feed prey that is warm enough for heat pit detection.

[truthsdeceit]

on the subject of snakes missing the prey item:

BPs seem to really rely on their heat pits for strike aiming. The one time I fed a room-temp prey item rather than a slightly warmed prey item, she had the worst time figuring out where to strike.

Always feed prey that is warm enough for heat pit detection.

That's definitely a good tip. I heat my feeders using a bowl of warm water and I always make sure to run the head of the rat under hot tap water right before I feed so that it's extra warm.

[Brian_Sutton]

I had the same problem when I bought my first ball. Definately switch to aspen and use tongs. I used to use bark too. Looks good but you run that risk of your snake eating bark as well. At least the aspen is smaller, plus its much easier to clean up waste. As far as moving to another enclosure, I dont suggest that. I feed live and as soon as I get home with rats all of my snakes are alerted to their scent. After getting tagged by my normal, I bought tongs.

[ericson1777]

i dont know if anyone has said this yet but what do you think the do in the wild? its not like there pray is perfectly clean, in the wild there going to eat stuff like that every once and a while.

[truthsdeceit]

i dont know if anyone has said this yet but what do you think the do in the wild? its not like there pray is perfectly clean, in the wild there going to eat stuff like that every once and a while.

I agree with this, it's why I mostly don't worry about it.. but I'm not gonna let my snakes eat large pieces of bedding if I see it. Might as well prevent it if I can.

And just to say this: I bet snakes in the wild occationaly die of digestive issues... not like they can slither to a vet.

[Kaorte]

... not like they can slither to a vet.

< To the vet!

[cptnwhizbang]

Update on Carlos! (My BP)

He's been doing fine, although I'm pretty sure he broke a rib or two (They're sticking out funny). The uneducated man at PetCo said that happens occasionally if they eat something too large, so it shouldn't be a problem.