Aspen stuck under scales?

[AquariaNautica]

Hello!
I fed Monty other day, but when I took him out today I've noticed a small piece of aspen bedding stuck underneath a scale on his head, down along from from his mouth. Should I try and remove it? Or will it come out on its own? I don't want to scare him too much as he is still quite new, as I got him on Christmas. Thank you for any help!

[Slim]

A picture is always helpful in these situations, but it sounds like you should be able to remove it without much drama.
You can try to remove it with your fingers, or try letting your snake crawl across or thru a damp paper towel or cloth.

[DVirginiana]

When something is on my BP's mouth I just remove it with my hands. She's pretty chill though. If you need to get her mouth open just a bit, you can put your thumb on the underside of her jaw and hold the head still with the rest of your hand. Then you can use your thumb to gently move the bottom jaw a bit to the side to open the mouth a bit and remove what you need to.

[AquariaNautica]

Thanks you both! I'll try tonight!

[AquariaNautica]

I think I am going to change substrate for aspen to the bark the pet shop originally sold him with, as I went to remove it by pulling it out and it had pierced out of his mouth, obviously from when he had eat the mouse. It was quite a long piece and I feel bad for not trying to get it out yesterday, I thought it was maybe just a small piece stuck under a scale or something.There was no blood on the piece just saliva, and he was incredibly brave letting me pull it out, only flinching a little bit. But it is just a bit of a warning I suppose by feeding on the substrate because in all the articles I have read and in books I never imagined a piece being able to pierce through the inside of his mouth through to the outside and hurt him like that. Sorry for such a long post

[O'Mathghamhna]

Holy cow... Thanks for sharing. I'm switching to cypress for poopies and grins since it retains moisture better than Aspen anyway.

[AquariaNautica]

from everything I read online and books I ever knew something like this could happen :/

[piedlover79]

Keep a close eye on that wound, injuries near the mouth can be trouble due to higher infection rates. Make sure the area doesn't get puffy.

[AquariaNautica]

Keep a close eye on that wound, injuries near the mouth can be trouble due to higher infection rates. Make sure the area doesn't get puffy.

Thank you, I will be sure to keep an eye on it. So far I haven't seen any swelling, so that's a good sign!