Thinking of switching them all to paper bedding....

[L.West]

Is there any downside to this - could they possibly not like using paper.

I currently have one on paper (for special reasons) and the others are all on Aspen. The problem I am having is them getting aspen in their mouths during eating. I feed in their regular tubs.

Last night my female albino struck at a rat - didn't get a good strike and ended up with a chunk of aspen in her mouth. I proceeded to remove the rat, take the snake out and try to pry open her mouth to get the aspen out. Amazingly enough, she was good about the whole process and I was able to get the aspen out of her mouth. I thought for sure at this point that feeding night would be a bust but she actually went on to eat two mice - I opted for a smaller prey at this point since she had been thru so much already tonight.

What are the cons (if any) to switching them all to indented craft paper?? I am just sooo tired of worrying about them getting aspen stuck in their mouths.

Thanks to all who can chime in.

[snakesRkewl]

I switched to paper towels after having a large female jammed a piece of aspen into her throat, wrangling a 5 foot snake that's writhing in pain from that was no fun and it convinced me to switch.
I had zero issues when I switched, no snakes stopped eating and nobody seemed to care really.

Pros:
1. cheaper than bedding
2. less chance of ingestion although it's not unheard of for a snake to accidentally swallow paper towels but indented paper is probably safer in that aspect.
3. easy clean up
4. better heat transferring to the snake

Cons:
1. it doesn't look as nice as aspen
2. you usually can't spot clean

It's been quite awhile since I quit using aspen and I'll never go back to aspen for ball pythons.

This picture always reminds me why...

[L.West]

Wow, thanks for that information.

I do think I will switch them. They are in a rack so it doesn't matter what it looks like.

My biggest fear is them having some aspen in their mouth/throat that I can't see - then what happens? Yikes

Is there a trick to prying their mouths open - I was at a loss last night so I opened it with my hand and wedged an ink pen in to hold it open while I tried to get the aspen out - seemed to work okay but wasn't sure if there was a better way.

Thanks again.

[snakesRkewl]

You have to be careful prying their mouth open like that, sticking a pen in their mouth might be more damaging than the aspen in their mouth.

In my case the snake couldn't close her mouth and was thrashing about with that aspen stuck in her throat.
It was probably more traumatic for me than the snake but i hate to think what might have happened if I wasn't close by to help her.

[L.West]

Oh ok - I won't do that again. I opened her mouth with my hand and then slid the shaft of the pen into her mouth to help hold it open - I don't think I did any harm but I certainly wont to do that again.

Is there a proper way to do this.

[snakesRkewl]

Unless the aspen gets stuck in the snakes teeth or like in my case stuck in the throat, then swallowing some aspen usually won't hurt the snake.
They can digest bones so it's a pretty safe bet the aspen gets digested also

[seang89]

Using a pen wasn't that bad of a idea. Ive had to use them before(No probes on hand), just make sure its clean clean clean. I usually use a thicker probe to open their mouths, being very careful.

I use all paper towels, makes everything so much easier.

[L.West]

Thanks you guys for the input. I do think I will simply start putting paper in all the tubs - it does seem like it would be easier, safer and cleaner in my opinion.

I never gave any thought to how sterile the pen was - my goodness, the rats have to be full of germs. I would think that a healthy snake should be able to fight off some basic germs.

[Simple Man]

I love paper. I'm practically OCD with my snake care so the extra cleaning doesn't bother me in the least bit. It might not hold humidity as well but I use a rack with tubs and have a constant 60% in my setup. I move the waterbowl over the Flexwatt when they are in shed and mist once or twice a day.

Regards,

B

[RetiredJedi]

I use paper as well. I got the pack of 70 sheets of packing paper at Home Depot for $4.95

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