Do you ever feed directly on Loose Substrate

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I do it every week with my hatchlings (they are kept on aspen) and I do it with other species who are kept on cypress and used to do it with BP when I kept them on cypress.

[FoxReptiles]

I have had all my snakes on paper for the last 6 months and enjoy it for the worry free feeding (especially with my girls that require me to leave the f/t rodent in over night.) I'm considering moving a couple stubborn eaters back onto cypress and feeding directly on it. If their appetite improves, it might be worth the risk to make it permanent for just them.

Thanks for the input everyone. I would have guessed the results would have been opposite, but it seems like I might be worrying too much about it.

[kitedemon]

I always feed on coco coir yup they often eat some it is not a problem. I have had a snake become constipated due to substrate ingestion (cyprus at the time) but she is a very odd case (one eye and mostly blind) The only substrate that I know of that has ever caused issues with ingestion is paper towels. To my mind it isn't worth the risk as it is the same as paper for the snake there is no clear advantage to make up for the minimal risk. Some have their reasons for using it and those reasons out weigh the chance but I don't see it myself.

[wendhend]

I feed all of my ball pythons on their aspen substrate and have never had any issues. Ball pythons eat SO much better if you let them eat in their enclosures than putting them somewhere else for feeding. Most of mine eat warm wet frozen / thawed rats off of tongs, and I know there is some potential for the aspen to stick, but I have been doing it this way for years and never seen a single impaction nor even found shavings in their poo.

[Munizfire]

When Volvagia was on aspen shavings, I would feed her right there, but once I switched to sani-chips and saw the mess she made while eating (and about 50% of her prey was covered in chips), I decided to put paper towels over the sani-chips before offering food.

[Argentra]

Remember this one fact: Snakes digest rodent bones and fur. Do you really think a little piece of wood is going to affect them much?? I would say, only if it's really sharp and gets stuck somewhere, or if they take in a whole mouthful of it.

Always use aspen bedding, always feed on it with no issues. Once, one of my BPs got a piece stuck in their mouth, but they worked it out on their own before I could even open the cage door.

[CuddleMunkie]

We had messy eaters, and the rat or mouse would always be covered in mulch subtrate, but they never had an issue with it. If they ever had any in their mouth after slurping down that tail, it would get spit out before they finished their yawning.

[Redneck_Crow]

I feed on aspen. My snakes do such a good job of packing it down that they rarely injest any.

When I used to feed on paper towels one of my snakes used to "gift wrap" his rodents as he ate them. It never did him any harm either.

[Vypyrz]

All of my snakes are fed on Sani-Chips...

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[PorcelainxDoll]

My biggest bp is fed on ground coco husk. If he gets substrate in his mouth he will usually spit it out.

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