Feeding concerns

[Traceur]

I so proud of my baby ball python. He ate both of his hoppers today. I really made sure to heat them up this time, and when I offered them to him, he struck both of them successfully both times! He just got his second one, but as I noticed him struggling to find a spot to gulp it down, he dragged it into his hide and kept struggling in and out. But with him sweeping it about, there was some pieces of substrate (cypress mulch) on it- two big pieces and a couple small ones. I managed to pull off a noticeable big one, but when he dragged back into his hide, there was still one more big one and a few smaller pieces.

While he's eating, I'm worried those pieces of substrate will hurt his health. I had a paper in there and everything for him to eat on. If he eats those pieces of substrate, will it be harmful to him? Will he have any health problems afterwards? The last thing I need is for him to get sick.

Thanks, anything helps

[Bogertophis]

Congratulations on the hoppers taken! While snakes in the wild certainly ingest bits of unintended stuff, I do think it's best we minimize that in our captive pets.

Putting down a cardboard box lid or similar "plate" will help, but when you have a shy feeder, they want to drag it someplace "safe" to eat (where our big eyes aren't
watching them, lol). I like having some long tongs (giant tweezers & hemostats) on hand to pick of bits of substrate before a snake ingests it, but many times it just
falls off as the prey gets swallowed. Do the best you can...don't worry too much though. It might help keep your snake from feeling the need to hide while
eating if you just watch him swallow from a little further away?

[Traceur]

Congratulations on the hoppers taken! While snakes in the wild certainly ingest bits of unintended stuff, I do think it's best we minimize that in our captive pets.

Putting down a cardboard box lid or similar "plate" will help, but when you have a shy feeder, they want to drag it someplace "safe" to eat (where our big eyes aren't
watching them, lol). I like having some long tongs (giant tweezers & hemostats) on hand to pick of bits of substrate before a snake ingests it, but many times it just
falls off as the prey gets swallowed. Do the best you can...don't worry too much though. It might help keep your snake from feeling the need to hide while
eating if you just watch him swallow from a little further away?

I'm glad to hear it For the first one, I left the room for a couple of hours once he had his grip on it, so I didn't even watch him eat. I do know that when I came back, there was some drag marks going into his cool hide that I didn't know what could've caused them. And then for this one, I stepped away on the other side of the room to do my laundry, then that's when I realized those drag marks were from him dragging it into his hide.
Hes drinking water now- but are you sure he'll be okay? I'm tempted to try his separate container next time. The only time I interrupted his feeding this time was to pull that substrate off.

[SVT Wylde]

I had that happen tonight. My snake swallowed 2 fairly small pieces of ReptiBark despite my best efforts to remove them before they were swallowed. He worked the larger piece out himself but the smaller piece went down the hatch.

Snakes in the wild probably swallow all kinds of debris and I’m sure they have evolved to handle some “roughage” in their diet. I wouldn’t sweat it but I’ll probably try covering the spot where he typically eats next time.

[Bogertophis]

It's perfectly normal for snakes to drink water, after a meal or whenever they feel the need...relax.

When you fed him, was it day? or night? BPs & many other snakes prefer to hunt & eat at night, so if you fed him when it was light (either day or artificial light),
maybe that's why he wanted to drag his food away to hide? Who knows?

[Craiga 01453]

Nobody cleans their meals in the wild. They've survived thousands of years. You're fine.

[Armiyana]

I'm gonna agree with above, snakes can handle a bit of roughage from time to time!

However... If this seems to become a more common occurrence, you may want to consider doing a mix of coconut fiber/cypress mulch or just the coconut fiber. That way you can still keep some good humidity, but possibly reduce some of the larger chunks that they may eat. Or just try to go for a finer grade mulch so that the smaller pieces pass easily.
Sure, like we said, time to time is fine and should pass fairly easily, but I also wouldn't want to risk an impaction because of messy eating habits.

Good news on the baby eating for you tho! Settling in is always the hardest part.

[Bogertophis]

Nobody cleans their meals in the wild. They've survived thousands of years. You're fine.

I agree, but we also don't know how long individuals survive in the wild, nor what they died from, nor what they simply suffered from before death.

Most of us obsess about perfecting the temperatures and humidity in their cages, which is also something they survive in the wild without...to me it only makes
sense to care about their ingestion of potentially-harmful materials also.

[Zincubus]

I read somewhere that the record for 'fasting' ( and living ) is held by a Royal python - 2 yrs 3 months ..

Could be stuff and nonsense.

I had one go 9 months many years ago ..... she's been a perfect eater ever since albeit every 10 to 14 days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bogertophis]

I read somewhere that the record for 'fasting' ( and living ) is held by a Royal python - 2 yrs 3 months ..

Could be stuff and nonsense.

I had one go 9 months many years ago ..... she's been a perfect eater ever since albeit every 10 to 14 days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Yes, I've read that too. They sure can be stubborn, and long fasts can't be good for their overall health & immune system function. It sure isn't what a pet-keeper
enjoys dealing with.