Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
I would put down some flat cardboard or other similar material as a "plate" next time, to help keep your snake from eating too much substrate. Never use any type of cloth, btw- their teeth catch on it & down it goes with their meal, requiring surgery to remove it because they cannot digest nor pass it. Same goes for any substantial pieces of wood- snakes don't have the enzymes to digest it, so if they were to consume some that is too large to pass- if it gets "stuck"- you'll know because they'll be unable to defecate, you might even see some bloody discharge, & their cloacal area will look "puffy" (aka "sausage butt", as it's known around here). Like constipated humans, a snake's appetite will also go down if they cannot pass stool, & it becomes essential to their survival to fix the situation. Anyway, I don't think the substrate you're using is likely to cause an impaction, so relax...but it's still best that he doesn't consume a lot of it.

His "striking at random things" suggests to me that he may be overly-hungry- are you sure you're feeding him enough (ie. the right size prey & at the right intervals)? Beyond that, you have to remember he's young & still learning...we were all pretty goofy when we were younger too, lol. Hyper & impulsive. Pretty normal in a baby snake, & far better than one with no appetite.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

I feed him once a week, every Wednesday. The thickness of his body is the thickness of the rat pup (I was nervous watching him eat these are first because of how large they look compared to his head lol)
If he does get impacted, what should I do?
I think he isn't overly hungry, probably just being young and silly haha


I have been carefully checking up on him, taking a little peek to make sure he is well, and he looks fine as of right now :D
and I will definitely be using that cardboard trick next feeding!