New owner with a feeding question.

[Pokey]

I am a new bp owner and I have spent a lot of time looking at this forum so that I could educate myself before I asked any questions. But I do have one that I would like to get some expert oppinions on.
I use aspen bedding (i just switched to aspen from astroturf after reading some of the previous threads), and wonder if I should remove William from his tank for feeding. I read from a previous thread that a small amount of bark in the stomach will be digested just as easily as bones or the even harder teeth of his prey. I have also read offsite of infections of the mouth due to lodged pieces of subtrate. I would like to know what the experts do and if they remove their pets from the substrate for feeding.
Oh yeah, I am currently feeding him live mice, but I about to attempt to switch to f/t.
Thanks.

[Shelby]

I do not remove any of my snakes for feeding. Granted, most are on newspaper, but my sand boas are on coconut bark and my mom's snow corn snake is on aspen. Yes, sometimes they eat a little bit of the stuff.. but what on earth do you expect a wild snake to do? Snake digestive juices are one of the strongest natural substances there are.

I also know that Adam who has more than 200 ball pythons, feeds all his on shavings with no problems.

[frankykeno]

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you are off to a great start educating yourself about the needs of these wonderful creatures.

We use aspen and haven't found it a problem feeding directly on it in each snake's enclosure. Many folks here use a lot of different feeding approaches as far as whether they feed in the enclosure or out of it, what type of substrate they have chosen, what manner of prey they offer and how they offer it. Each have their pro's and con's and are generally a pretty individual choice. As long as what you choose works for you and is helping you achieve the goal of a consistently eating and growing snake, you're on the right track as far as I'm concerned.

We were also concerned with ingestion of small amounts of aspen when some of the snakes were smaller so just popped in a pad of newspaper over the aspen during feeding night. We don't bother with it anymore as all of our snakes are of good size and we've noted that a dry prey doesn't seem to pick up much aspen (as opposed to one that might have gotten damp when being warmed up in water....darn ziplocs do occasionally have holes!)


~~Joanna~~

[rabernet]

Well, I'm hardly an expert, but I've had Kashmire since early July and he's always been fed in his enclosure, on his bedding and he's never had a problem. I am currently using aspen. I am also feeding live, and not sure if I will switch to f/t or not at this time. His feeding response is awesome, and he's always supervised during the feeding.

[humpee316]

As a new bp owner myself im curious about size appropriate feeding.my 8 month 27 inch female bp is feeding every 5 to 7 days and is currently feeding on full size adult mice.She makes short work of them from strike to total consumption is less than 10 minutes.when should i upgrade to small rats or do i continue to feed her mice.any input would b appreciated

[bpqueen]

My BP was 485g the last time I weighed him, 6 days ago, and he is starting 7 day feedings this week. He gets 1 small rat at each feeding 10-15% of his body weight (50-70g) and is almost 10 months old. Rats have more nutrients for snakes than mice (from the people that I've spoken to) and grow better with your snake, so I would try and change her as soon as possible. Also, Tiberious is fed in his cage on tiny aspen chips and I have only ever had 1 chip get stuck, which was easy to remove and probably would have worked itself out over time if I'd left it alone.

Good luck!
BPQ

[corgigirl9]

I use aspen bedding too for my tanks but I feed mine in separate tubs with no bedding. I want my balls to associate the tubs with food in an attempt to reduce strikes when reaching into their tanks. I am not sure it makes a difference but it sounded like a good idea.