Posted by:
LdyPayne
at Tue Dec 30 12:36:41 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by LdyPayne ]
Gee, spent 10 minutes last night at the petstore watching the monitors injesting alarming amounts of repti-bark while chasing crickets. I didn't see them spit out any bark at all. Some may have fell out of their mouths while they swollowed but not enough to make me confident to put any form of bark in my dragon's cage.
As for aspen itself, from what I read on several snake forums, most recommend not feeding snakes on aspen because of the dangers of injesting it and other wood substrates. Those that do use wood substrates feed in separate containers.
Though I never swollowed aspen wood, I have had problems with splinters off cinnamin flavoured tooth picks imbedding themselves in my gums and cheeks just by sucking on them and lightly chewing. I also heard of people having perferated intestines because of swollowing bits of the toothpick or even sunflower seed shells.
With all these possible risks (impaction etc isn't a guarentee to happen when using wood substrates, just a higher risk), why take the risk with your dragon's health? Better to not use any substrate and use shelf liner or plastic table clothe. Heck, linoleum cut to fit the cage would be better, sealed down with silicon sealer or non toxic ahesive would work too and look nice.
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RE: spit em out? easy to pass? - LdyPayne, Tue Dec 30 12:36:41 2003