Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Good evening. I saw a post back on Aug 17 from Tracy Barker regarding a boa eating something it shouldn't. She got lucky and the boa lived. I on other hand was not so lucky last year.

I fed this little guy a pinky mouse. The next day this is what I found. The snake ate the paper towel which had the mouse scent in it. He must have been struggling to regurge the paper towel and end up putting the paper towel in his water bowl which caused it to expand. He was dead when I found him.

I now use Sani Chips or corrugated cardboard for my babies. I suggest you do the same.

Robert
Baker's Boas

Sorry to hear that, that really sucks, I am sorry for your Loss, But thank you for posting that, we have Kept all of our Boas on PaperTowels cuase it was the cleanest and easiest to use, but after Tracy Barker and your post we are not going to take the chance, and will be switching over to a different substrate. I am very sorry for your loss, And Thank you for posting.
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Executive Reptiles
Amanda Kingsbury & David Kendrick
www.executivereptiles.com

That really sucks.
I used very thick paper. It is used for flooring. It is about $10 a roll a your local home store. I just cut it to size.
Thank you for the warning post, and again sorry about your lost.
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Joel Pretz
JP Reptiles

I am sorry for your loss but I wouldn't completely nix paper towels for enclosures. I would however recommend feeding your snakes in a seperate container than the one it is kept in on a regular basis. This will keep the scent of the food from getting in it's substrate. Also if you use aspen bedding or anything like that it will protect the snake from eating the substrate. Just because the substrate is changed doesn't mean the snake won't try that with a seperate substrate.