Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was feeding my mbk just 20 mins ago and he was doing fine eating that mice but a piece of corn bedding was stuck in his mouth after he had swallowed the mice...i tried to get it out but he swallowed it before i could....should i be worried?...that corn piece looked kinda hard and dense..... IS MY SNAKE GONNA BE OK??? the bedding look like the one in this pic....

Short of forcing the snake to regurgitate, there's nothing you can do at this point.

You might want to contact a vet for professional advice. Make sure the vet has reptile/snake expertise.

I'm no expert! Commonsense advice would be to keep an eye on him and make sure he's well hydrated. Watch for any sign that he's becoming impacted. That might include bloating and/or difficulty defecating. If you think he's in trouble, then get him to a vet immediately.
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1.1 Creamsicle Cornsakes
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake

There's a 99% chance he'll poop it out without any problems. Myself and many others on this board feed on substrate and occasionally a piece of aspen or the like goes down with the mouse. There's not a whole lot to worry about. Think about the size of the bones inside the mice! Do you think snakes eat on a papertowel in the wild?

He'll be fine.
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Matt from Minnesota

Agreed, he will probably be fine. As the corn substrate has no sharp edges to puncture his stomach or intestines and should soften up considerably in the snakes gut.
As far as bones in mice, thats like comparing apples to oranges, because the bones get digested along with everything but the hair. Wood cannot be digested, that is why there is a fear of internal damage when feeding on wood shavings and a piece is accidentaly ingested.
Snakes dont feed on wood shavings out in the wild either, and Im sure that wild snakes have ingested numerous ground litter with a prey item. But an occasional leaf, grass, etc doesnt have the probability of puncturing the stomach or intestines like wood shavings. I know alot of people who feed on wood shavings with no problems, however, the possibiltiy of ingesting substrate is there. That is why I never did feed my snakes on the substrate when I kept them on aspen.
Since I switched over to newspaper, I dont have to worry about that anymore.
Brian

>>There's a 99% chance he'll poop it out without any problems. Myself and many others on this board feed on substrate and occasionally a piece of aspen or the like goes down with the mouse. There's not a whole lot to worry about. Think about the size of the bones inside the mice! Do you think snakes eat on a papertowel in the wild?
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>>He'll be fine.
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>>Matt from Minnesota
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath"(KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Great plains rat snake "Reign Fire" (TX locale)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Yellow rat snake "Wolverine" (Dwight Good stock)

Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

THANKS A LOT YOU GUYS....i hope all will be fine and i'm going out to get new substrate today........ hopefully he'll poop this thing out....

I would'nt change your bedding either. Snakes eat all kinds of stuff in the wild too. I saw a bullsnake eat a small stick once with frog. Chances are he will pass everything with no worries. Just check to make sure he has a good bowel movement in a few days. 99% chance he'll pass everything just fine.

If by chance he does get impacted (not likely) here's what to do. I call this a snake enema. Get a shoebox size container that will hold water. Fill it almost to the top with luke warm salty water. You don't want too much salt just about two tablespoons for the whole container. Put the snake in it and quickly put a lid on the container so that the snake is forced to swim around in the brine (saltwater). He WILL have a bowel movement within about 10 minutes (probably 2-3 minutes). I've done this myself twice and taught many other herpers how to do this. I've never seen it fail. Email me if you have questions.

Cheers

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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Umm corn cob is horrible bedding. It is dusty, it gets moldy, and it is hard to clean. I believe it also swells when it gets wet. I hope you snake makes it. Change to something else for bedding as soon as you can. Bark mulch, wood shavings, paper towels, and newspaper are good choices. Just avoid any ceder products.

Later Jason

You should remove that corn cob bedding any more you that may have in the house in the garbage today.

Just my opinion!

Mike Russo