Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have switched between cypress and newspaper several times over years. Now, about half of my collection is on newspaper and the other half still using cypress. I really like the cypress because it keeps the humidity up better and it just looks better I think. While it has never happened to me yet, I worry about my snakes accidentally ingesting small peices of wood while feeding. Has this ever happend to anyone and can it hurt or kill the snake? Also, I really like the way the aspen bedding looks, where do you get this stuff in large quantity?
Thanks.

if it's really a big worry, feed them outside the tubs. you can also put the prey item (assuming you're feeding prekilled or F/T) on paper towel inside the cage and that minimizes contact with the substrate. if the prey is totally dry bedding doesn't tend to stick to it a whole lot, so that's another option.
i've seen my snake ingest some aspen on a rat before (usually she's fed in a tub but she wasn't eating so i tried it in her tank) and she was just fine, so a small amount of bedding isn't going to do a whole lot of damage. but, she also isn't fed there regularly and that was essentially the only time she's ever ingested bedding, so i don't know about things accumulating over time.

safest way to go is just to feed in seperate tubs.

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.0.1 california kingsnake (Tetris)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

I have well over 300 balls of varying ages and sizes all on cypress in FB and Vision racks. I feed live and FT directly in the tub the snakes are housed in and have never had a problem associated with ingesting the substrate.
Grant

The way i have always seen it is that in the wild they do not have anyone to feed them some where other then the ground, they ingest all sorts of things in their natural enviorments and they are thriving just fine. Also their stomach acid can digest bones and all sorts of things, i dont see aspen or some mulch being a problem. I have never feed any of my animals out of their cages, it would just take too long in our case, and i have never had any ill effects in the last 10 years of owning snakes and feeding in their cages on cypress or Aspen bedding. Just my personal opinion.
Kim

where do you get your cypress in large quantity?