Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just fed my 19 inch kingsnake that i made a post about earlier, and when it was eating its pinky it got a few splinters of aspen substrate in with it. is that going to be a problem later do you think? from now on i will feed it in a seperate enclosure to prevent this, but does this ever happen to any of your snakes and has it ever caused ill effects?

thanks

As long as the snake is well hydrated a few small splinters should pose no problems. I would recommend drying off the pinkie before feeding to prevent this problem. I would'nt fret too much over it though.
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-J.Hill

Thanks for the reply.

But, thats the thing, it was a live pinky so it was dry. Problem was, it became rather bloody and that's when substrate started sticking to it. But in the future when i feed f/t ill be sure to dry them off.

I would definitely suggest feeding your snake in a separate container esp. if you're using aspen as a substrate. Another substrate you might want to avoid as your snake grows is the ground walnut shell substrate. This substrate is convenient for a snake that likes to burrow and it clumps when wet, so cleaning the enclosure isn't a problem. Unfortunately, the grains tend to be small enough to get stuck around the snake's eyes. Good luck with your snake.

I've been using the ground walnut shell substrate for 6 years now and have not had any problems. I like it, it clumps well and its easy to clean in my opinion just thought I'd share that.
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Josh Delaney

Delaney Colubrids