Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've noticed on two occasions now that my male black milk has accidentally eaten a couple of pieces of aspen while eating his frozen/thawed mice.

Is this ok? Should I start removing him to an aspen-free environment for his meals? I've considered it, but have the feeling he'd be too uncomforable and wary of his surroundings if he's taken out of his home to be interested in eating.

Thanks for any input,

David Leary,
Durham, NC

i always dry off the rodents before offering them.i also cut apiece of plastic (from a tub lid) and place the rodent on the plastic.that seems to work well.

Everyone has a different view on substrata. I use paper towel for the bottom of the cage and place aged newspaper on one end of the enclosure from them to hind in. I Don’t worry about impaction due to ingestion of substrata. I also use a moss box at the first sign of shed. Always complete sheds never fails.
Hope you enjoy the picture. I love Black Milks. Got 6 of them.

Dann…

I have my black milks on newspaper, but I have other animals on aspen. When I feed them I usually place their food on a plastic lid from a margarine tub or something similar. This helps cut down on the amount of aspen they might ingest, but they still sometimes drag their food around and get aspen on it. I've never had a problem because of it however.

I have a jungle carpet python that got some substrate stuck in her mouth, (I use reptile bark). I had to grab her behind the head after she ate, without getting bit, and took some tweezers to pull it out. So far I don't think she's had any problems with it since I think I got it all. The next time I fed her I put a piece of newspaper down before feeding and that helped alot. It kept her from getting the bark on the rat. I also have corns and a milk that I put in another tank with just newpaper to feed them. Works great. I usually handle mine a few minutes then place them in the feeding tank. Then gentle move them back to their own tanks. They have had no problems with regurging. I don't do this with my JCP since she tried to bit me once when I reached in to move her back to her tank.