Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't get it... why don't we see dead snakes in the wild, with big clumps of dirt in their stomach?

Are we creating a bucnh of sissy snakes?

My crested gecko, who was on paper towel, i switched to bed a beast.

His first criket on bead a bed a beast resulted in a mouth full of bedding. So did his second.
Not his third.

I know this is different with snakes, since if u defrost the mouse is prob wet, but if u dry it off, why is this a problem?

Thanks. BTW, my snake is on papertowels just to be safe
-----
0.0.1 Chrysemys picta picta (Eastern Painted Turtle)
0.0.1 Teliqua gigas (Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink)
0.2.0 Eublepharis macularius (Leopard Geckos)
0.0.1 Nerodia sipedon (Northern Water Snake)
0.0.1 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Crested Gecko)
?.?.? Assorted goldfish, minnows and guppies
1.0.0 Ferret
1.1.0 Cats
1.0.0 Aussie Cattle Dog/ Border Collie Mix

if the snake eats too much, it gets impacted. Flat out, aspen / bed a beast / whatever, its an organic compound, fully digestable. One sliver here and one sliver there SHOULDN'T hurt a HEALTHY snake. The reason it's not reccomended to feed on those substrates is because most people would just drop a mouse right on the aspen. As they go to eat it, they will get a LOT of aspen with 'em. THAT much is not commonly ingested in the wild, however a little bit here or there is.

The reason it causes impaction is that the digestive juices have to break down the wood small enough to pass. If it is a little clump, it will go through but not broken down enough, thus causing an impaction.

It's the same principle as pine. Treated pine or any treated soft wood is perfectly safe for any reptile or small animal. (I read a 10 page study on this, if you want i'll post the link... i cant find it at the moment). One person heard that its bad and others thought "oh this guy knows what he's talking about ill believe him" and everyone went on hersay from there. Same with impaction.

I feed all my snakes in their cages, i have a 8.5x11" piece of computer paper that i put the thawed rat on. Never had a problem.
-----
Chondros and colubrids... my 2 favorite types of snakes!

"Life is hard. Life is harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

I've never seen a snake get impacted. I am not saying it's not possible but, I've raised hundreds of snakes, and I've never seen it. I've seen lizards, usually babies trying to get extra calcium from licking the substrate, get impacted, but never a snake. I've seen snakes get bedding lodged in their teeth and cause mouth rot, but never an impaction. If it does happen then it must happen with a substrate that I am not familiar with or it's just a myth.

Never had a snake of any kind impact due to substrate, nor have I ever seen or heard of any. I have always fed my snakes in their enclosures all my reptile life more than 30yrs,have used nothing but aspen or pine shavings. I to have read post that say not to feed on shavings, but the ones posting, are they posting from experiece or from what they heard. Even the big breeders I have dealt with feed on shaving substrate.

Good topic! I have my snake on newspaper now, but when I transfer her to her bigger cage, (33x48) I'll change to bed-a-beast and have a 18" diameter stone slab to put the mouse on.
Hopefully that'll be the best of both worlds.
-----
0.1 chickens (Condor)
0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
0.1 Halflinger horse (Crissy)
0.1 Normal phase California Kingsnake (Sophia)
1.1 parents
Still searching for 1.0 WC human

>>I've never seen a snake get impacted. I am not saying it's not possible but, I've raised hundreds of snakes, and I've never seen it. I've seen lizards, usually babies trying to get extra calcium from licking the substrate, get impacted, but never a snake. I've seen snakes get bedding lodged in their teeth and cause mouth rot, but never an impaction. If it does happen then it must happen with a substrate that I am not familiar with or it's just a myth.

I have seen several lizards (gex and beardies) from people who didn't know what they were seeing and it was sand impaction.
My vet has seen more than a few baby snakes impacted on sand and aspen and die. He also said he had an adult corn necropsy show cypress mulch puncture it's GI tract.
I see it more as a baby snake thing but I still think it is smart for newbies to go with a nonparticulate substrate or monitor feedings carefully.
-----
Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

if the snake eats too much, it gets impacted. Flat out, aspen / bed a beast / whatever, its an organic compound, fully digestable.

Just because something is organic doesn't make it digestible. (Try eating a chunk of coal sometime.)
Snakes don't have the enzymes to digest the lignins and cellulose that make up wood any more than you or I do.
So if they ingest wood, it has to pass through their digestive tract unprocessed. Not usually a problem, but if there was a large enough mass or a sharp enough piece to perforate the intestine, the snake could be seriously injured.

Do I feed on Aspen?...of course.

Actually, in my years of keeping sandboas, I lost two adult sandboas mysteriously (in different years and cities) when hibernating them on sand. When I cut into the male, I found his digestive tract contained a lot of sand and it seemed to be blocking his small intestine (which was also very inflamed around the blockage.
-----
Chris Harrison

Has nothing to do with being sissies. How many rosy boas have you seen in the wild sitting on aspen? I've never seen any. How many cornsnakes have you seen in the wild exclusively on pine shavings?

Fact is, impaction is very rare and probably over-emphasized, but it is entirely possible with snakes, especially babies, on substrates that just aren't a part of the snake's natural history.

Best to monitor the feeding or simply place the food item on paper. Or, don't do anything and you may end up with only 1 out of 100 snakes that has a problem (I don't really know what the odds are, but it is low I'm sure.)