Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Right now I use paper towels with all my snakes, but I'm thinking of using cypress mulch for my blood. My question is how do you keep the snake from ingesting pieces of mulch during feeding, besides feeding in a seperate container? And I've heard that the mulch can have mites and stuff in it, has anybody had any problems with this?
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LONG LIVE METAL!!!!

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1.0 '04 Columbian BCI
0.1 '05 Sumatran Blood Python
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1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
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0.1 black German Shepherd
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A Senegal Parrot
A Sun Conure

Hey,
There's a huge debate over whether it is actually safe to feed your blood or other charges, on cm. The notion being that they can ingest it during feeding. Yes, they are capable of passing small soft pliable bits of mulch, but the larger pieces, sometimes an inch or two long, can create problems. The best way to feed them on the mulch is to place a sheet of newspaper over the surface of the mulch prior to feeding, and then remove it once done. I personally don't use it, but prefer to use newspaper. It's cleaner and safer and much less expensive to buy.
-Angel
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In life you can fall many times, but you're only a failure, if you don't try to get back up!
Evil Canevil

Something I noticed about the cypress is that while some chunks may stick to a particularly moist thawed rat, they will generally get pushed off during feeding... I really don't worry about them swallowing the large bits of wood, and the smaller bits are actually quite soft and pliable, so I don't worry about those either.

Still, there is always the possibility, and if you want to remove all risk of impaction, then feed on newspaper or some other substrate that is harder to swallow.

i personally don't see how people can feed in the same enclosure as the snake. too risky for me, for more than one reason. ingesting cypress mulch is like playing russian roulette. one day it will be a problem. and two, the snake eventually adapts a strong feeding response as soon as the cage is opened. maybe some snakes don't. i won't take the chance. it's not that hard taking the snake out and placing him/her in a seperate container for feeding, thus, nailing two birds with one stone: no worries of the snake ingesting substrate OR adapting an aggressive behavior towards you. sure, use the cypress mulch, just don't feed the snake on it. that's my two cents...

I'd love to have you come over and teach my snake to eat in another enclosure for me... I'm pretty sure I'd have to switch back to live, which is much more dangerous (although still a minor risk) than feeding frozen thawed on mulch, especially when you're feeding the super-wily extra large rats.

I put her food on paper once, and she snubbed her nose at it. I tend to stress more about the obvious lack of food than the possible chance that she might someday swallow a woodchip.

Proper handling and conditioning with an understanding of snake behavior will prevent any problems with my snake associating me with food. Ever heard of a snake hook???

I'm a newspaper/paper towel man. I've used mulch, bark and aspen, always go back to paper. I have isolated animals to feed them, which I'd like to more, but feeding in the enclosure is more expedient. And with aboreal species, transferring for feeding is way impractical. I know about conditioning a snake's feeding response though. I kept a large, habitually hungry retic once...opening her cage for any reason was a sobering experience! The stuff I keep presently poses no threat. If they misscue, I just kinda smother their heads with my hand or towel and pick em up.