Aspen. The threat is real. :P

[Rigby & Marcy]

I only have 3 feeding tubs for 5 snakes so a few months ago I got a little lazy and started feeding Timmy in his viv, on a full sized paper towel. It went fine for a few feelings but then one day I went to check on him and he had the mouse halfway into his mouth and there was a nickel sized aspen curl stuck to the mouse, already partway into his mouth. I sort of panicked because he's not the calmest snake to handle, but I grabbed tweezers and nabbed the aspen before he could react. Back to not feeding on aspen again! Lucky that I saw it!

 

[Kalista]

I've always worried about that, so Atlas is fed in a tub separate from his viv. Thanks for sharing - glad you caught that in time!

 

[Myca]

You can ask Don S. about this. He has been feeding for aspen on years. I can't imagine the very large breeders all feeding in a tub. I generally feed in a feeding tube, not so much for aspen, more so I can check them over. I have only raised snakes for a couple of years so my experience is not much. Just makes sense that in the wild, they eat on the ground. Also a mouse has fur and bones that they are able to digest. Of course we want the best for our domestic pets but you would think that something capable of digesting a bone would not have a problem with an aspen chip.

 

[claire.chapman11]

You can ask Don S. about this. He has been feeding for aspen on years. I can't imagine the very large breeders all feeding in a tub. I generally feed in a feeding tube, not so much for aspen, more so I can check them over. I have only raised snakes for a couple of years so my experience is not much. Just makes sense that in the wild, they eat on the ground. Also a mouse has fur and bones that they are able to digest. Of course we want the best for our domestic pets but you would think that something capable of digesting a bone would not have a problem with an aspen chip.

I agree, especially the part about snakes being capable of ingesting fur and bones. Brian Barcyzk from BHB has a video on YouTube where he talks about this. Basically, he says we should try to prevent it if we can, but in nature, a snake isn't gonna stray away from prey if theres a wood chip stuck to it, and they do fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

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[claire.chapman11]

Barczyk**. What a difficult name to type. Lol

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[daddio207]

I feed all hatchlings to yearlings in their tubs but they are on paper towel. All sub-adult and adult snakes are kept on aspen and are also fed in there tubs. They can handle most substances that might be on their food item. In captivity our goal is not to provide an environment that most resembles what they would endure in the wild but to provide conditions that will most guarantee their survival. Sometimes we take that task to far though. We must balance optimizing survival of the reptile with what we are capable of providing.