Bedding question

[Drone man]

I have two retics...both about 5 ft long and in their own Animal plastics T8 enclosure with flexwatt heat and sliding glass doors. I have always used paper towels as bedding and decided to switch to aspen per my buddy that has all his snakes on aspen. Tonight was my first time feeding Frozen Thaw. They both had a cardboard box to try and eat off but they are quite good aggressive. My female supertiger did great but my male white phase Missed of course and ate a few prices of aspen. The rats were soaking wet. Give the size I’m not too worried and I see I should have dried the prey off before feeding. Other than that what ideas/suggestions do you have for cage feeding 2 retics on aspen?

Thanks

[TRD]

Not an issue that they eat some bedding. As per my understanding their natural habitat isn’t a sterile clean environment either. Btw, rodents also contain bones and whatnot..

[Tsubaki]

If they're otherwise healthy it's not an issue, I do always dry off the food so not too much will stick to it though. Just doesn't look very appealing.

[Jim Smith]

I switched to SaniChips from regular Aspen bedding because I was concerned that a sharp splinter could be ingested and pierce a vital organ causing problems. I also hated getting splinters in my bare feet when I walked near the enclosures if some bedding got out onto the floor, which is invariably does. Also, the Sanichips are much less dusty than regular Aspen bedding. That said, it is a little more expensive which might be a deciding factor when you're putting bedding into a very large enclosure. Just a thought...

[CameraSkunk]

In my opinion, and this is purely my opinion, it is likely that snakes general can handle at least small amounts of substrate being wood, dirt, sand, etc. Remember we as keepers are controlling their environment, in general this results in a more sterile environment then their natural home. I'm sure that in the wild there is some die off due to ingestion of too much sub strait but I find it hard to believe that this would be a huge impact. Of course that is considering impact on general wild population. The impact to your pet of course is it only has to happen once. I'd bet someone far better then me could even argue some intake of substraight is good for the snake for reasons of immune system or some such.

As for avoiding the accidental intake I've seen drying the prey helps, feed enclosure is pretty fool proof, and i've seen people feed over something like a deli cup top.

One thing I know for sure this topic in my research thus far (I'm new) is full of strong opinions. Form your own, observe the animal, and enjoy.

[Scubadiver59]

I was wondering what caused the sudden infection in my Yellow Rat, a lump just before the stomach. The only thing I can pin it on was a piece of substrate but I can't for 100% say that it was. All I know was that US$425 later, and a month of shots and baths, that the snake is doing just fine.

In the case of the above, it was on a Cypress/ReptiBark mix, and still is, but I'm a little more careful about watching for items stuck to the prey...that and I always make sure the prey is dry.

In my opinion, and this is purely my opinion, it is likely that snakes general can handle at least small amounts of substrate being wood, dirt, sand, etc. Remember we as keepers are controlling their environment, in general this results in a more sterile environment then their natural home. I'm sure that in the wild there is some die off due to ingestion of too much sub strait but I find it hard to believe that this would be a huge impact. Of course that is considering impact on general wild population. The impact to your pet of course is it only has to happen once. I'd bet someone far better then me could even argue some intake of substraight is good for the snake for reasons of immune system or some such.

As for avoiding the accidental intake I've seen drying the prey helps, feed enclosure is pretty fool proof, and i've seen people feed over something like a deli cup top.

One thing I know for sure this topic in my research thus far (I'm new) is full of strong opinions. Form your own, observe the animal, and enjoy.