HELP: Young Boa Swallowed A lot of Substrate

[Ccarroll0412]

Hello,

I have a female Colombian red tailed boa, and she is less than 1 year old and approximately 2 feet long.

I was pulling out a recent shed out of her tank and she struck at it. She ended up getting a mouth full (not a few pieces) of aspen shavings in her mouth. She then tried to open her mouth and get them out herself and was unsuccessful. She then put her head in her water dish, and again was still unsuccessful. By the time I got to her she had proceeded to swallow the substrate. She did not proceed to vomit, but she did take a very long drink of water.

I am very worried, and any advice or things to expect would be greatly appreciated! It has been about 20 minutes since the incident and she is just resting on top of the substrate. (which is not normal, usually she tunnels to the bottom.

I fed her a mouse 2 days ago, and there is still a partial lump visible.

She shed her skin right after the feeding.

Again, any advice or information on what to expect would be greatly appreciated.

[Rattlehead]

My snakes sometimes swallow some substrate while eating, as I feed them in the enclosure. Looks like they can digest it, as I have never seen remanents in the excrements and no problems in their health. I would say let her finish digest the meal, and maybe inspect if there was anything left in the mouth.

[SSSSnakes]

Don't worry. Snakes eat substrate all the time and it shall pass. I have had snake eat substrate and I have never had an issue with it.

[Princess-dad]

Mine boa struck at a snake hook I was using to stir up the coco substrate by his water bowl . It was wet from him taking a lap thru it going to his hot hide . He filled his mouth with coco . He suffered no ill effects that I noticed , except the mouthful of coco he had to try to spit out.