Substrate Ingestion

[abcat1993]

Today I decided, "what the heck, I'll feed him in his tank", so I fed my new garter in his tank, which went fine until I noticed that he had a bit of the aspen bedding stuck to his mouth. I figured he'd get it off like they normally do, but then he closed his mouth. He was trying to get it out before he closed his mouth, but then I interfered and tried to get it out for him, which probably wasn't a good idea.

What I'm trying to say is, will he regurgitate it or not? He was just sitting there afterwards looking like somebody about to throw up, but then: nothing.

[Lulu Bennett]

depending on the size of the bedding but it should be ok. mine did it a few times and they have been ok but a few times i have had to give them a hand but they have passed it lol

[enigma200316]

one tiny piece would probably not hurt, but to much can cause a blockage, feed it some worms as they are usually like a laxative to them...

[abcat1993]

Well, that's good to know. He ate a worm with it so I would think that would be good, I don't know if he would even eat another anyways. it was very thin and about 2/3 the size of his mouth.

[Josh]

what kind is your new garter?

[abcat1993]

I bought two eastern garters, both 66% possible het for leucism, one flame, one normal. The flame escaped :(

[enigma200316]

I bought two eastern garters, both 66% possible het for leucism, one flame, one normal. The flame escaped :(


sorry to hear that............:(

[abcat1993]

My snake seems to be doing fine, although a bit sluggish, but I guess that's just because my parents refuse to put on the heat and the house gets down to 60 at night, now that it's almost fall and the weather is unseasonably cold.

[enigma200316]

My snake seems to be doing fine, although a bit sluggish, but I guess that's just because my parents refuse to put on the heat and the house gets down to 60 at night, now that it's almost fall and the weather is unseasonably cold.


do you heat the tank during the day though...???

[GarterGuy]

I hope that your snake does ok, but I can honeslty say I've lost a western hognose to just the same thing. She ingested some aspen while feeding and later developed some sort of blockage or something that eventually killed her.:( That's why I don't use any substrates that can not be safely, accidentally ingested. Sorry to be gloom and doom on this one....it may also pass with no worries, but I wouldn't feed him in his tank again.

Roy

[abcat1993]

do you heat the tank during the day though...???
Yes, I do, but my light is apparently only good in the summer because it only heats it about 10 - 15 degrees (25 watt light), so it was only in the high 60's (It was 55 degrees F that morning when I woke up).

Sadly though, my snake did not make it, which is very bad for two reasons. One, mainly my snake just died, explains itself. Two, I'm not sure if my dad will let me get more snakes (or pets, for that matter) again (at least for a while). My other, more expensive snake escaped, my anole escaped, and now this guy died.

[Lori P]

I'm so sorry to hear he died. :-( Quite a run of bad luck. :-(

[RZL36]

Sorry to hear of that. I've lost some too.



The thing with substrate ingestion is that when you feed f/t, every piece of substrate that rodent touches, attaches itself to the mouse. Best thing to do, is to just feed them in a big rubbermaid box. I admit that I am a bit lazy and don't always do it, but I really should.

[abcat1993]

Well, the thing is, this was my first time not feeding in a separate container

Wait, would it take more than a couple days to die from substrate ingestion or not?

[GarterGuy]

Well, the thing is, this was my first time not feeding in a separate container

Wait, would it take more than a couple days to die from substrate ingestion or not?


All depends.......if the piece of aspen perforated the gut, then death would have happened rather quickly. If it had only impacted, then it would have taken a bit longer. After all, aspen bedding is really nothing more then a bunch of pieces of shredded wood. Sorry for all your losses.:(

Roy

[Serpentine99]

You know if something like this does happen, you can regurigate your snake, by putting your fingers below the food bulge and slowly and gently pushing towards the mouth. I saw it on dirty jobs.

[enigma200316]

sorry to hear of your loss and of the escaped others...........:(

[Stefan-A]

Really sorry about your losses and setbacks. :(

[adamanteus]

Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck, Matt.

[drache]

Ben
I am so sorry about your losses

[Spiritwolf]

When my adults pull their earthworms out of the container and into the substrate, I've noticed they back up as they work on swallowing the worm, and as they back up, that also helps to wipe the substrate off the worm. I've noticed the babies back up while swallowing too, even though there is no substrate in their feeding containers. I wonder if the backing up behavior is a garter's natural way of trying to clean debris off of a meal as the snake swallows it.
As for the escaped flame, it may be hiding right under your nose. As a veteran of hunting cats hiding in the house (and cats can disappear in an empty room when you're looking for them), the one thing I learned that has helped me best, is to think like a cat, to look in the kinds of places cats like to hide, etc. Cats can think of some places people don't think to look in, such as inside the upholstery on the backs of chairs and sofas, or inside the thin fabric that lines the bottom of box springs (and always sooner or later tears away from the frame, giving cats an ideal hiding place). Think of where you would go if you were a scared garter snake, and look in such places. There are some good articles on finding escaped snakes on the web. Luckily, the only escape I've had in recent times, was when the smaller adult garter managed to push up the lid on a 10 gallon tank whose locking lid's locks didn't quite do the job. I panicked and was reading articles on the web for ideas, then I walked back over to the tank to make sure the bigger snake was still in there. Beside the top of the tank is a shelf with a bowl of crystal rocks in it. As I reached for the tank lid, a little head stuck itself out of the bowl of rocks as if to say "look what I did!" I picked up the triumphant little escapee and returned him to the big tank which has much better locks on its lid. If he hadn't reached out though, I may never have noticed him hiding behind the rock bowl on the shelf. So don't give up on your flame yet (and it would make me absolutely sick to have something as beautiful as a flame get loose and disappear!) I hope you find your flame escape artist.

[abcat1993]

Do you think a little foot long garter could climb though? And it's been about a month, could it still be alive?

[enigma200316]

Do you think a little foot long garter could climb though? And it's been about a month, could it still be alive?


yes they can climb, and yes there is still a chance its somewhere either near where it escaped from or in the house alive.............:)

[KITKAT]

Do you think a little foot long garter could climb though? And it's been about a month, could it still be alive?

I had a male T sirtalis escape in JULY one year, in my basement.

At CHRISTMAS TIME, my husband yelled up the stairs, "Come quick!"

I arrived to see my male peering out of a hole under the steps... and managed to nab him!