Feeding Mishap

[YourLocalAnimalLover]

So I’m was feeding my snake tonight and the guts of the rat had began to spill out of a cut in the stomach (gonna bring it up with the person i got the rat from because i’m almost 100% certain I didn’t cause the cut) and when my snake grabbed it a large chunk of fur (and skin) came off and he attempted to restrict the rat even though he didn’t actually have it and the rat (and its insides) fell into his substrate (coconut fibre and soil), he’s eating the rat however i’m scared his swallowed the substrate along with it. Am I worried for nothing?

(On a side note anyone know how to get rat blood out off of wood? Gotta clean out his tank tomorrow, substrate and all to clean it. Also have to soak him either tomorrow or the next day seeing as though he has blood all over him as well as he is about ready to shed)

 

[Sdaji]

Snakes are pretty robust when it comes to eating a bit of substrate. I wouldn't worry.

When rats split open like that it's usually because they were either defrosted in hot water which cooked the skin making it soft, or the rat not being fresh.

I wouldn't be stressing.

 

[-Adam-]

How big is the rat? I've had my share of heating up too quickly / too much - not really pleasant at all. Thankfully mine occurred before it got to the snake, so the mess I had to clean up with was easier. But yeah - I second Sdaji's post. How are you thawing the rat? And how are you heating? That could quite possibly be a contributing factor.

 

[YourLocalAnimalLover]

Its a large rat (the snake in question is just under 6 foot long), i defrost my rats in warm water and heat my rats in a sandwich bag with normal out of the tap hot water (its probably 25-30 degrees Celsius give or take) to allow it to significantly heat up (usually takes 20 or so minutes to get warm). I have been using the same method for the past 3 months with this snake in particular as well as my other 2 year old python that i raised and i’ve never had this issue before.