my snake ate substrate! :( help!!

[ilovemycoastal]

ok so, i was just feeding my 1 year old coastal carpet a fuzzy rat and i left for a minute to get a drink. normally i will stay and watch it feed because i love watching it, but when i came back from the kitchen i saw it had nearly finished it. it only had the tail and one foot of the rat sticking out of its mouth but there was also a piece of substrate there too, before i could do anything it swallowed it and retreated to the corner.
i use a pallet form of substrate i got from my local reptile store, its kind of like kitty litter looking stuff, is my snake in real danger?? im very worried

 

[montay]

Hi - presumably the substrate is the paper pellet type of kitty litter, or the clumping type?
Remember that when a snake swallows it's prey, it digests bone. The intestinal acids in the snakes GI system are designed to break down bone, fur, and claws. I understand your worry, but when you consider it this way, most likely you have nothing to worry about.
I hope it is all okay.

 

[ilovemycoastal]

yehh when it get wet it breaks down to a powder, so im hoping he will be alright, will definately be checking on him over the next couple of days until it passes through him. but when you put it that way, about the bones and what not, it makes me feel a lot better. hes my first snake and think its the best thing ever. i cant wait until hes bigger and i can take him outside

 

[Banjo]

Newspaper as substrate might not look real pleasant, but it is cheap and you don't end up with the problem you encountered. Just a thought.
Every should be fine though as long as the pellets are made of natural substance like mentioned.

 

[reptishack101]

my pythons are all on a newspaper based kitty litter and they always get 1 or 2 pieces it hasn't affected any of them yet and ive been yousing it for 5 years with not a single problem