Natural Substrates

[faroutinmt]

Originally Posted by TammyJ

I admit that I have always used newspaper in my snake cages.

However, it is not just the paper, but paper (newspaper or paper towels) with hay, river stones, earth, driftwood, coconut husks/leaves or other natural material on top of it. These materials are easily available here.

I have never had a problem up to now with the snakes' health after many years of keeping them, except once when my boa Morpheus developed a RI and eventually died. I do not use sand at all.

Tammy, how do you clean your cages when your snakes make a mess? Don't you have to pull all that stuff out to change the newspaper?

[AbsoluteApril]

I have been using newspaper for years now (and yes, I pull it all out and have to replace for every mess or spilled waterbowl). I use it because it is easy and cheap. I do like to give my snakes different things to crawl on and through, I shed the paper and they sometimes make a little 'nest' out of it or put in sheets for them to crawl through. I've been thinking of switching back to Aspen but haven't made up my mind yet. With Aspen before sometimes there'd be a mess but I wouldn't see it right away (in the front opening cages).

[pythonguy21]

but a mess isn't devastating to them, as brett said they need some bacteria, im not saying leave it in there for weeks on end, but it wont kill them if you miss it for a day. i just know i wouldn't want to sleep on my floor the rest of my life. for me keeping the cages as realistic as possible is the only way if that means i spend 20 bucks a week or a month or a day, i will do anything for my animals, they are my "other" children. especially with bigger snakes there is nothing to cushion all that mass on newspaper, gives me a backache thinking about it.

[razeraze]

For snakes just pond liner because I do not feel they will utilize the dirt like my monitors. If the dirt is not dug up and packed down odds are it can get stuck in scales or vents. Monitors are not constantly on there bellies so dirt is never a problem for them. How ever I am certain it could be used for snakes if one wants. They would just have to mix it more often and pack it down, possibly wet the top layer. Heck I may still do it sometime, pondliner is just so easy to clean, and the snakes tend to stay away from soft bedding. We put carpet padding under the pondliner to give the snakes something soft to lay on and they don't go near it. Instead they seem to seek out hard surfaces. When I used mulch or bedding the snakes would push it to one side and lay on the hard wood cage.


As far as the monitors we have 2-3 feet of topsoil, playsand, peatmoss, cypress mulch, coconut husk, leaf litter, branches and any other natural substrate all mixed together.

[faroutinmt]

Originally Posted by razeraze

For snakes just pond liner because I do not feel they will utilize the dirt like my monitors. If the dirt is not dug up and packed down odds are it can get stuck in scales or vents. Monitors are not constantly on there bellies so dirt is never a problem for them. How ever I am certain it could be used for snakes if one wants. They would just have to mix it more often and pack it down, possibly wet the top layer. Heck I may still do it sometime, pondliner is just so easy to clean, and the snakes tend to stay away from soft bedding. We put carpet padding under the pondliner to give the snakes something soft to lay on and they don't go near it. Instead they seem to seek out hard surfaces. When I used mulch or bedding the snakes would push it to one side and lay on the hard wood cage.


As far as the monitors we have 2-3 feet of topsoil, playsand, peatmoss, cypress mulch, coconut husk, leaf litter, branches and any other natural substrate all mixed together.

Perhaps, like many other things in a snake's life, substrate enjoyment is a matter of personal preference. One example of personal preference would be my IJ. Most IJ keepers report that their snakes don't spend much time in their water bowls. Mine absolutely loves his. He will hang out all around it while observing my coming and going. I guess they're alot like kids: what works for one may not always work for all.

[pythonguy21]

i think snakes are like cats they all have their own personality's some quirky some feisty but all entertaining.

[david]

i use to use cypress it was a pain kept geting mites even thow i pre treated it was a pain to clean i use all newspaper now as far as the snake laying on a hard surface packed down dirt isant any softer then then the bottom of the cage i use only news paper its free and makes feeding the big guys alot easer

[TammyJ]

Originally Posted by faroutinmt

Tammy, how do you clean your cages when your snakes make a mess? Don't you have to pull all that stuff out to change the newspaper?

Unbelievably, I have just seen this question! My apologies.hmy:

I generally clean out my snakes' cages every ten - 14 days which is roughly how often they get fed, apart from the juveniles that get cleaned and fed more often. Water bowls are cleaned every couple of days or when necessary.

Everything comes out and gets cleaned/changed when I see that it's necessary.

If there is a pile of poop in one corner on the newspaper/rock/earth I sometimes remove just that one section (spot clean) between complete cleanings. I use water with a bit of bleach to wash out the tanks (they are all in glass tanks that are partially covered with mesh/plywood...not very pretty but it seems to work OK for them.