Calcium Sand?

[inkedup77]

I have a creamsicle and I was thinking that he would look awesome with black calcium sand in his enclosure. I dont feed him in his home so I was wondering if sand was ok.

 

[1TimeMoM]

I always wondered that also.. either sand or aquarium rocks.. I dont feed in his tank either.. Im using pine shavings right now,, which i find diffrent people have diffrent opinions and comments on that...

 

[marike]

No sand, please. Grains of sand easily stuck between the scales of the snake and lead to inflammations.

 

[Slipmattic]

The sand WILL get lodged in the belly scales of the animal and can cause a handful of problems. Yes it may look good, but whats better the health of your animal? of how the cage looks?. If you really want the rock look, i would use fish rock. It's larger, and wont get lodged in the scales of your animal. However i would'nt use an under tank heater, as the rocks will probabley get hot and burn the animal. Pretty much just like a heat rock.

 

[Caryl]

There are lots of snake-safe options. You need to get the animal off the pine shavings in any case; the aromatic compounds in pine are bad news for herps (mammals too). Pay no attention to what the packing says.

Smooth, pea-gravel type aquarium rock isn't exactly an inherently unsafe option, though it may get too hot for safety. It will, however, be a bit problematic for cleaning. It will also prevent your snake from burrowing, which a lot of snakes really enjoy and which helps them to feel safe.

There's nothing wrong with choosing a substrate to color coordinate with your pet, just make it a safe one! Darker-colored choices that are snake-friendly include Repti-bark, coconut husk, and cypress mulch. Of the three, the cypress mulch may be easiest to find since virtually every garden center carries it.

 

[BobbyHill]

What's wrong with aspen? :shrugs:

 

[Caryl]

What's wrong with aspen? :shrugs:

Nothing, of course. I think the OP wanted a dark-colored substrate for visual effect. Aspen's a great substrate, but it doesn't show off certain snakey colors very well.

 

[proudaztec07]

if you don't want to use aspen because of its color could you dye the aspen shavings? or would the dye hurt the snake?

 

[RosieReal]

I'd imagine that there would be a way to do that, but it would probably just be easier to use something that comes colored...doing something once for one change is easy...doing it the same way every time gets unnecessarily difficult, at least in my books. coconut husk is a nice, natural, dark brown...although I can imagine what the snake would look like with black sand and agree it would LOOK cool, but in reality would be dangerous...just like thoes 5" stilettos i bought but never wore for fear of breaking my ankels (heh...i dont know what i was thinking, but they looked so cool in the store...)

 

[RosieReal]

anyone have an opinion on carefresh animal bedding? it comes in many colors, but I've never really researched it.

 

[Slipmattic]

I used to use care fresh for my old ferrets, it worked great. But as for reptiles, i have no idea. There is a company that makes substrate very close to care fresh, but it's different in some way. I don't remember the name of it, i do apologize. Good luck with your search...

 

[RobbiesCornField]

Carefresh works great for reptiles, but it's a bit more expensive than I like (considering the collection I have. LOL).

 

[BobbyHill]

Having used Carefresh in the past, I think it's way, way too dusty to put reptiles on it. Also as Robbie said, it's pretty expensive.

 

[RosieReal]

My only experiance with it was with some gerbils I was breeding in highschool...it IS pricey, and the dust is something to think about for sure.