• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Substrate/Liner question for 1 snake

D

dfree

New member
Another in my line of set-up questions. I have heard that people with just an aquarium with 1 snake will use carpet/cage liners and no other substrate-just a few hide boxes and things to climb over. Anyone here done this before? It sounds more economical, and you would not have to hunt for the snake under substrate I guess. I have looked on several sites and found 3 different types of liners-Cage carpet, Zilla Liners and Zoo Med carpet. Anyone use any of these and found that one works better than another? Also, I'm not this far in my book yet, but I have seen Eco Earth compressed coconut bricks that you expand in water and use as a substrate, and Reptibark, which supposedly retains moisture. A girl at the pet store said with 1 snake if you use the Reptibark you only have to spot clean the cage and don't have to totally clean the cage out for up to a year. That seemed a little long to me. I want something safe and easy to use. Anyone have any opinions or observations about any of this?
Diane
 
I believe most people around here use aspen shavings. It's cheap, absorbent, and overall a pretty decent substrate, easy on the eyes. I use aspen shavings, and I usually just spot clean and give a complete clean out once a month or so.

I have also used the compressed coconut fiber substrate before but I did not like it. Sure it was good for keeping humidity up, but it also caused moulds. That is when I switched over to aspen.

As for Reptibark, I've never used it before and I don't believe I ever will if I had the choice. I heard that Reptibark sometimes may have mites in them... But I am not 100% sure on that one.
 
I use cage carpet for my ball python, but my corn really likes to burrow around and so I only use a piece of cage carpet on one side to protect him from the under tank heater on the glass. (I weigh it down with his hide.) I just have two pieces and swap one out while I clean and disinfect the other one and leave it to dry over night. I have a few handfuls of aspen on the other side so he can burrow around.

Just having the carpet alone might be tough on your snake but a lot of people just use newspaper and paper towels, so I don't think it would be actively harmful at all.

"Up to a year" is far, FAR too long. You spot clean but every month everything in there needs to be disinfected. Snakes don't make big messes much, but you need to fight mold and bacteria just like in a normal home. :)
 
I found reptile carpet to be more trouble than it's worth. Aspen or newspaper/paper towels really seem to be the best options, in my opinion.
 
I don't know if the girl really knew what she was talking about when she said a year in between total cleanings. That just didn't seem right. Thank you for the opinions and thoughts so far. This is just the kind of answers I am looking for. I didn't know about the bark possibly having mites. And I was under the impression that weekly I was going to have to totally replace everything in the cage. You are all so helpful! I have a feeding question, but I'll post that where it should go.
 
I doubt Reptibark will have mites, but I did hear it wasn't worth the extra dough. I spoil Chad a little bit, and as BobbyHill said, it may be unnecessary. It might be easier for you to dump all the aspen out when you're doing your "all clean" day. Best of luck to you!
 
I have used Repti-bark for 4 years, never hade a mite problem, never had any problem. I change it every month, I only have one viv.
When you first put it in the humidity is high, 60-65%. It loses some in about a week and in my house and stays around 40%.
I like the look in my viv, but it might be a little chunky for a hatchling.
 
BobbyHill said:
I found reptile carpet to be more trouble than it's worth. Aspen or newspaper/paper towels really seem to be the best options, in my opinion.
Click to expand...


I agree 100%. I used carpets for a while when I first started and it is too easy to get lazy about cleaning them. Now most of my snakes are on aspen and a few are on paper towels (mostly babies).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top