-
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.
Substrates
- Thread starter Neil
- Start date
HomeBreeder
Herphilious Lunacious
I tried cob - I felt it was a complete waste of my money... I think you're better off with newsprint than using cob.
^Curtis
^Curtis
B-J@y
New member
I've used rebti-bark! verry nice to look at! great for burrowing for the corns but it is difficult to spot the defecation! And it is verry expensif!
Then i used coconut bark! looked great, (not as nice as reptibark!) but the downsides of coconut bark is the same as repti! but it contains much more dust! it was a bit (not much) cheaper than the first!
Now i use beech chippings! it is much cheaper, a litle easyer to spot the po! (not much) on it does look good (just not as good as reptibark! i liked it the most bud it is too expensif)
Then i used coconut bark! looked great, (not as nice as reptibark!) but the downsides of coconut bark is the same as repti! but it contains much more dust! it was a bit (not much) cheaper than the first!
Now i use beech chippings! it is much cheaper, a litle easyer to spot the po! (not much) on it does look good (just not as good as reptibark! i liked it the most bud it is too expensif)
Neil
Senior Member
Most of the care sheets I've read have mentioned Beech Chips but I haven't been able to find any over here. I'm really interested in this calcium grit because I can get 25kg for just a little over £20 from Coast To Coast. ( www.coasttocoast.co.uk )
In my small viv which houses my yearling Carolina, I use Caci-Sand from T-Rex and have had a good experience with that because it looks good and absorbs moisture from faeces and is easily spot-cleaned. I recommend it. I was going to stick with this for my larger vivs but is is very expensive with £6 only getting me 2.25kg. That is why I'm thinking about this grit because it's basically the same only without the colour and packaging.
Neil
In my small viv which houses my yearling Carolina, I use Caci-Sand from T-Rex and have had a good experience with that because it looks good and absorbs moisture from faeces and is easily spot-cleaned. I recommend it. I was going to stick with this for my larger vivs but is is very expensive with £6 only getting me 2.25kg. That is why I'm thinking about this grit because it's basically the same only without the colour and packaging.
Neil
Don't people say sand is bad for corn snakes? I realize that not all people have the same experiences with substrates, but I always heard that it was bad, bad, bad. Apparently not if you have not been having problems with it. I do agree that it is expensive.
The cheapest option of course is paper or paper towels. I use paper towels and aspen so I can't give you any feedback on any other substrates.
The cheapest option of course is paper or paper towels. I use paper towels and aspen so I can't give you any feedback on any other substrates.
Oh, I always thought it was bad for some reason.
Oh I know why, I read in the bearded dragon forum a long time ago that some one's beardie got impacted from it or something like taht.
Wow! How did I remember that? I remember all the useless things and never remember the important things.
About corn cob, I read on Melissa Kaplan's site that it causes "excessive drying of dermal tissues"
This makes sense b/c I've seen some snakes with corn cob bedding bathing a lot more often than others.
And it gets kind of moldy and smelly when it gets wet or you miss a little bit of the poop when you're scooping it out.
Oh I know why, I read in the bearded dragon forum a long time ago that some one's beardie got impacted from it or something like taht.
Wow! How did I remember that? I remember all the useless things and never remember the important things.
About corn cob, I read on Melissa Kaplan's site that it causes "excessive drying of dermal tissues"
This makes sense b/c I've seen some snakes with corn cob bedding bathing a lot more often than others.
And it gets kind of moldy and smelly when it gets wet or you miss a little bit of the poop when you're scooping it out.
bmm
New member
well
from what I have heard, on the leopard gecko forum of kingsnake, there was quite a discussion at one time about cali-sand, and the claims it is not harmful. If I remember correctly, quite a few owners said it caused impaction in their leos.
But of course snakes are different!
Myself, I use paper towel. It's not as pleasing to the eye but boy is it great for keeping things super clean. Every single poopy towel is easily and quickly changed by a fresh paper towel. The snakes go under the sometimes as well.
My choice though, and I do like more natural looking bottoms, but for now paper towel functions wonderfully for me.
bmm
from what I have heard, on the leopard gecko forum of kingsnake, there was quite a discussion at one time about cali-sand, and the claims it is not harmful. If I remember correctly, quite a few owners said it caused impaction in their leos.
But of course snakes are different!
Myself, I use paper towel. It's not as pleasing to the eye but boy is it great for keeping things super clean. Every single poopy towel is easily and quickly changed by a fresh paper towel. The snakes go under the sometimes as well.
My choice though, and I do like more natural looking bottoms, but for now paper towel functions wonderfully for me. bmm
calci-sand, repti-bark and cob can cause serious impaction problems. i have seen the results of sand and bark causing impaction first-hand so wouls never recommend either. cob i've used but stopped because it seemed that it was just far too good a grwth medium for mold and bacteria if it got wet. sand and cob both will also dry the snakes skin quite a bit. (especially in the winter up north where i live. good luck.. ---jim
---jim
Neil
Senior Member
Filovirus, do you use a heat mat under the astro-turf? How well does it conduct heat as I'm kinda worried it wouldn't be warm enough for my corns. How thick is it? I've been thinking of using that as it looks good and you can have two pieces in rotation (like you said)- one being used and one being disinfected.
Neil
Neil
a lot of times corns will go under the carpet. You can also use heavy duty felt, the heat goes through just fine. I'm using screened pine shavings at the moment...the oil content in them is pretty low. I got a couple of nasty bags of aspen which is what I used before and decided to switch for the time being. Sanichips aren't too bad either...just make sure you clean any off the floor if you go barefoot.
Corncob isn't good for a damn thing (which is why it's cheap) nor do you want to touch crushed walnut shells or calci sand (impaction). I've used bark when I had a screen top cage which worked ok, not absorbent enough to keep me happy. Lizard Litter and Carefresh are very dry which can lead to some shedding problems if you aren't watchful or your snake doesn't soak.
Corncob isn't good for a damn thing (which is why it's cheap) nor do you want to touch crushed walnut shells or calci sand (impaction). I've used bark when I had a screen top cage which worked ok, not absorbent enough to keep me happy. Lizard Litter and Carefresh are very dry which can lead to some shedding problems if you aren't watchful or your snake doesn't soak.
Neil
Senior Member
Ahhhhh!! I never knew that choosing a substrate could be so stressful. OK, I've decided against most things now (including Astro-Turf) and I'm leaning towards kitchen roll/paper towels. Just one question: should I put a double layer down to keep it from getting too hot or will it be ok with just one layer?
If I end up using kitchen roll, I've got my whole viv setup planned: Paper towels on the floor. Two ice cream tubs with holes cut in the top for hides. Water bowel in the middle.
Neil
If I end up using kitchen roll, I've got my whole viv setup planned: Paper towels on the floor. Two ice cream tubs with holes cut in the top for hides. Water bowel in the middle.
Neil
bmm
New member
haha
thats my set ups exactly, included ice cream tubs!!! *LOL*
I usually put two or three layers down, just because of the "seep through" With a heating pad, yes I would put two or three. You can try and arrange items in the tank as well to try and presuad the corn to stay above the paper.
bmm
thats my set ups exactly, included ice cream tubs!!! *LOL*
I usually put two or three layers down, just because of the "seep through" With a heating pad, yes I would put two or three. You can try and arrange items in the tank as well to try and presuad the corn to stay above the paper.
bmm
B-J@y
New member
It is pritty obvious that repti-bark wil couse impactation if it is swallowed, i mean, it is wood! But if you feed your snakes outside the tank.... no problems what so ever! If you really want to be save than paper towels! i have never read in this forum any bad things about this! it just won't look so nice!
kris (UK)
New member
i use . . .
a mix of two subtrates. They are the same but in different sizes, My corn loves this as its all not the same size and he explore with burrowing ect... ect... what i use is one bag of medium sized aspen chips and two bags of small "desert" aspen chips. It looks really cool and as i said, my snake seems to love it. hope this helps!! i attached a pic so you can see what i use . . . lol with my handy webcam, , , i take pics of anything!!! hehehe
KRIS
a mix of two subtrates. They are the same but in different sizes, My corn loves this as its all not the same size and he explore with burrowing ect... ect... what i use is one bag of medium sized aspen chips and two bags of small "desert" aspen chips. It looks really cool and as i said, my snake seems to love it. hope this helps!! i attached a pic so you can see what i use . . . lol with my handy webcam, , , i take pics of anything!!! hehehe
KRIS
Attachments
Last edited: