Substrate is WAY TO HARD?

[jackiechan]

Im using cypress mulch at the moment and its become a problem for me because its dried up so much that its literally like wood chips that you would find at a park where the kids play..

My current set up is a 30x12x12 (20Gal) I have 2 UTH (cold 83 & hot 93), and one ceramic heat emitter(equipped with a dimmer). I insulated 3 sides with cardboard and foil tape and i have the tank lid wrapped with foil. I use the CHE to keep my ambient temperature of the tank up, and i think thats my problem.. the CHE is hot enough to the point it dries out all the mulch.

- Is there another way i can keep my ambient temperature up besides using my CHE?
- What substrate should i switch to that wont give me this problem?

Thanks for reading. Any suggestions is much appreciated. I know i wouldn't want to be slithering around this hard substrate if i were a BP..

[Redneck_Crow]

I really don't think the "hardness" is a problem for snakes. We perceive what we're stepping on as "hard" because there is an impact because we walk -- the footstrike. A snake is very different--the pressure of his "footprint," if we consider his body contact with the cage as such, is spread out much more evenly. Because he weighs less too, PSI on his contact surface would be way lower.

I used paper towels as a substrate for a long time and the snakes didn't seem to mind. Lots of people use newspapers too, and neither one is soft when you figure that you're only using a couple of sheets thick on the cage floor. The only reason I switched to aspen is because I've got a couple of females that pee about a gallon and I regularly found them in wading pools. When I put aspen in my cages the first thing my snakes do is pack the stuff down. They might even prefer a harder surface because it makes their form of locomotion easier.

[jackiechan]

I really don't think the "hardness" is a problem for snakes. We perceive what we're stepping on as "hard" because there is an impact because we walk -- the footstrike. A snake is very different--the pressure of his "footprint," if we consider his body contact with the cage as such, is spread out much more evenly. Because he weighs less too, PSI on his contact surface would be way lower.

I used paper towels as a substrate for a long time and the snakes didn't seem to mind. Lots of people use newspapers too, and neither one is soft when you figure that you're only using a couple of sheets thick on the cage floor. The only reason I switched to aspen is because I've got a couple of females that pee about a gallon and I regularly found them in wading pools. When I put aspen in my cages the first thing my snakes do is pack the stuff down. They might even prefer a harder surface because it makes their form of locomotion easier.

Thank u for the input. Ill probably still switch to aspen just for an ease of mind.

[decensored]

whats your humidity look like? Dried substrate is usually a sign of low humidity. Cyprus mulch is not fantastic for keeping humidity but its better than aspen. A good one to try would be coco-husk, i swear by it. It holds humidity great and if your feeding in your tank theres less of a chance your BP will ingest the pieces.

What does your ambient temperature reading? The ceramic heater may be too much. You can try removing the foil from the top of your enclosure and replacing it with a wet towel. It will help with both humidity and keeping the heat in.

Hope this helps

Cheers.

[Maixx]

That sounds like a lot of heat, what are you using to measure your temps?
Are all 3 (2uth, 1che) on thermostats?