Using beans as substrate?

[Neotetro]

I was at a reptile show recently and saw a vendor who used various large beans as substrate, uncooked of course! It looked really attractive and they conducted heat well and allowed for easy cleanup. Are there any downsides to this? I saw a snake burrowing through them as well and it looked like he was having a great time!

[Capray]

Eh, I think it would be a waste of food. Vendors often use beans because it's more attractive to look at.

I'm guessing it would get mouldy too if there was moisture.

[SnowShredder]

Yeah what Capray said. I think it'd be fine temporarily but the moisture will get you

[BHReptiles]

i think it'll be a lot like those lima bean experiments at school where you put the lima bean in a wet paper towel and leave it there for weeks...the bean begins to smell and sprout.

I think for the short term, the beans are cute and attractive, but in order to keep the humidity high enough like you need for a BP, you might find that the beans begin to smell or sprout.

If you want something that looks good, try using coconut husk or eco-earth. Both look pretty natural. If you want something that's really easy to clean up, go with paper towel or newspaper.

[Pythonfriend]

there are substrates based on dried and crushed corn.

but i wouldnt use food-based substrates, for environmental reasons and because i would worry about mold. i dont want to continuously throw away stuff that could be part of a fine meal for humans.

at shows its done for optics, you can get black, white, yellow, red or brown beans, also intricately patterned and striped beans. So at a show it gives you lots of possibilities to improve the optics. But in general, its just more expensive and more wasteful.