So as some of you may have seen, I'm switching tanks to a larger tank. And the one I have now the (specialty) pet store girl sent me home with, and it's a typial sub-par ten gallon 'starter kit' which of course I regret. So. I'm starting over. And want to know what substrate I should buy. I have a few questions about it.
- Which substrate do you use / prefer? I know some are toxic to snakes, and the fear of ingestion is real. But which are the best and most reliable?
- I'm trying to find one that helps with humidity. Which are best for retaining moisture without just getting soggy? I also *think* I've seen things about 'wetting' substrate? Am I making this up or is this a thing? And what does that mean? Like pre-wetting it before putting it in the tank?
- How deep should the substrate be ideally? Of course I want UTH to do it's job well, but I also don't want so little that it may as well not exist, so what's the perfect middle ground?
- When spot cleaning / replacing substrate what should one look for, and what's a good time-frame for full-tank cleaning?
- And last, how do you all clean your tank and it's accessories? What can I use without hurting my baby girl? And should I just put her in a seperate container while I'm cleaning?
Thank you all so much in advance! I'm slowly learning from my mistakes and want to get my baby the best home she can have! Even getting her from a reptile / invertebrate specialty pet store the employees still interacted in a very detached, 'here goes another snake to another probably-
terrible temporary home' attitude and weren't the most helpful. But I'm keeping her for her entire decades-long life no matter what, so I wanna do her life well.![]()