substrate

hi guys im new here and im finally getting my first ball in about a month or so. i know that people use news paper as a substrate, but i was wondering if i would be able to use shredded paper from the paper shredder. its cheap and would be thicker than the news paper. any thoughts?

If you're going to use paper just use sheets. It's easier. What is best for you all depends on what kind of caging you are going to have, how you plan to heat it ,also how nice you want it to look. Do you want pretty with some maintenance or do you want minimal and easy to take care of. With just one snake I'd make it look real nice with a natural looking mulch substrate. But one ball python turns to many very fast.

i was planning on getting a 20 gallon glass enclosure with a UTH but with the space in my room i started to think of the plastic tubs

If you're going with tubs then I would just use paper towels for your substrate. If you have high humidity you can just add more holes to the tubs. If humidity is too low you can add a secondary bowl with water and sphagnum moss in it. Easy to clean, easy to manage.

With UTH you have to keep the substrate very thin. Newsprint or paper towels are good for that. When I had my 20gal I had to use Eco Earth for humidity. I made sure to keep the substrate thin, especially in the hides. Because in order for the substrate to get to the 88/90 whatever hotspot you want you have to crank the heat up. Then if they move the substrate they could be sitting on the glass that is hotter than the intended temperature. By keeping it thin you prevent that from happening because you don't have to turn it up like that.

in tubs, paper towels are easy and cheap.

I use newspaper. Its free and it works.

My balls are in tubs with papertowels. My boas are on aspen.

ok ill probably just go with the paper towels or paper thanks alot everyone

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Originally Posted by DooLittle

My balls are in tubs with papertowels. My boas are on aspen.

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Same here.