How often do you switch substrate?

Hey everybody! First and foremost I hope you all had a great Christmas or whichever holiday you and yours celebrates!

As the title states I was just curious about your substrate changing intervals. I've had the same substrate down for almost 3 months. I spot clean pretty much daily. When i take waste out i take some of the surrounding substrate as well and add as needed. It still looks like it's new and doesn't stink. I am planning on cleaning everything out this weekend anyway. Is this something I should be doing more often or would the 3 month range be acceptable if it's well maintained during that time?

I spot clean daily and change it out monthly. Sometimes a little longer.


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I change entire substrate and deep clean every single item in the tank and a tank itself once a month. Other than that daily maintenance and soot cleaning :)

If it doesn't stink and isn't dirty, I spot clean and keep it for however long it takes to become dirty, depending on the snake. Some snakes poop every week, some poop/pee only once every 3 months, so it really depends.

All sound good to me.
Cleanliness is most important
Spot cleaning very important
But i see no need in daily spot clean if there is no poop or pee
However I will stir around the substrate every couple days

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

If it doesn't stink and isn't dirty, I spot clean and keep it for however long it takes to become dirty, depending on the snake. Some snakes poop every week, some poop/pee only once every 3 months, so it really depends.

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i agree 100%, this is exactly what I do.
i find coco fiber to be the best for absorbing waste and easily removing it. I can just keep spot cleaning coco fiber and replacing empty spots with new fiber virtually forever.

Yep

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That depends entirely on the spot cleaning itself.

If done thoroughly and generously, and the rest of the substrate appears and smells clean, keep the good stuff.

I do...BUT I take spot cleaning to the next level. I remove the waste and the surrounding substrate. Then I spray F10 on the bare spot, rub and clean that spot, then cover it with substrate and add more to fill the bare spots.

Sometimes a snake will "smear". On a hide, around it, along walls, etc. Then I clean all those areas and the substrate around it.

You don't have to create a sterile environment, but should keep it clean and smelling fresh/clean. Some snakes are messier then others, too.

It depends on the substrate, as well. Some are better at absorbing then others. For example, when I used Aspen, I would often have to remove SO MUCH of it, that I just dumped the whole tub. It doesn't absorb well and the wet/dirty spot would be huge and even the snake would smell bad, since it often would move through the big wet spot. The tubs also reeked as soon as there was a mess.

Now I use a coco substrate. It keeps the wet spot small and concentrated in one area. So much better for spot cleaning and keeping things clean. It also keeps the smell down. I used to know if there was a mess by walking into that room. (pee or poop) Now I actually have to do a visual inspection.

All that said, if you have a snake with a health problem, ANY health problem whether skin, mouth or respiratory, you should remove any substrate, keep it on paper towels and try come as close to sterile (and keeping things that way) as you can for the entire duration of the problem and for some time after its resolved.

With all that being said one reason why I’m going to go bio active with one of my enclosures to see how it does, yes spot cleaning will be maintained but nothing crazy. I’m thinking that I’ll end up switching Daenerys to fully Bio by the beginning of the new year and see how it performs...I’m just waiting on my springtails and isopods to really get a good population going (which they’re starting to explode now)


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I spot clean daily and usually do a deep cleaning and full change once a month. It depends on the snake One of my boas always makes a mess so she gets a deep cleaning more frequently. On the other side of the coin I have a smaller boa that seems to use up everything he eats. I rarely find any waste from him. Just urates most of the time. Just kinda depends.