Issues with Coconut Husk?

Hi all! First post on the forum and I have a quick question. I just got my first Ball Python and I have substrate question. I keep her in a 20 gallon tank for the time being and I'm using that Reptibark substrate w/a UTH on the hot side and a light w/a lamp dimmer on the cool side. I keep a moist towel over the side w/out the light, but the humidity is still a little low. I hear that coconut husk is a great substrate for keeping humidity up, but I've also heard it increases chances of mites. Can someone chime in with some thoughts on this? Thanks!
Mike

oOoOoO i get to be the person that says "welcome to bp.net!"

congrats on your first ball python too.

so back to your post - I asked a similar question a while back about the same stuff and this might be a decent place to start.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=37597

I'm not expert, but as for increasing the chance of mites, im not sure. I think mites would have just a good chance living in aspen or whatever. The reason why some might say this is because coconut substrate is a pain in the butt to clean thoroughly. Especially if you're using a glass tank. It's difficult to get all the dirt out of the tank, disinfect the enclosure and set it up again. I used to do it, and it wasn't easy. I think the difficulty in cleaning a glass tank w coconut substrate might lead to less frequent cleanings, which might increase your odds of a mite problem. Like i said, i'm no expert and hopefully somebody else will chime in, but that's just my thoughts :weirdface

I've since switched to tubs with newspaper. I have a hide box over the warm end, and i have a glad container (with a hole in the lid) with a little bit of coconut substrate covering the bottom. I figure the snake can go in there if it needs more humidity or wants to chill out or whatever. It's a lot easier when the snakes poo in the moist box (i have 2 that really love dumpin in there) because you just empty the container, clean real well, and throw more substrate in there...ready to go.

i'd post pictures, but im at work at the moment, and i want to hurry up and post before someone else steals my "welcome to the site" thunder :D

there's lots of stuff on here to read!

:welcome:

Welcome!

Try cypress mulch. I hear it holds humidity really well. I personally have never tried it, but I will be switching my BRB over to it soon.

Why have I been under the impression that coconut husk wasn't a good choice because of impaction risk? For some reason I thought the husk was much harder for bp's to digest than the aspen or other chips?

Of course I can't find anything to support this now ... where did I get this idea from!! lol

Never used it :rolleyes:

i used it for a while and really liked it for the ease of spot cleaning. but like some people said, it is a little bit of a pain when it comes time to fully clean and disinfect. i got lucky- my house has central-vac, so i just scoop out as much as i can and suck out the rest. then you disinfect as you normally would.

i use it for my tarantulas and it isnt much of a pain to clean up, but then again i keep them in kritter keepers so that might explain why. for snakes, it WOULDNT be a risk for impaction because it'll easily pass through their digestive system as they're not large chunks and it's basically like dirt. but then again thats just me.