Is a substrate really necessary?

Honestly, having a paper substrate doesn't feel much different from the tub surface. My snakes tend to go under their newspaper and sit on the tub plastic anyway. However, I keep newspaper to catch poo and absorb pee. If you've ever cleaned urates, they are pretty difficult to scrub by hand once they're dried to the plastic. I'd rather have my snakes get their urates and poo stuck to the newspaper.......

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

Not the same but my friend decided to go the route of no bedding and/or litter in his ferret cage. Bathed the poor thing everyday instead because nothing was there to absorb the pee. Ended up giving the ferret to me after 6 months

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So nasty!!! I need to have the entire caged covered in bedding or else my guys would just crap everywhere. The breeding seems to prevent them from going in random spots and stick to the litter box.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Honestly, having a paper substrate doesn't feel much different from the tub surface. My snakes tend to go under their newspaper and sit on the tub plastic anyway. However, I keep newspaper to catch poo and absorb pee. If you've ever cleaned urates, they are pretty difficult to scrub by hand once they're dried to the plastic. I'd rather have my snakes get their urates and poo stuck to the newspaper.......




So nasty!!! I need to have the entire caged covered in bedding or else my guys would just crap everywhere. The breeding seems to prevent them from going in random spots and stick to the litter box.

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Ikr!!! At least now his fur feels like fur and not needles, poor guy was so dry from everyday bathing!
But back on topic.... mine tend to borrow in the borrow in the aspen at times also, but at least they have a choice :)

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Urates especially tend to stick when they dry, it's a hassle scraping that stuff off of plastic. I use several layers of newspaper in my tubs and most of it will get soaked up by the paper which makes it easier to clean, also most of my snakes love to sandwich themselves between the layers of paper so there is no need to include a hide box which mean one less thing to clean.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

In my case even with the paper towels they seem to almost intentionally shove them out of the way so they can go directly on the tub surface. Guess if I was to answer the survey it would be to say that the snake need substrate less than we need them to have it. It's nice to occasionally have a tub that doesn't require a total washdown when they mess it.

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that's what I thought.

Personally, i think from a functional standpoint, the snakes dont NEED a substrate, but i do think at least some kind of liner is necessary. A snake having to sit in a puddle of its own pee and poop is disgusting, not to mention unhygienic. At least a layer of paper towels or something would absorb the liquids so the snake stays semi dri until you remove it. I couldnt imagine a snake peeing, pooping, then flipping its water bowl to make a "snake poop soup" would be very lovely to lay in...
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Ok so when your snake pisses all over the tub and he is soaked in urine and he stinks and the tank stinks and your room stinks,then maybe you will think substrate is useful

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Originally Posted by sho220

I use newspaper and they burrow around in it, tear it up, wad it into corners, drag it into their water bowls...pretty much everything but make origami with it..

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Funny you should mention that. I found this in one of my snake tubs while spot cleaning the other day!

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/20...97-d56bxp7.jpg

Hmmm...

I think everyone here has good points. OP it kinda looks like you already have an answer in mind and are looking for someone to side with you (I could be wrong). I think that you are going to do what you like, and I guess you'll have to see for youself if that's the case :P

To chime in my opinion, I think that mimicing the snake's natural habitat would be the least stressful for them, so why not spend the extra buck on substrate (or even newspaper or paper towel if you've already got it; at least it's something other than cool plastic), and have less work for yourself to do? If it's a money thing, substrate really isn't all that expensive because snakes don't go through a tonne of it - compared to other small animals that use it, that's for sure!
If it's a looks thing, there are many options out there that you may find appealing.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

I use bedding (wood shavings) because I can just use a doggie poop bag to scoop out poop. No smell, no mess, and my corn snakes in particular love to burrow in it. They manage to hide all 5' of themselves in it.

No bedding at all would be disgusting and extra work for everyone involved.

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human analogy:

is toilet paper really necessary? no.

does it suck to not have toilet paper? yes. heck, in emergecy situations most people would rather use their own socks and flush them instead of doing nothing.

potential health issues from sitting in feces aside, i would not want to handle a BP and would not like the smell of it if it just spent hours in its own feces.