What type of substrate do you use?

hemp bedding, absorbant, cheap, attractive + dust free.

I use paper towels, but i still have one tub with aspen because the little girl likes to burrow...

Indented KRAFT paper for me--I like it, and Auryn likes to be underneath it :D

i use peat moss with coconut shavings.they come in a brick-shaped thing called eco-earth.

I use aspen on the bottom and cover it with carefresh. Works good for me and him because he likes to burry himself occasionally. Plus they have some funky colors now, but I love the white :) I think in the summer time I will probably use newspaper.

I use that Reptibark stuff

Ive just started using unprinted newspaper and im loving it, the only hard part is cutting the huge rolls down to the size I need.:D

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Originally Posted by rm1888

hemp bedding, absorbant, cheap, attractive + dust free.

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where is this found?

I started with Reptibark and I'm using newspaper now. It's so much easier to clean when there's a mess, you can just lift the whole piece out of there, and I swear my humidity has increased since I made the change.

I use Aspen. Looks nice, easy to clean with the Shop-vac, hold moisture well.

SANI-CHIPS its 100% pure laboratory grade aspen in small chip form about the size of a pea but flat, no dust, very absorbant and still has a look to it.
Once I get my racks ill use newspaper... bacause its a rack. The SANI-CHIPS are cheap, I bought 2.2 cubic feet (about 15 pound bag) for 15 bucks at a reptile show.

I've got a cocoanut/mulch mix as my bedding for now. It seems to hold my humidity pretty well with both the UTH and CHE

I originally voted aspen but gave newsprint a chance and I'm loving it.

I use bark- Repti bark to be exact, and Imlove it :)

Right now I use Aspen, But I am switching to Coconut Bark as soon as my shipment comes in :)

I use repti-carpet as the first layer, then newspaper and a top layer of paper towel

is carefresh ok to house snakes in as substait?

Well, I don't have BP, but I use reptile sand as my substrate, and my snakes love it! Spot-cleaning the tank is actually pretty easy (I use the mini-sifter instead of the big one!) Of course, kings poo smaller than BPs... ^_^

Hmm, I would just like to update, seeing as how I have my snakes in different enclosures. I have them in tub set ups, and they are all on newspaper. Best switch I ever made!

My babies are on papertowels, subadults on Sanichips, and breeders on papertowels to prevent any chips from getting into areas that they shouldn't.

And all in tubs.

Snake sitting. Owner uses repti bark. Not liking it much.

Reptibark here.

back when this poll first started i was a avid advocate of the paper towels hehe. But i just started using the "Eco Earth" and my snake loves it! When she was a baby she loved to burrow under the dirt and make little hiding places under the climbing branches i have in the tank. I like it one because it mkes the cage look nicer and she seems to enjoy it much more then the hard glass bottom of the tank :)

I use cotton place mats works great.

I use sani chips and I really like it:)

aspen cause it comes in a huge bag :gj:

newspaper for me.

Newspaper & Aspen for me.

:)

balls on newspaper, tree pythons on paper towels. (only voted for newspaper tho, as the question was just about my balls, the rest was just useless info)

Due to the fact that I own a "hogger" (that's what some guys at the expo called it :D), an extreme burrowing snake, I use crushed English walnut (CEW). Many snake experts don't advise it but that's only because it could get stuck on food, so I have to move Charon to another place (a cardboard box) so he can eat without problems (BTW he ate his first pinky today :gj:). CEW retains heat very well and it's perfect for an extreme burrower.

Crushed walnut shells cause nothing but trouble in my opinion. It would probably be better to use coconut bark or aspen if he likes to burrow. Too many horror stories about the crushed walnut shell. I cant believe they still sell that stuff. :(

The last time I posted on this thread I said I loved Sani chips. I used cypress before I went to sani chips and now I'm thinking about switching back again :( I like the sani chips but it just doesn't seem to hold humity well and when it gets too wet due to a spill it just doesn't dry. When it does dry it turns into a big pill of goop...I'll never be happy:)

I'm still on our first roll? bundle? of Indented Kraft Paper, and I bought it over a year ago. Nice, clean, easy, and wow have we saved a lot of money this way. Good stuff.

CYPRESS.............looks nice,holds humidity well,cheap,easy to obtain (in the southeast anyways,) and it smells good :)

I'm a newbie with my first snake and was recommended coconut bark in that compressed brick which you add water to. It was nightmarish for staying too wet even after baking.. and I was really nervous about scale rot....
so then I went out and bought some aspen... but before I had a chance to change anything out.. I found the local paper here in Ottawa gives away unprinted newsprint roll ends. (nothing beats free :) )

So I picked up a few of those and have used it ever since... it doesn't look bad since there's no print and cleaning up the mess is easy...

my only issue (and that is most likely due to the glass tank I have her in) is humidity... but I am looking at getting a rack setup soon.

so as a side note... if anyone's in Ottawa, ON and wants some unopened aspen ... let me know..

Ahhh the joys of learning... :oops:

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Originally Posted by Vlad

I'm a newbie with my first snake and was recommended coconut bark in that compressed brick which you add water to. It was nightmarish for staying too wet even after baking.. and I was really nervous about scale rot....
so then I went out and bought some aspen... but before I had a chance to change anything out.. I found the local paper here in Ottawa gives away unprinted newsprint roll ends. (nothing beats free :) )

So I picked up a few of those and have used it ever since... it doesn't look bad since there's no print and cleaning up the mess is easy...

my only issue (and that is most likely due to the glass tank I have her in) is humidity... but I am looking at getting a rack setup soon.

so as a side note... if anyone's in Ottawa, ON and wants some unopened aspen ... let me know..

Ahhh the joys of learning... :oops:

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Hey Vlad,
You mind telling me what local paper you're talking about? You can e-mail me the info if you wish capitalcitygeckos@rogers.com .
Take care,
Jason

news paper all the way

i used aspen for a while but found mould in it so changed but had bought 5 bales of it so i used in in my mice and they sudenly got mites cant be 100% sure it was the aspen but it a bit of a coinky-dink

Jason,

I sent you a PM with all the details (paper, address and phone number).. hope it helps.

Just got it Vlad, thanks for the help! My paper towel bill was getting wayyyyyy to high lol.
Take care,

I currently use cypress mulch.

newspaper ftw!

I am in a newspaper phase. I use either it, or paper towels. During breeding, I like newspaper (a few layers) because it absorbs all of the fluid that seems to come with breeding, and any liquid urate, too. Paper towels, I use for my remaining '07's in their little tubs because their water bowls pretty-much hold the towels in place and in my larger tubs, the PTowel seems to move around and not stay on the tub floor.

I had a guy who owns the local pet shop tell me to use fish tank rocks. Is that a very good idea? Anyone else do this?

i use fir bark chips is that bad???

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I had a guy who owns the local pet shop tell me to use fish tank rocks. Is that a very good idea? Anyone else do this?

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No... They are heavy, hard to keep clean and terrible for maintaining humidity.

Right now I'm using Carefresh but I think after the bag I have is gone that I'm going to switch to either newspaper or aspen.

I use the Coconut Fiber becuase it doesnt make a big mess and it keeps the humidity well and if you do feed your snake in his cage they can swallow some of it without worry unlike some bark that can hurt them

well, it's never a 'good' thing for them to swallow foreign matter, but you're right that the small particles of Coconut coir are probably the least harmful.

aspen. soaks up everything!

I ran the gammut of substrates over the years with various herps and always end-up back with rubber-backed indoor/outdoor carpeting; one piece for the tank, two others in reserve for cycling in when the current one is removed for washing/disinfecting.

I just find it easiest to maintain.