Poll: What Substrate Do You Prefer?

I like this one called Forest Floor, which I'm pretty sure is Cypress mulch. It's insanely moist right out of the bag- you can see the condensation inside the bag it's so wet!- so for the first couple days it'll send your humidity through the roof! Great to use when your BP is going in to shed. :)

I`ve used aspen but it`s really easy to get mold and not good for cage feeding. So, I`ve changed to packing paper and it`s a cheaper than aspen, no more mold and no more worry to do cage feeding.

I always used aspen until moving to Florida. Now I used Coco Husk (eco earth). As it tends to be more predictable in regards to Humidity changes. It looks great too in a viv

Hello everybody, I was wondering if what I'm doing
would be okay for my female spotnose ball python.
She's a little over a year old in a 10 gallon tank but
I have a 55 gallon that I'm prepping for her and will
add many hides and or half off the enclosure to make
her feel more secure if need be (maybe thinking foggers
along with dehumidifiers working symbiotically in tank)..

Now, before people start telling me tubs are better
which I'm aware of, I'll make sure this thing is dialed
into the correct environmental settings. I'm versed
with very picky plants so this won't be an issue for
me. What I'm mainly wondering here is if it would be
okay to use these soft nylon/polyester bath mats as
a substrate or just as the bottom of the tank with
sphagnum moss as the substrate. I made sure it was
a non yarn-laden type bathmat that wouldn't snag
scales at a reverse direction. Out of everything I'm
wondering I just want to know if this would be toxic
in anyway , in the way pine and cedar is to snakes,
to my sweet spotnose ball python. I searched the
internet relentlessly and found nothing pertaining to
the materials used, or any bath mats being poisonous
or harmful to snakes. I'm very sure I'm just being extra
cautious, as any novice or even experienced herper
should be, and am making sure I don't mess up. The
tank I got was for free, and discovered the back of it
is shattered which matters not to me as it won't be
holding any water, so I'm putting one of the mats
against the whole back wall as a cover from the glass
that's shattered and to double as a background/soft
material to rub up against. So even if I go with another
substrate, I still have these fake grass pads for reptiles
which I originally had for the broken glass wall until I
bought these bathmats and cut them up. I'll post pics
of the development in a bit depending on feedback ITT.

Thank you in advance!

RustlewoodReptiles

Thin layer of Aspen on the hot side then a mix of Aspen and Cypress for the rest, this is for my 75g tank. I'm setting up a 6 tub rack now and planning on just using aspen for the tubs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RustlewoodReptiles

Hello everybody, I was wondering if what I'm doing
would be okay for my female spotnose ball python.
She's a little over a year old in a 10 gallon tank but
I have a 55 gallon that I'm prepping for her and will
add many hides and or half off the enclosure to make
her feel more secure if need be (maybe thinking foggers
along with dehumidifiers working symbiotically in tank)..

Now, before people start telling me tubs are better
which I'm aware of, I'll make sure this thing is dialed
into the correct environmental settings. I'm versed
with very picky plants so this won't be an issue for
me. What I'm mainly wondering here is if it would be
okay to use these soft nylon/polyester bath mats as
a substrate or just as the bottom of the tank with
sphagnum moss as the substrate. I made sure it was
a non yarn-laden type bathmat that wouldn't snag
scales at a reverse direction. Out of everything I'm
wondering I just want to know if this would be toxic
in anyway , in the way pine and cedar is to snakes,
to my sweet spotnose ball python. I searched the
internet relentlessly and found nothing pertaining to
the materials used, or any bath mats being poisonous
or harmful to snakes. I'm very sure I'm just being extra
cautious, as any novice or even experienced herper
should be, and am making sure I don't mess up. The
tank I got was for free, and discovered the back of it
is shattered which matters not to me as it won't be
holding any water, so I'm putting one of the mats
against the whole back wall as a cover from the glass
that's shattered and to double as a background/soft
material to rub up against. So even if I go with another
substrate, I still have these fake grass pads for reptiles
which I originally had for the broken glass wall until I
bought these bathmats and cut them up. I'll post pics
of the development in a bit depending on feedback ITT.

Thank you in advance!

RustlewoodReptiles

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Start your own thread so this one is not jacked. It will be much easier.

Understood brother, I made my own thread
so a mod can please delete my long post ITT
lol. It's good to see a community that actually
cares about keeping topics inline, thank you!!

To be on topic now, I think I'm going to be off
starting with sphagnum moss and seeing how
I enjoy it; because from what I've been reading
about it's ease of use, maintaining humidity, &
the fact that I use it prolifically as a botanist and
want to see if my orchids enjoy moss soiled by
pythons, it also seems the snakes enjoy it from
what I've seen and read so far. I was leaning
on trying coconut coir as well, also seeing feed
back pertaining to it's moisture retaining abilities.
I'd do a side by side, but can't until I get more balls..

RustlewoodReptiles

I use paper towel for hatchlings/babies and then pine shavings.

I've tried many different substrates over the last two decades and honestly, pine shavings aren't pretty but it's the most cost efficient when you have a large number of cages. Cost is around $8-10 per compressed large bale that expands to 297 liters! To give you a rough idea of surface area comparison, the large carefresh bales sold in petstores are only 60 liters for around $20.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tacticalveterinarian

I use paper towel for hatchlings/babies and then pine shavings.

I've tried many different substrates over the last two decades and honestly, pine shavings aren't pretty but it's the most cost efficient when you have a large number of cages. Cost is around $8-10 per compressed large bale that expands to 297 liters! To give you a rough idea of surface area comparison, the large carefresh bales sold in petstores are only 60 liters for around $20.

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From my understanding, I thought you were NEVER supposed to use pine because of the oils in it were toxic to snakes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cyndymei

From my understanding, I thought you were NEVER supposed to use pine because of the oils in it were toxic to snakes?

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Its the old school substrate. Lots of guys who have been keeping since WAY back in the day swear by pine. Apparently as long as it has been kiln dried to remove the phenols it works just fine.

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