substrate question!!!!!!!

HI,

i have a good question for all of you. i just bought a tiny spider ball python. i use a exo terra terrarium and i want to know if the substrate i use is ok. i took a big white bath towel (the one we use to dry ourselves after a bath) , cut it in pieces to fit the terrarium, washed it , dry it and putted it in. is there any problem of using it as substate?
thank you all for the good work here.
sorry for my poor english.
john.

You would be much better off using newspaper or paper towel I would think. Those substrates are easily changed when soiled so bacteria and mold won't build up like on towels.

BPs need to be kept in a warm, humid environment, and bacteria and other nasties can breed pretty quickly. You need a substrate that you change out entirely, so that the bacteria don't build up.

You MIGHT be ok if you have at least twice as much towel as you need, and THOROUGHLY clean and disinfect the dirty one each time you change it out. But I do not advise it.

Newspaper or paper towel works very well, you simply discard it and use new as soon as it gets soiled. People also use aspen or cypress mulch, by spot cleaning it as needed and changing it out entirely at certain intervals.

Washing & disinfecting the white towel will probably become a pain in the butt. Also, I imagine the white towels would become stained over time. I personally love using newsprint paper as a substrate, because it makes cleaning time very easy and quick.. And its cheap!

Agreed. Towels and carpet pieces build up molds and bacteria even through washings. Newsprint paper (which you can get in large rolls for low cost), paper towels, and aspen are the best beddings out there.

I use a layer of paper with a layer of aspen over that. The paper absorbs the liquids and makes for very easy bedding changes (just roll it up), and the aspen can be spot cleaned and allows for burrowing and extra warmth.

changed to aspen over newspaper.
thanks to everyone !!

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Originally Posted by gavakas

changed to aspen over newspaper.
thanks to everyone !!

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I would use Aspen OR newspaper, but not both. If the snake soils one corner, you're going to have to remove the aspen to get to the newpaper to replace it. Then you're going to have to clean the aspen, then put it back on top of the newpaper again. Way too much work for what you get out of it. Newspaper can be changed out by the piece. Soiled Aspen can be removed and the rest of the Aspen can stay.

Just my opinion!
Jim Smith

how do you guys feel towards eco earth or cypress mulch?


i was told both are great for humidity burying and heat


just wondering what your thoughts were:snake:

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Originally Posted by dembonez

how do you guys feel towards eco earth or cypress mulch?


i was told both are great for humidity burying and heat


just wondering what your thoughts were:snake:

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haha its funny everyones thinking about switching lately? I've been seeing this topic come up a lot lately...I think I am going to do the switch to cypress mulch tomorrow as well. I would say no on coco fiber. I was just wondering this two seconds ago though, soooo weird man....

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Originally Posted by Animals As Leaders

haha its funny everyones thinking about switching lately? I've been seeing this topic come up a lot lately...I think I am going to do the switch to cypress mulch tomorrow as well. I would say no on coco fiber. I was just wondering this two seconds ago though, soooo weird man....

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why no on the coconut fiber?

coconut fiber is really dry and if not kept at the right humidity it can cause respiratory issues. so to avoid that u need to really soak that stuff, which may cause scale rot. ive never used this stuff but this is what ive always been told, so if i am wrong someone please feel free to correct me

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Originally Posted by mpkeelee

coconut fiber is really dry and if not kept at the right humidity it can cause respiratory issues. so to avoid that u need to really soak that stuff, which may cause scale rot. ive never used this stuff but this is what ive always been told, so if i am wrong someone please feel free to correct me

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lol screw that im not taking the risk haha okay thanks so much for the warning man!!!:gj::gj:

well like i said, i have not used it this is just what i have been told. i like aspen, but i now use newspaper. good luck

I may also add in that sometimes with towels when the snake backs up on it their scales sometimes get stuck to it so they try to pull themselves out (which I've noticed when I had to dry off my Ball pythons after a quick rinse).

So just a caution, just in case that can pull of scales and what not.

I use aspen, holds humidity well and is easy to spot clean. I absolutely hated cleaning up paper towels then cleaning down the whole tub. Especially with a 4 foot, large-pooping snake.

i use blank newsprint paper, love the stuff, makes cleaning very easy.

I'm reading that cypress mulch isn't good to use because of environmental issues such as forest destruction. I wasn't aware of this, kinda stinks cuz I want to switch over today and now I feel guilty.

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Originally Posted by CoolioTiffany

I may also add in that sometimes with towels when the snake backs up on it their scales sometimes get stuck to it so they try to pull themselves out (which I've noticed when I had to dry off my Ball pythons after a quick rinse).

So just a caution, just in case that can pull of scales and what not.

I use aspen, holds humidity well and is easy to spot clean. I absolutely hated cleaning up paper towels then cleaning down the whole tub. Especially with a 4 foot, large-pooping snake.

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Yeah, thats when I made the big switch. Once I noticed my big girls smelling up my room because they were sitting in there own pee for half a day, I got rid of the newspaper. I don't understand how people deal with that. Everyone says its sooo easy to clean, but when they soil it you have to change the paper, and clean the whole tub. I spot clean daily and having to clean tubs all the time is annoying. I like just scooping out the mess, and throwing it out, done.

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Originally Posted by Animals As Leaders

kinda stinks cuz I want to switch over today and now I feel guilty.

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:weirdface

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Originally Posted by RockyTop

:weirdface

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?

Why the weirdface?

Just a difference in opinion. If you want to feel guilty about the environment, that's cool ;) But I don't think your contributions to the destruction of the worlds environment has as big of an impact as you might like to think lol.

I would venture to say if you want to use cypress mulch, go for it. But that isn't something I would feel guilty and get upset about heh.

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Originally Posted by RockyTop

Just a difference in opinion. If you want to feel guilty about the environment, that's cool ;) But I don't think your contributions to the destruction of the worlds environment has as big of an impact as you might like to think lol.

I would venture to say if you want to use cypress mulch, go for it. But that isn't something I would feel guilty and get upset about heh.

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same i wanna get it aswell and wether you buy it or not they will keep doing it

so mind as well just go for it:gj:

Yeah I got some anyway lol

Sucks though cuz its a brick of ice right now and I have to wait for it to thaw. Today is cleaning day and I just wanted to get it done but now I gotta wait...