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Thread: new substrate?

  1. #1
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    new substrate?

    i was wondering if it would be harmful to my ball python if i use coffee ground as substrate. would the smell be too strong or if i used recycled coffee grounds would, or the smell be to a minimum. would clean new coffee grounds be better or worse?

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: new substrate?

    When he peed he would be sitting in cold coffee made with snake urine. Is there a reason you want to use coffee grounds?

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    BPnet Lifer Kaorte's Avatar
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    Re: new substrate?

    I don't think it would be harmful.... but I can't imagine it would be good either. I have no idea what the effect of coffee or caffeine on reptiles could be. I feel like because of the caffeine it would be a bad idea.

    This is definitely a new one, lol!


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    BPnet Veteran SKO's Avatar
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    Re: new substrate?

    I wouldn't use coffee grounds. There are plenty of cheap options available.

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    Registered User Snakes1's Avatar
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    There is many types of substrate for reptiles, coffee grounds are not one of them

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    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    I really would like to know what the specific reason was that you were interested in coffee grounds. It would help people suggest a substrate that meets the same criteria. With the recycled coffee grounds suggestion, I was thinking either cheap or ecofriendly, but the new coffee grounds question would pretty much rule out cheap. Leaving aside the question of harmfulness, coffee grounds lack the absorbency to make a suitable substrate but there might be something out there that suits what features you were looking for.

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    Re: new substrate?

    i wanted to do it as a kind of dirt look kinda like how coconut husk is but without the price. also i heard coffee grounds make good bioactive dirt but it seemed shady so i had to double check

  10. #8
    BPnet Veteran Kcl's Avatar
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    Re: new substrate?

    It's my understanding that coffee grounds can be mixed into bioactive soil as natural fertilizer. It's reasonably common for gardens. For that usage, it's only a very small percentage of coffee in the dirt and sand mixture. In that situation, it's very unlikely to be unsafe.

    I currently buy the compressed bricks of coco fiber from amazon which aren't too bad expense wise, but someone else might have better suggestions on what kind of inexpensive, natural looking options there are for you to consider.

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    BPnet Senior Member Tigerhawk's Avatar
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    There are to many options which would work better. Not to sound smart, but would you like to have your house smelling like old coffee grounds. Please don't do that to your snake substrate is to cheap to use something like coffee grounds.

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    Thanks for the image of a BP hyped up on caffeine...

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