A good substrate to use

[Cheesenugget]

Ok sounds good thanks for the tips. Have you ever had a problem with it getting in your pythons Pitts had someone at our local pet store tell me that with coco fiber that it gets in the Pitts and can cause issues just was wondering I know a lot of people who work at pet stores can give a lot of wrong information as well so. Usually ill do my own research before believing what they say

I don't use coco fiber for my snakes' enclosures, including my ball python. I have heard of the same thing, as well as those who claim that they don't have that issue. I do use it for my skink, and I can attest it does get a little dusty after it dries. He likes to dip his worms into the substrate, and I find the amount that gets stuck to his face is very small and negligible.

Other popular options are Coco husk and coco chip. Coco husk has large chunk pieces as well as some fibrous material, and the chips are mainly just that. These will not be small enough to get into his heat pits. However, you may need to mist more or supplement humidity by using a humidifier because they dry a lot faster in glass tanks (Chips dries a lot faster in my experience). You will need to watch out for the substrate sticking to the rat when it eats. I hear stories of impaction (Any substrate, including aspen) but have yet to see actual proof of it, and many keepers who fed their snakes in these types of substrate never had an impaction issue.

You can also look into Reptibark. Looks good, holds moisture well but expensive. Some people love it, others say that the dye rubs off.

[Reptile$ 4 Life]

Everything has a potential to mold, so I wouldn't say coco fiber can't get it. It is mold resistant, so it makes it more difficult for mold to grow compared to aspen. The key things to do are consistent air flow and allowing the substrate to dry. That means don't block the entire mesh lid out of desperation to keep humidity in. When you prepare coco fiber, like moss, it should feel damp in your hands, not soaking wet. When you squeeze it, no water should be coming out or else it is way too wet. That is not a problem for loose coco fiber bags that were previously prepared, but you can accidentally add too much water to the bricks creating almost mud-like texture. I don't know how you prepared your gecko's substrate, but if prepared correctly, with ample air flow, it should not be a problem.

Lastly, clean out the entire tank every month. Remove all substrate, wipe everything down, etc. A dirty tank is also a breeding ground for bacteria.

Sorry, I should have phrased that better. It's more mold resistant.

[Faith.luu]

I know it says to keep humidity at about 60 what's to low cause I don't want to spray to much and cause scale rot for my guy. I keep him in a 20 gallon glass terrarium its the long

It’s hard to have a definitive percentage. In the wild they can experience humidity as low as 30%, temporarily. but personally, for a bp in captivity, 40% is what I would consider too low. If you’re keeping it between 55-65% then your good to go. Just make sure you bump it up during shed.

[christineho]

Congrats on your first bp! I use aspen for all three of ours and I don't have any trouble keeping the humidity between 50-60 in a glass enclosure without misting. We did cut wood to fit over the screen top to help with that, though, and have daytime light over his water bowl. You can easily achieve something similar with foil/vinyl. I mist with a spray bottle or saturate sphagnum moss during shed cycle to help hold the humidity up around 70-75% with great results. I like the aspen because it's super easy to clean, common at local pet/reptile stores, and haven't yet had any problems with mold. I do spot clean quite often and deep clean the entire enclosure if there are any urates/urine/feces, which you should probably be doing anyway. Hope this helps!

[KMG]

I use a mixture of Forest Floor (cypress mulch), ReptiBark, and sometimes CoCo Fiber depending on my desired look. I just put it all in a large tub mixed how I want it. Then I just dish it out of there as needed.