Substrate Question

[Ladybugzcrunch]

I use repti bark in my snake enclosure which is a divided 30 gallon breeder. Instead of replacing the substrate, can I just wash it??? It is becoming expensive to replace and I would like to stop wasting so much of this stuff. The snakes are small and do not produce a lot of waste. I know there are cheaper substrates but I really like this look. Thoughts?

[SlitherinSisters]

No. It will harbor bacteria, you can't really wash wood. You can spot clean though, then you wouldn't have to take out all the bark and replace it every time. I believe if you spot clean the rule of thumb is to replace all of it once a month. Someone else will have to chime in about it, I don't use anything like that.

[ballpythonluvr]

I used to use Reptibark and I would spot clean whenever needed. Once a month I would toss the old nasty substrate and put down fresh Reptibark. There is no way you can wash it so to speak because Steph is right, it will just be a breeding ground for bacteria.

[DZ Reptiles]

I have the simplest answer for you.... Switch to newspaper.

[Alexandra V]

Yeah, as everyone has said you can't really wash and re-use repti-bark or any other wood-based bedding because it will just start to rot and get nasty as it hold on to everything.

The best advice I can give you is to just spot clean and replace once a month. Sorry

[Ladybugzcrunch]

Okay, I pulled it all out today and replaced it with carpet (the really thin kind that some people use on their porches). I have the same stuff in my gecko enclosure. I spot clean weekly and pull it out once a month and throw it in the washing machine. Any reason I should have a problem with that? It actually looks better than I thought it would.

[Alexandra V]

Okay, I pulled it all out today and replaced it with carpet (the really thin kind that some people use on their porches). I have the same stuff in my gecko enclosure. I spot clean weekly and pull it out once a month and throw it in the washing machine. Any reason I should have a problem with that? It actually looks better than I thought it would.

I never used it myself but one of my friends who works with corns uses it all the time. She uses that kind of method as well (except in the dishwasher) and it's fine as long as you use a fairly mild detergent.

[kitedemon]

Washing is not a viable option look at coco coir, it is very very cheap and looks similar. The expensive stuff is about 20 for 110L and the cheap stuff is about 4-6 for 100l (you need to buy a huge bail however... 50KG about 110LBs at a time)

[SlitherinSisters]

There's no reason you can't use the carpet as long as you can handle the smell and washing it regularly. It's a bit of a pain, that's the only reason people don't use it.