Thoughts on substrate / cage liners?

[Mike.P]

Hey all. I could use some opinions or suggestions. I've kept my snakes on paper towels for a year, and am considering a change, due to odor. I change the paper towels right away, and wipe down the cage, as soon as they get soiled. But still... With a dozen snakes in the room (and more coming) it can get pretty funky. Before the paper towels, I used cypress mulch, but had a terrible mite out break from it. Like, awful. Ever since then, I've been leery of wood substrates.

The two that I'm considering using instead are either the Zoo Med shredded coconut, or Care Fresh. Any thoughts? With the coconut, I am again worried about mites. With the Care Fresh, I've heard it can get moldy with high humidity. Has anyone used either and, if so, how did they fare? When I searched the threads, I also saw some mention of Repti Zorb liners. But I can't seem to find large ones online. I have four foot cages, but only see the small round liners for shipping cups. Maybe I'm blind. Does anyone know where to find them, and how do they perform with odor?

Thanks as always!

[The Serpent Merchant]

If I wasn't using paper based substrates I would use Eco-earth.

The chances of you getting mites from a bag of substrate is generally pretty low (unless the store you get it from has mite issues) mites can't live long term in a bag of substrate, but if they do get in it can be a real mess. That said I wouldn't let it stop you from using it. You can always treat the substrate with a safe mite killer like reptile relief. I wouldn't use Provent A Mite for this due to its strength, but it could also be used.

[ROACH]

I use news paper on all of mine. So far I havent had any problems and its really easy to clean up after them.

[Julie]

I have always used aspen for my corn snake and am using it for my royal, up until now i have never had any problem with mites. But i think my royal had them when she came to me as i am finding them in her water bowl after she has had a soak.

[MarkS]

Are the mites you had snake mites or wood mites? Though they might not be pleasant to have around, wood mites do not affect snakes. And snake mites can not be gotten rid of just by changing the substrate.

Personally I use unprinted newspaper. Several layers worth so it's more absorbent.

[scooter11]

I use eco earth earth in all my tubs. Its simple, easy, and is great at holding humidity. Also if by chance your snake ingests some during a feeding, it is easily passed.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

[Badgemash]

I use the reptizorb liners for 41qt vision tubs, which I get here.http://superiorshippingsupplies.com/...5/shopbrowse/1

I'm fairly pleased with them, they soak up any liquid spills so the animal isn't sitting in moisture (much better than even the viva paper towels) and since they're all one piece it's easy to remove the liner to clean (I kind of fold it around the poo like an envelope, then shove everying in a plastic baggie). I would say their smell absorbing capability is pretty similar to aspen.

The best part is that because they're cut to fit specific tubs you can just store them all in an empty tub and pull fresh ones out as needed. Much tidier than aspen or coco coir since I inevitably get those all over the floor.

[molonlabe123]

I'm with Badgemash on this, had a friend tell me about Repti-Zorb liners and have been using them for awhile. They are a great product.

[Cissin]

After using aspen and cypress I always went back to newspaper. You really can't notice some of the snakes messes with substrate and it just ends up hanging out in there. Yeah it covers up the odor but the waste is still there.

[Mike.P]

Marks - Yeah, they were definitely snake mites. They were all over the snakes and burrowing under their scales. Took me a month and a half of soaking, PAM, and Lice MD to finally kill them all. And that was after throwing out all the cypress and putting them on paper. Never want to do that again.

Badgemash - You rock, thanks so much. That's exactly what I was looking for. =)