Switching Substrates

[CloudtheBoa]

I use EcoEarth by itself, it's the best thing I've used so far. I've used ReptiBark and paper towels before, but EcoEarth is the only one that's worked for me. Paper towels just don't do much for humidity, so I only use it for the first few months I have a new snake to check for mites and easy spot cleaning. It's about 10-13% air humidity in the house at any given time here right now, but I'm able to maintain a 65-70% humidity for my boa constrictor and 50-55% for my ball python. The garter's humidity isn't much above the room's humidity, but he just shed a perfect shed so he's doing good, too. The only bad thing is that it dries out quicker during the winter, so you may need to mix it with cypress mulch or sphagnum moss so it holds humidity longer. I'm thinking about doing that because it's drying out every 2-3 days. During the summer I can go a week or two without having to do anything for humidity. This is the only winter I've had problems, though, which is because the RHP and CHE in the boa's enclosure is working harder than it would normally. It's colder here than it was at my old place. I've never had a problem with the bedding molding, either, but that probably will depend on how wet you keep it. When I mix water in it, I pour just enough water directly into it to make it dark when I mix it up and no water strains out of it when I squeeze it. It does get dusty when it gets dry, but you can combat this by mixing it up when the top becomes dry and then mixing water into it when the humidity drops about 5% lower than what it should be. It can be difficult to just spot clean, but if you just run your hand through it you can find any urates and feces that may be buried as long as you don't shift things around too much. You might want to use a glove.