substrate issues, very frustrated

[magicmed]

sorry for yet another post, but I really would like some info with some personal experience from you guys and gals on the "best" substrate for my application. My recent run in with eco carpet scared me so bad I decided to put newspaper in the tank, and truthfully I can't stand it, it just looks tacky. I've always heard to stay away from particulate substrates since I feed in the snakes enclosure, but I really love the natural look. Can anyone help me put? I know people use aspen, cypress, coconut, reptile bark, etc. Is there any of them that I wouldn't have to worry about health problems from? I love the look of the eco earth ground coconut, but I worry about impaction, vents being clogged, and possible respiratory infections from breathing the coconut dust. It may be a simple issue and I'm just being too picky, but it's gotten very frustrating trying to give loki a perfect enclosure, only to fall apart on the substrate. Anyone have ideas/info?

[SKO]

I only have ever used cyrpess mulch in my tanks so that's all I can give an experience based opinion on. I feed in the enclosure no problem and have never had it cause any health issues, nor have I seen anyone else who uses it report health issues. If you are worried about feeding and the substrate causing issues, you can put the rat or mouse on a paper plate or towel if you are not feeding live. I do feed live and haven't had them accidentally eat any mulch.

[Darkbird]

I've used paper towels, Eco earth, and cypress. What I am using now in some of my cage that I'm actually rather fond of is a combination of cypress and Eco earth. About 50/50, looks great and hold moisture well.

[HVani]

I used reptile bark mixed with cypress mulch. I really like the reptile bark but the cypress it so pointy I worry about it. However all of my snakes are fed in their enclosures and I have had no problems.

[200xth]

You're worrying too much about the substrate. You can feed them on the natural type substrates without issues.

For example, I currently have pine, aspen, eco earth, and kraft indented paper. All fed in their enclosure, no problems.

[Miranda2]

I use shredded aspen or newspaper. Newspaper is free but not the best for soaking up anything wet.
I feed in my cages even with aspen and never had a problem but it does sometimes worry me.
I use cypress mulch on the big cages, feed in the cage no problems...

I will say that years ago I used cypress mulch and had a ball python get a sharp piece that pierced the inside top of his mouth(he was fine).He wasnt even being fed so I think it was just a weird thing that has never happened since.

The quality of cypress has gone way down.The stuff at walmart is so full of large splinters its almost not useable anymore.Ive been looking for alternatives for the large cages.

[magicmed]

Thank you all very much, it looks like the most popular seems to be cypress or a cypress mix then? I may end up trying some cypress or half cypress half eco earth as you do darkbird. I appreciate the responses everyone

[bcr229]

The quality of cypress has gone way down.The stuff at walmart is so full of large splinters its almost not useable anymore.Ive been looking for alternatives for the large cages.

The cypress sold by Reptile Basics is very soft, no super-large or sharp pieces. I have my Brazilian Rainbow boas on it and it's great.

[AZBennett]

Here's my answer to a similar topic.

We use an inch layer of Coconut Fiber and over that a layer of Cypress. After a couple of different trial and error runs for our snakes we settled on this formula. We did a 50/50 mix of the two and it really wasn't much different than straight up Coconut. Layering the substrate seems to allow for a slower release/burn off of the humidity in the Coconut. Plus we have one snake that spends large amounts of time "playing", for lack of a better word, in the Cypress. We do not feed them in their enclosures, rather we have several Sterilite tubs that we use for feeding. Though all of our snakes are snakes that we handle regularly and are used to being moved and touched. They also now know when they are set in the tub that it is time to feed, which is interesting to watch their behavior change. Anway, I know I am a relative newb, but we have been experimenting with substrates now since we got our first snake, trying to come up with the ideal one mostly due to Arizona's complete lack of humidity. The layered system works best so far.

Regards,
Paul

[nightrainfalls]

but if you don't like how it looks, you could use just about any loose substrate already mentioned and then put some newspaper under a hide. Just put the ft mouse or rat in the hide and let the python find it and eat it. You won't have any substrate ingestion problems and you wont have to look at the news paper. If the snake is in the hide on feeding day, just do the zombie dance in front of the hide and let the python take it. You could also use tongs to put the mouse in the hide.

David