A seldom (never?) noted advantage of flat substrate (newspaper, paper towel, etc)

[JoeNapoli]

I don't wish to start a debate on the "best" substrate, they all have their own pros/cons. But after 40 years of discussions at reptile expos, and a few years of reading reptile forums, I've never heard/read about a very obvious advantage of using a substrate flat/smooth enough so that hides can slide over it.

In the photo below we see two 20 gallon longs (but they could just as well be 40 gallons, tubs in a rack system, 10 gallons, etc) each containing one hide.



We all already know about the importance of thermoregulation, and the importance of a hot spot + cool side, so I won't get into that.

In the photo the hot end is on the right and cool end on the left.

After replacing soiled substrate (that's paper towel in the photos) and cleaning the tank, the hide with snake underneath is placed on the hot end. But as you can see the hide in the tank in the bottom of the photo is in the middle of the tank. How did it get there? answer: the snake moved it there. The tank on the top has a hide/snake that has recently eaten and needs a higher temperature for efficient digestion. The tank on the bottom has a hide/snake that has finished or is nearly finished with digestion.

Reptiles with empty or near empty stomachs wish to be a few degrees cooler than those with full bellies. That's been my observations with numerous species over the years. (breeding, ovulation, that's another topic) Their metabolism is revved up with high temperatures - a good thing on a full belly requiring digestion - but a bad thing on an empty belly; a hot snake with no food in its gut is going to burn its fat/muscle reserves. Not what a reptile wants.

An analogy is decompressing the gas pedal of an idling automobile. The engine revs up. Gas is being used. In order to conserve gas we'd remove our foot from the gas pedal, and thus burn just enough fuel to keep the idling car from stalling out.

Reptiles are naturally inclined to conserve bodyweight. Underneath the hides they press up against the cool side, and again, and again, and centimeter by centimeter the hides/snakes slide until a spot is reached where metabolisms are idling enough to be comfortable without burning excess calories.

Now, after I feed that snake in the bottom of the photo (you can see that she is already peeking out to see if I'm gonna toss her a rat) she will move her hide, and herself, back across to the hot end.

This is textbook thermoregulation, and can't be done with bulkier, mulch substrates that prevent sliding.

My $0.02 on substrate.

Cheers.