Substrate Help?

[Razzle]

I am currently using repti-bark, but the person at zoos said to try desert snow. Can anybody give me any feed back?

[dr del]

Hi,


Check out some of these tht came up on a forum search.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...earchid=297436


dr del

[DragonBalls]

That search doesn't work for me.

We've been using Care Fresh Bedding (a larger version of Desert Snow). It's soft (like the snake cares!), absorbent, easy to spot clean, but weird looking in a reptiles enclosure. We've been using it with mice for a few years.

The only disadvantage is that layer of about 3/4" drops the temp about 10 degrees. If you set your thermostat for the top substrate temp, and the snake burrows under there is a chance of a burn. It hasn't bothered any of our snakes. That risk in inherent with any particle substrate.

[West Coast Jungle]

I've tried them all and newspaper is my favorite. I like to keep my snakes up to date with current events.

[JLC]

I am currently using repti-bark, but the person at zoos said to try desert snow. Can anybody give me any feed back?

If repti-bark is working well for you, there's no reason to change it out. But if you're having issues with it, or just want to try something new, then there are lots of different substrates you can try.

Desert snow is just a white version of Carefresh, which is recycled newspaper done up to be little bits of fluff. It can be used in a BP's enclosure, but I don't see any particular advantage to it.

Other options that are equally valid are: Aspen, bed-a-beast (shredded cocunut husks), cyrpus mulch, paper towels, newspaper, kraft-paper....and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Personally, I find that just using plain ol' blank newsprint is by far the easiest and best substrate I've tried.

[dalvers63]

Personally, I find that just using plain ol' blank newsprint is by far the easiest and best substrate I've tried.

Plus, if you go to the local newspaper print shop, you can pick up the ends of rolls for free. When you have a few snakes, it makes for an inexpensive alternative!

[Razzle]

I just had a mite issue and, I asked the person at zoos and he said the bark could be the source. Is there any truth to that? Can the mice carry them?

[CntrlF8]

Bark is a good medium for parasites to live in, so I'd say yes it's very possible.

[JLC]

I just had a mite issue and, I asked the person at zoos and he said the bark could be the source. Is there any truth to that? Can the mice carry them?

It's likely for a substrate like that to carry tiny bugs....but much less likely that they are actually mites that would bother your snake. (But who wants ANY bugs in their enclosure???) If you buy open-bagged substrate from a source that also carries reptiles that may have mites...then the substrate may also have snake mites....but otherwise, no.

You can bake the substrate in the oven at like 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so to kill the bugs.

Or, you can try any of the other substrates listed.

Mice can carry their own type of mites and parasites, but again they are not the sort that would bother a snake....although it's possible for snake mites to "hitch a ride" on rodents if they came from a heavily infested source.

[darkdreamer]

Newspaper, easy to clean, fast to clean, easy to spot the poopie and other leavings and its cheap/free.