substrate

[cutepieceofpie]

im just wondering about the best substrate? im currently using eco earth... the stuff that comes in a brick and expands in water... thats what the people at petco reccomended... what do you guys use and prefer?

[JAdkins2451]

Im not an expert buy any means, but most people will recomend newspaper.

[bob2004]

First of all never listen to anyone at a pet store.
I use aspen, it's non-toxic and cheap. Walmart sells it pretty cheap.

[SnakeyeZ]

I use aspen, or paper..sometimes when I feel I wanna spend a few bucks..ill pickup a few bags of it and use it...but i prefer newspaper above all.Cheapest and easiest to clean IMO

I actually use apple tray pack paper for the larger snakes..and newspaper for all the younger snakes.

[LISA127]

I use aspen.

[Katt]

Peat moss. Eco-earth (ground coconut/coir) is decent, even if it's pet store recommended. It has it uses and I like it, as long as you keep the ventilation up b/c it can mold.

[Bartman]

Right now im using paper towl and will be for a while, but I was using aspen when they were in the glass tanks and not in their rubbermaids like they are now.

I personally am starting to hate aspen as it has this smell to it, is messy/dusty, and im told doesnt keep humidity at all.

Im just going to start using cypress mulch for all the tanks that currently have aspen.

[Gary D.]

Really the first question should be substrait for what? Choice of substrait should always match the specific needs of the species. For my large snakes I like shredded western bark and cypress mulch if you can find it. My favourite substrait for most of the smaller species is my own mix of Peat, soil and cypress.
My Chams don't get substrait, my agamas get sand, and the plated lizard gets sand/soil mix.

GD

Edit: Oops I replied from the front page, and didn't notice the forum was the Elaphe forum. So susbtrait for what is in retrospect a stupid question. Please refer to the sentance regarding my smaller species.

[cutepieceofpie]

so cypress is ok for corns? i always thought it might be to humid for them?

[beanersmysav]

I use aspen but prefer for paper towels for the ease of cleaning and seeing when the defecate in it. My corns tend to burrow and poop down towards the bottom of the aspen so I have to search around for their poo

[barret]

Is coconut bark ok? I got a ton of it and it seems sort of large.

[Brad C]

eco earth holds humidity which isnt the best for corns. I use newspaper but have used aspen. If you want something natrual use cypress because its cheap and comes in big bags heh.

I dont know much about coconut bark except that my friends BP ate it and died. This was when he was 7 years old so maybe there was something eles to it but the coconut bark caused compaction thus killing his snake.

[barret]

Did he feed his snake in the cage with the coconut bark? I don't feed my corn in the same cage because of my fear of my snake swallowing substrate.

[Brad C]

Originally posted by barret
Did he feed his snake in the cage with the coconut bark? I don't feed my corn in the same cage because of my fear of my snake swallowing substrate.

I dont know lol like i said it was years ago and i didnt know him at the time but im sure it was his fault. I wouldnt go with coconut bark though just because i have never seen anyone use it.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Aspen chips and shredded aspen works very very well for cornsnakes! :)

[Katt]

Originally posted by Brad C
eco earth holds humidity which isnt the best for corns.

Are you saying that Florida isn't humid?

[Brad C]

Originally posted by Katt
Are you saying that Florida isn't humid?

All im saying is that eco earth hold humidity better than almost anything eles and if you spill the water just a bit the humidity will rise a lot. For cornsnakes id rather it be dry than humid. spill water on newspaper and it will dry very fast.

Personally I would leave eco earth to humidity loving animals.

Thats all im saying :) and yes florida is humid but its different when a snake lives in a tub or whatever and cant go where he pleases to adjust his temps/humidity like one would in the wild.