Decorating Enclosure for my new Cali King

[Solid Snake]

I purchased a baby California King snake 2 weeks ago and i also purchased a 40 gallon tank, he seems to like it and he eats when ever i give him pinkies, so i guess hes in good shape.

Well i have under heating for the tank on one side and i try to warm up the entire tank with a 100W red lamp, so the cold area isnt too cold, just cool.

OK now to decorate it. I have a really difficult time on choosing which kind subtrate i should use. i wanted to use Aspen, but i was afraid it will burn my snakes belly when he burrows down there. i dont want to use carpet because it doesnt look real.

[HetForHuman]

well you could use repti-bark, i use this for all my snakes, or you could mix in some aspen with the reptibark to give it a different look.
plus they both hold humidity in the tank fairly well.

[NewLineReptile]

one other thing you could do use some thin rubber mat on the floor of the tank and then put your bedding on top that way he will not burn his belly it work's for ny Western hognose's

[Tim_Cranwill]

If there is any danger of your snake burning it's belly, your heat source is WAAAAY too hot. One thing to remember when you're decorating your snake's enclosure (because it is the snake's house and not yours) is this, do you want to please yourself or please your snake. Hopefully you can find a happy medium that will please you both. :)

Good luck!

[Solid Snake]

hmm, repti-bark sounds good because its alot more thicker, and i think it would be easier finding poop.

how do u guys manage to find poop?? thats my biggest concern.

[NewLineReptile]

Well it is the peice that is not the repti bark and it dont smell like wood lol you will know it when you see it :0

[vanderkm]

It can be really hard to find poops from baby snakes - they are very tiny. We solved that by just doing a complete cleaning of the cage on a weekly basis - taking out all the aspen and washing the tank, then giving new bedding. That will get expensive in a 40 gallon tank though. You might want to consider housing your little guy in a smaller container until he is feet long or so. Rubbermaid tubs are cheap and work well - even if they don't look as good as a tank - just put some holes around the sides for ventillation and provide a heat source.

As far as temperature being too hot from the undertank heater, there are a couple options. You can use a reostat - sort of a dimmer switch that the heat pad plugs into to dim the head down. Another option is to buy a ceramic floor tile from Home Depot - they aren't expensive and if you place one in the tank on top of where the undertank heater is, it will reduce the hot spots and make the inner surface just right. They are usually heavy enough so they don't shift around and they can be covered with aspen, so that you don't see them when you look at the tank.

mary v.

[Xetox]

I have found that aspen, or newspaper is the best....if you are going for looks aspen seems to work good. Its cheap and one large bag goes along long way!

[Solid Snake]

i have a big problem

my reptile carpet is 3" too short and he goes underneath it all the time, how do i prevent this??

[hudson]

Instead of using reptile carpet, go to a place like Home Depot and buy regular indoor outdoor carpeting. It's the basically the same thing, plus it's way cheaper and you can get it cut to what ever size you need. I got a piece 6'x4' for $6.