Substrate?

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Does anyone use sea sand as a substrate?

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Bump

[Big Mike]

Personally I like carpeting in the living room and bedroom. Tile is better for the kitchen.

Oh...did you mean for animals? For what species? Some animals are OK on sand but sand can be dangerous for some species.

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Kingsnake

[eyespy]

and sea sand is too salty and abrasive, if sand is appropriate children's playsand is safer. Sand kills a lot of herps, I don't use it for anything. I see sand impaction deaths every week in my little rescue. Most herps are too far gone to help by the time the owner even realizes there is a problem.

[ANACONDASAURUS]

On the bag it says Marine sand the lady I got the snake from was using it's whole life.

[Invictus]

Sand of any kind is absolutely stupid to use for snakes, ESPECIALLY colubrids. I don't know if you've noticed this, but their belly scales do separate - which means sand can get inside of those scales. The lady you got your snake from did not know what the hell she was doing.

I personally don't even put SAND BOAS on sand. They inhale it, causing impactions, it retains too much heat, and scratches their scales. If it's even problematic with a sand boa, imagine how bad it can be for a colubrid with separating belly scales.

[ANACONDASAURUS]

Thanx for the 411!

[reverendsterlin]

I hear people all the time saying how they have kept their animal on sand for years with no problems. The problem with that is that it might take several years for levels of sand in the digestive track to build up to the impaction stage. By the time symptoms show the animal is often beyond saving. I've tried all the substrates over the years and have yet to find one all purpose substrate that works AND looks decent I'm currently using a loose recycled paper product, a compact recycled paper product, aspen, spagnum, indoor/outdoor carpet, and newspaper in different enclosures. Newspaper is convenient and often recomended and does well both wet or dry but sure is ugly. Carpet isn't bad but has to be cleaned every defecation, and some do well in wet situations but algae can get a start. Nearly everything else can become stuck to prey items and ingested and/or doesn't do that well in moisture, they may look ok but a quick check under a microscope shows that without weekly total replacement and disinfecting all sorts of organisms reproduce in the environment created. I want something that clumps for easy spot cleaning, stable/reusable that could be tossed in hot water and soap, ph neutral, stable in moisture, light enough for burrowing, too large to be ingested, digestable just in case, and with multiple colors to choose from. Lol, now is that too much to ask?

[TheRedDragon]

*LOL* reverendsterlin; not at all, not at all. :D