Best Substrate

[Chris Stone]

Everyone....what is the top 5 best substrates...for a ball python...

[Linds]

For BP, newspaper or papertowels work best for me. I would never consider using other of the above mentioned except for cypress mulch. It gives a more natural look and is easy to spot clean, but I don't shoot for appearance, only function :)

[mykee]

I'm with Linds, for my setups unprinted newsstock works best for me.

[Mark]

My balls are also on newspaper. I use to use aspen but have mainly switched over to newspaper since it is faster to clean in my mind and is cheap or free.

[Bighead]

The only substrate you will usually see as acceptable for any herp in this forum is newspaper or paper towels, but there are exceptions to those as well. I have seen my beardies eat those too. Sorry, this probably doesn't help anything either. I use aspen, and I know a few large scale breeders, i.e. henry piorun, that use it as well. I trust their knowledge and experience, because I have very little myself with bp's, and it has served me well this far. Hope that helps.

[Tigergenesis]

Depends on the species and cage. My BP is in a display cage so I opted for Lizard Liner (green felt like carpet) for ease of cleaning while and looks. My Kenyan Sand boa is also in a display tank so I went with crushed Walnut shells. For my racks I plan to use aspen for burrowing species and newspaper for others.

[burmer]

Depends on the snake but for the most part I use news paper. I use cypress mulch on a few as well.

[Invictus]

My substrate choice varies with the species as well. I keep the adult "poop factory" corns on paper towel for ease of cleaning, my large boas on carpet / turf, moisture lovers on sphagnum moss, but to answer the primary question, our BPs are on shredded aspen at the moment.

[sapphire_moon]

shredded aspen, and news print....

[tHeGiNo]

Newspaper works wonderfully. It is easy to clean (just replace the newspaper) and easy to determine when any fecal matter has been deposited.

If your considering papertowl, just go with newspaper.

Sand is a definite no. They are not desert animals.

I would avoid repta bark if it is what I am thinking it is, as well as things like exoterra jungle bark. Simply because the fumes they give off are potentially dangerous to the snake.

Avoid pine or cedar. Again, the fumes they give off are toxic the reptiles.

Cypress mulch is a good choice, safe and holds humidity fairly well.

I would avoid the coconut husk substrate. I use this with my frilled dragons, however I find if you do not keep it wet at all times, it gets very dusty. This could build up in the snakes heat pits, so it is worth avoiding.

A great deal of people will suggest newspaper. This works wonderfully. However Ball Pythons, in nature, live under ground in their holes. A lot of people make the mistake of keeping their Ball Pythons with too little humidity, believing that because they are native to Africa, they are from dry climates. Which is true. However, to compensate for this, and to match their natural habitat, I provide a fairly low ambient humidity and high humidity hides. Jeff Favelle uses an interesting substrate, which I do not remember off hand, which I am definitely interested in. You would have to ask him for more details.

[BoaBoi]

I use reptibark till I run out, it's fir bark shavings. It's been treated to remove the dust, and untreaded heat ways so that it holds moister. So far it works good, and the baby BCI I have on it loves to burrow in it, I keep about 1-1 1/2 inches of it in the cage.

James~

[Jeff_Favelle]

LOL! ANYTHING but sand!!

All the others (save for the Timothy hay, as I've never heard of it) work more than adequately in my opinion/experience.

[tHeGiNo]

LMAO I was thinking the same, and I do not know what Timothy Hay is either. Jeff, where do you get the substrate you use?

[Lisa]

I swear by cypress for ball pythons. it's good for maintaining humidity, helps with sheding and far more absorbant then papertowel/newspaper.

[Jeff_Favelle]

The bark mulch I use comes straight from Idaho! We got 60 bags of the stuff and we've been selling it like mad. I'm putting another order in probably for spring-time. One bag does 6-7 BP cages and the stuff lasts FOREVER! I will never go back to newspaper (for Ball Pythons anyways).

http://members.shaw.ca/gallerya/BM2xIanBP3.jpg

[tHeGiNo]

Wow! What is the fee per bag?

[Jeff_Favelle]

We sell it for $15 now, but if we buy in bulk, we'll get that price down to $13.

[Linds]

Originally posted by tHeGiNo
and I do not know what Timothy Hay is either.

Same thing horses eat. I've never heard of anyone using it as a substrate, but I wouldn't even try it with BP. Hay of any sort molds quite easily and does not do well in humid conditions. LOL... I make a point of avoiding substrates that can self-ignite :p

[reptiles4life]

i like cypress mulch, because i believe the tank should close to their natural environment, and it looks good too.

[KingFfaj]

whats wrong with the calcium sand thats avalible now? its suppost to be digestable to reptiles? or is it just the getting in the scales thing? i just bought some foe my cal king and hes doing fine on it??