Sand for corns?

[TerrorFox]

Is sand a suitable substrate for corn snakes? I hear its good for king snakes.

[Shad0w]

I wouldnt... I would do something like cypress....

[TerrorFox]

And that is...?

[vanderkm]

Aspen shavings (or others woods such as cypress - not cedar as it is toxic) are better - and less irritating and less likely to stick to the food and be swollowed - possibly leading to impaction. Sand isn't generally considered desirable for corns.

Other good options include paper towels (especially for youngsters) and paper products such as CareFresh and Softsorbant - though these are more expensive than aspen.

mary v.

[askaboutrep]

I have been using newspaper. Its easy to clean, and keeps the smell down. Do you see any problems with that?

[jjaj02]

Newspaper is fine it just doesn't look as nice. I use papertowel and pine. Never had a problem with the pine and I just take the snake out and put it in a different container to eat so it doesnt ingest the pine shavings.

[Thrush]

how about astroturf? you can wash it...

I alternate with this and paper towels when the turf is in the wash.

[jjaj02]

Astroturf is ok but personally I don't like it. Instead of using paper towel when it is in the wash, why don't you just cut a second piece and rotate it. The reason I don't like it for myself is because it costs more than other stuff and it is hard to get all the bacteria and crap out of it where as papertowel can be disgarded.

[zero&stich]

Bout the newspaper, correct me if I'm wrong, since newspaper absorbs, I've only heard rumors but no actual cases of newspaper having the ability to dehydrate smaller snakes. Any truth on that?

And I'm a firm believer that pine is also toxic for whoever suggested it.

[rwg]

Sand is generally considered bad for most species. Aside from ingestion, it is suspected that it can be irritating to the skin.

Cypress is wood, typically bought as "cypress mulch". Looks very natural and is great for humid environments. My garters are on cypress mulch.

Aspen shavings or shredded aspen is very commonly used. Not as good in my experience with high humidity environments as cypress mulch, but a more neutral smell from it. Damp cypress mulch smells a bit earthy IMO. Aspen is also easier to burrow in for species that care about that. I keep most of my snakes on aspen, but I feed them out of their enclosures to prevent ingestion.

Newspaper is cheap, plentifull, and good enough for most species. Downsides: doesn't contain smells very well. I find with aspen, it absorbs or contains smells a bit, but with newspaper, my bullsnake poo can be smelled all over the apartment within minutes. Also not as good for humidity as either aspen or cypress. On the plus side, you can feed on newspaper with no worries of ingestion. My problem feeders are on newpaper for that reason. They can be fed in their hides with no handling prior to feeding.

Paper towel: used it once...didn't like it. Moves around and tears to easily. Can imagine it's a lot like newspaper in terms of absorption and humidity.

Never used carpets or turfs so I cant comment.

Cedar: toxic...dont go there. Pine: some say it is, and some say it isn't, but I wouldn't chance it.

[jjaj02]

I've used pine for ever and never had a problem and actually that is what I was told to use by the lady I bought my first snakes off of. But you never know there might be some long term effects. I dunno. Can anyone find any articles about that? I haven't found any.

[TerrorFox]

Yeah.. Im not using sand I was just curious because its looks appealing and would be easy to clean. Anyways Newspaper (currently using) works great but is ugly so Im gonna go with some Carpet/Astroturf.

[BoidKeeper]

I've used the carpet once. You need to peices so you can rotate and always have a clean one read. I didn't find it easy to clean and it came apart really easily. I used sphagnum moss once on top of newspaper. That was a nice natural look, easy to spot clean and great to hold humidity during a shed. You can buy it in big bags at Canadian tire or wal-mart, I can't remember which.
Cheers,
Trevor

[hooter]

newspaper, paper towls, cypress, and aspen is all I use for many reasons.

[jjaj02]

Ok, I'll ask again. Has anyone found any articles on pine shavings and the effects it has on snakes??? I'm kinda interested considering that is what I use. Thanks.

[Diggy415]

I like using bed a beast substrate, it keeps the moisture, allows for burrowing, says it isn't harmful if ingested, although i feed in another container, i will be switching to cypress bark in the future, it has more of a natural look to it. Here is some of my set ups for my corns and BCI. The carpet once soiled always has a stench to it when cleaned, so it's a new one evertime it;s soiled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/diggy415/Snakes/100_0772.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/diggy415/Snakes/100_0778.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/diggy415/Snakes/100_0773.jpg

[Diggy415]

Here is a neat site with lots of answers to your questions on pine shaving etc.

http://www.anapsid.org/cedar2.html

[vanderkm]

A google search for pine shavings and snakes will turn up lots of internet articles related to pine (I just typed the words into google and got a lot of hits).

There are two clear sides - it is a problem because of the volatile components similar to cedar, and it is not a problem (especially when kiln dried) because these compounds are volatile and are lost during drying.

I would be very suprised if there is anything related to pine shavings and long term health effects on reptiles in the scientific peer-reviewed literature, so you may not get a response to your question because the information is not available, but someone else may have references I am not aware of.

Some people have used pine shavings for years in colubrid collections and report that they have no problems. It is probably fair to say that most keepers now avoid pine and use aspen or the aspen products like Betachip instead. Both aspen and pine are readily available, pine may be slightly more absorbant, aspen is a bit more expensive, but cost is really not much of a factor compared with the value of the animals.

Ends up being up to you to compare the internet information that is out there for its reliability and then consider costs, convenience and possible risks to make a decision.

We use papertowel for babies where it can be changed daily because it is easy to clean and there is no dust. We use CareFresh or Softsorbant for our tubs in rack systems, again because it is not dusty and is safe to ingest. We find it is associated with excessive drying and poor sheds in snakes housed with overhead heat, so use aspen for our snakes that have heat lights - would use betachip instead, but it is not available here. Have never used carpet because there is no place for the snakes to burrow and they seem to enjoy hiding out.



mary v.

mary v.