Little help

[mudflats]

Some people just do not get this. I recently saw the reptile collection of a zoologist and he not only had a heat rock in the cage but cat litter as a substrate. Looked like cat litter but might have been a gravel. I told him the con's on these, but they where never changed. Can anyone help me out on somemore reasons i can pound in. Ones already mentioned where injesting the gravel, thermal burns and thats about all i could think of. thanks for any help, j

[HeatherRose]

What animal is being housed in this enclosure?

[Linds]

Cat litter is dusty (which can cause numerous problems, both respiratory and externally), most certainly will present problems if ingested, contains fragrances and digestible matter to break down excrement.

Heat rocks do not provide an even surface to heat a reptile adequately (and the hot spots are the cause of the burns you mentioned to him). Also, they have been known to cause electrical fires. They really do not supply an adequate source of heat for any reptile. You could compare it much to us trying to warm ourselves on a stove, with hot spots and cool spots and some in the middle, but all much smaller so we cannot use just one.

That asides, I cannot give anymore reccomendations or advice, since we do not know what is being housed in this manner :confused:

[mudflats]

Sorry about that, that's the main part of all this, the species is a boa constrictor constrictor.

[Linds]

Eep. That's absolutely 100% unsuitable. In addition to the things I already mentioned, cat litter absorbs moisture, not enabling the environment to maintain any levels of humidity. The heat rock cannot provide the adequate heating environment for that snake. There isn't a doubt in my mind he will encounter problems down the road keeping the snake like this. Just goes to show sometimes all the school in the world cannot match a bit of logic.

[mudflats]

Problem is, is this snake has been in this exact conditions his whole life. An this specimenis one of the most beautiful and healthy i have seen. So his argument back to me is, Well i have not had a problem in 4 years. I will give it a try once more with all the elements you have mentioned. Thankyou for the help