Setup

[Hillsberry]

Okay so you all know I got a Jungle Carpet Python yesterday. Well I am not sure what I should get her. Like to put in her tank. I have a tree branch, hide, and a water dish. I was thinking I am going to get her another branch and I was going to get fake plants and make her feel more at home. What do you guys have in your JCP tanks? Thanks:)

[Will0W783]

My female jungle and my male IJ are the only carpets I have that like to climb. My male coastal hides under his shelf and my male jungle/jag sib has a cement skull he hangs out in. My female JCP is in a 2.5" x 2" enclosure with a perching shelf. She has a large tupperware water dish, and a fish tank-type branch sculpture thing. I got it at Petco in the fish tank accessories section. I think it's some type of resin, but she loves it. She also has a Plastic hide box. Do make sure you give your JCP a hidebox or two along with branches; they can be shy and need to be able to retreat into a secure spot.

[Hillsberry]

She has her hidebox. And seems to really enjoy it because the heating pad is right there. Now do you used just newpaper on the floor. But for my kingsnake I use this wood stuff. But I am not sure it I should use it for her. Should I get the same stuff for her that I use for my king or just use new paper?

[marvelfreak]

She has her hidebox. And seems to really enjoy it because the heating pad is right there. Now do you used just newpaper on the floor. But for my kingsnake I use this wood stuff. But I am not sure it I should use it for her. Should I get the same stuff for her that I use for my king or just use new paper? I would use newpaper. The other stuff all looks nicer, but harder to clean. Plus it easier to tell when it needs clean with paper. My jungle has a bath towel in her cage. I ran out of paper one day so i put a old towel it. Come home later that day with paper an she was laying under the towel on the heat. I left it for the night. Figure i change it later. She seem to like it better. She started laying on the floor of the cage more. It's softer for her to lay on. It gives her a hide that she actally uses.( never use her hide box) It's easier to clean up than paper. (doesn't fall apart like wet paper does) so i took her hide out. Now she just got a water bowl, towel all the way across the bottom. and her branches. It give her more room to move around. And she seem happier and more active. I now have back up towels so if i have to clean her cage i can throw a clean one in. (dark green and brown that way it look like dirt or grass).

[Hillsberry]

Smart idea. I might do that thanks:)

[emseeKAY]

you could use astro turf, havent found any around lately but i did use it for some geckos i had when i was younger and it made every thing look clean and whatnot lol ive heard many snakes love it but i guess thats all a matter of opinion!

[marvelfreak]

In-door out-door carpet works good to. My friend Shawn use it for a couple of his snakes.

[emseeKAY]

yeah exactly, im actually thinking of throwing that in my kings tank lol

[never25]

[quote=marvelfreak;555238]I would use newpaper. Plus it easier to tell when it needs clean with paper. My jungle has a bath towel in her cage. I ran out of paper one day so i put a old towel it. Come home later that day with paper an she was laying under the towel on the heat. It's softer for her to lay on. It gives her a hide that she actally uses.( never use her hide box) It's easier to clean up than paper. (doesn't fall apart like wet paper does) so i took her hide out. Now she just got a water bowl, towel all the way across the bottom. and her branches. It give her more room to move around. And she seem happier and more active

i am currently using news paper but i think that towels sound like a good idea. several of my snakes dont use the hide and hang out under the paper. sounds like the towel is a better deal.
thanks for the idea

[Will0W783]

I used to use the reptile cage carpeting, but found that with my carpets it got too smelly too fast. They tend to leave copious amounts of pee and poo when they are grown...lol. I currently use aspen for all my carpets. It works well for me, and I spot clean every day if I see poop/pee, and change it out completely every few weeks as needed. I also sometimes use cyrpress mulch, as that is less likely to mold from moisture. My carpets all shed perfectly (my big boy Voodoo just shed, and it measured 108 inches long!) so I am content to keep doing what I'm doing.

NEVER EVER put a towel in a snake cage. They can accidentally swallow part or all of it when eating, and that can result in very expensive vet bills or a dead snake.

[Hillsberry]

I used to use the reptile cage carpeting, but found that with my carpets it got too smelly too fast. They tend to leave copious amounts of pee and poo when they are grown...lol. I currently use aspen for all my carpets. It works well for me, and I spot clean every day if I see poop/pee, and change it out completely every few weeks as needed. I also sometimes use cyrpress mulch, as that is less likely to mold from moisture. My carpets all shed perfectly (my big boy Voodoo just shed, and it measured 108 inches long!) so I am content to keep doing what I'm doing.

NEVER EVER put a towel in a snake cage. They can accidentally swallow part or all of it when eating, and that can result in very expensive vet bills or a dead snake.


I might use the aspen, just cause that what her breeder used. And I think it would be nice for the snake. I really dont like using newpaper. I dont know I just like the more natural look. But newpaper is alot easier to clean.:yes:

[Hillsberry]

you could use astro turf, havent found any around lately but i did use it for some geckos i had when i was younger and it made every thing look clean and whatnot lol ive heard many snakes love it but i guess thats all a matter of opinion!


Wait Sean did you get your Kingsnake yet???

[marvelfreak]

I used to use the reptile cage carpeting, but found that with my carpets it got too smelly too fast. They tend to leave copious amounts of pee and poo when they are grown...lol. I currently use aspen for all my carpets. It works well for me, and I spot clean every day if I see poop/pee, and change it out completely every few weeks as needed. I also sometimes use cyrpress mulch, as that is less likely to mold from moisture. My carpets all shed perfectly (my big boy Voodoo just shed, and it measured 108 inches long!) so I am content to keep doing what I'm doing.

NEVER EVER put a towel in a snake cage. They can accidentally swallow part or all of it when eating, and that can result in very expensive vet bills or a dead snake.
I always remove it when feeding and put a new one in later that night. The one time i forgot to remove it when she wrapped around the rat she twisted the towel in her coil. I had to reach in and pull it out. She wasn't to happy with me.

[emseeKAY]

Wait Sean did you get your Kingsnake yet???

lol not quite yet, it should be shipped here by tomorrow from the breeder but it may be another week because i dont know if the order got to him in time as he was sending out a large shipment so at tops it will be another week, but heres hoping! :D Also i love the look of aspen it almost contrasts the snake and looks natural while complimenting the snake! id go with that if i were you! hehe:)

[Will0W783]

Marvelfreak, I still wouldn't chance it. There's no earthly reason to put a towel in with a snake. They can't get warmth from it as they do not make their own body heat. They don't require a soft bed; they are quite content to curl up under things on hard surfaces. Besides, towels mold easily if damp. Just not a good idea IMHO. I would put your snake on aspen or cypress mulch if you want it to have something other than paper to lie on, and remove the towel immediately.

[marvelfreak]

Marvelfreak, I still wouldn't chance it. There's no earthly reason to put a towel in with a snake. They can't get warmth from it as they do not make their own body heat. They don't require a soft bed; they are quite content to curl up under things on hard surfaces. Besides, towels mold easily if damp. Just not a good idea IMHO. I would put your snake on aspen or cypress mulch if you want it to have something other than paper to lie on, and remove the towel immediately.
OK! I took the towel out. I really don't like news paper over time the ink has staind the cages.(white boaphile plastic cages) In the 15 years i had snakes i never used aspen or cypress or any of that kind of stuff, and none of my snakes have ever mites. Everyone i know who as use this kind of products have had mites problem at one time or another. Most mites reptiles get are wood mites. Guess where they live? If i used anything other than newspapers it would be sand.

[Will0W783]

The mite problems do not come from the bedding as long as you get your bedding from a reliable source. I can trace my mite outbreak to a kingsnake I adopted from a pet store and did not realize he had mites until I had infested my whole collection (I was young and stupid, thinking "oh mites won't happen to me because I buy from reliable sources"). Well the truth is no matter how good a breeder is, everyone gets mites at least once. Quarantining can keep the impact to a minimum. But snake bedding bought from a show or a breeder should never have mites in it.

And wood mites and snake mites are not the same thing, from what information I can find. Wood mites are members of Oribatidae, and are generally white. Snake mites are of the family Hypoaspis. Wood mites do not infest snakes, and snake mites do not infest wood. Snake mites are dark brown to black, and honestly look like tiny, flat ticks. Wood mites look like tiny dust spots with legs that move.

[marvelfreak]

My friend Shawn Savu Python had the white wood mites all over his cage about a week after Shawn put part of a bag of Aspen in it's cage. He got it at a pet store we don't normally go to, be cause your normal one was out. The bag had a small rip in it, but he got it anyway. (the last one they had.) We never seen white ones before. So we looked them up. We found out they were wood mites. We got the rest of the bag and dumped it in to a black trash bag. Took about a minute to see the first one moving around.(white wood mites) On a side note. He was telling me when he stop back in to tell the owner about it. He was looking around a notice 5 RTB and 3 other snakes had black mite on them. When he told the owner he just said " the reptile girl on vaction i tell her when she gets back next week." Shawn told him that "they could be dead by then." The owner said "i don't like reptile and don't touch them or have anything to do with them." As walking out Shawn said" and you run a pet store what a -uckin dumba-s." That was 8 months ago an we never been back.

[Will0W783]

I don't blame you. I would not go back either. I get my bedding from two places, both of which I know are clean and well-run pet stores. Or I get it at shows.

[never25]

ya, i used to get aspen at the local petsmart. i got mites once, i dont know where but the biggest reason i switched to paper was because how expensive it was getting as i got more snakes, i now have 15. its so much easier.

[mykee]

Wood mites LIVE in wood when the temperatures are acceptable enough for them to do so. They pose ZERO risk to your reptiles and are just a necessary evil if you keep your reptiles (or rodents) on shavings or chips.
You cannot avoid them.
Period.