What's the best substrate?

[maiden_canada]

hey i have my ball on newspaper now with a large water dish and a hide spot only, ive kept it simple cause hes had mites and ive been getting rid of them for a few weeks, but now since i think they're all gone i was thinking it would be nice to put some woodchips in there of somekind. whats the best kind..aspen? also where can i get it for cheap?

[mykee]

I would stick with the newspaper, hide and water dish. That's how I keep my balls. They're very easy to clean that way, and work great in a rack with rubbermaids.

[maiden_canada]

ok thanks mykee, i was wondeirng how you heat rubbermaids also, how do you heat/light rubbermaids, just cut a hole in the top, put some wire over it and use a lamp? also with a heatpad on the bottom? right now hes in a 15gallon aquarium

[sapphire_moon]

I think you can use cypress mulch as well but not completely sure. But news paper is great, wether or not you have a rack. Cleans up really easy. If you want more responses about heating the rubbermaid try the enclosure forum.

[mykee]

Maiden, I run heat tape under all six levels of my rubbermaids, heating them all from beneath. I don't have any supplemental lighting for my BP's, they don't really need it. I have them in a room with a window, and that's enough for them.

[Invictus]

I personally don't trust newspaper as a substrate, because I find the ink gets all over the place, including the snake. I refuse to believe that this is not at least somewhat harmful to them.

We keep our BPs on paper towel, which is just as easy to clean as newspaper, but there no ink to rub off onto the BP. If you want to use wood chips, Aspen is the only way to go.

[Tim_Cranwill]

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any info on newspaper ink and snakes. I've been using it for the past year just because of the ease and price. I haven't had any experience with ink rubbing off on anything except my hands.

One thing about news paper vs paper towel though, I do see a lot more "mess" on paper towel. It just shows up more on paper towel. Might be a point for using paper towel if cleanliness is a big thing for you.....

[mykee]

Maiden, allow me to edit my post regarding newspaper. I do not use normal newsprint, I use unprinted newspaper stock. You can find it at any moving store. It usually comes in 24x36 sheets, or 18x24 sheets. Not as cheap as the Toronto Sun, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

[Jeff_Favelle]

I phoned the newspaper printing presses and they said the ink was just vegetable dye. I've been using it for 12 years, no problems. Proof is in the pudding, and not theories are what you THINK might happen.

[Big Mike]

I read somewhere that the black ink is vegetable based but the color dye is not at nice. I don't remember what it is made from.

I use newspaper and try to use the black & white pages on the top where the snake will be in contact with it.

[lilyskip]

i also use newspaper, and haven't had any problems with ink rubbing off on huxley. Big Mike has a great point about color pages, though...I only keep huxley on the b&w sections.

[killaclown]

News paper is the best sumstrate but for looks i would go with Repti BarK

[Derrick]

ya my reptile bark came with these lovely little black specks that beautifully accented my snow cors coloring. I espcially like the y way they moved around

[Jeff_Favelle]

But the key to the substrate can also be usefullness to the snake. I have since switched from newspaper, to shredded aspen, to shredded newspaper, to aspen chips, and now to bark mulch. And I gotta tell you, I love the bark mulch. Look at the big breeders cages (Davis, Kahl, Sutherlands, NERD etc etc) and see what they use.

[munchy]

yes i agree that the bark mulch and repti-bark type substrates are great. if you have tons of snakes i can see how it might be a bit pricey, but i dont mind paying for it since it looks good and the snakes can burrow or do whatever.