Best substrate in your opinion and why?

[ChristinaM]

What do ya'll use for your BCI?

Right now, due to mite final treatments, my BCI is on paper towels. Which I do not like.

I'm thinking aspen shavings perhaps?

I'd like to hear what everyone else uses, is there stuff I should stay away from and why? etc.

Thanks

[Invictus]

For large boas, Newspaper or paper towel all the way. main reason - you can't feed them on aspen, and believe me, when they get to adulthood, feeding them within their enclosure is an absolute must. You can't feed them in a temporary container and then transfer them... beyond the risk to yourself of a boa in a feeding frenzy, there is the regurge possibility. Aspen shavings can be ingested.

Another alternative is indoor/outdoor carpet, if you're dealing with only a single boa or maybe a couple of them. Any Home Depot will have good stuff that isn't "astroturf" so to speak, but actual machine washable carpet that makes excellent subtrate. It's appealing, easy to clean, and quite sanitary. Just keep 2 pieces so that when you're washing one, you can put the other one in the enclosure.

Bottom line though, loose substrate for large boas can cause quite a headache, even for a single specimen. You'll want to find something you can feed on, can remove with one swipe, and replace easily.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Newspaper.

[Matt_K]

I'll agree with newspaper.. I have about 15 people giving me newspapers every month.. around 28 papers per person per month.. I love it!!! Much cheaper then paper towel I've also been using Beta Chip for the corns, they like it and i like the look of it.. So, it works for them..

[Stockwell]

I hate newspaper but I must agree, its the safest.. either that or large size landscape bark nuggets usually sold as Western Bark. It looks better, but brings flies

[ChristinaM]

well poo.
I guess newspaper it is.

i never thought bout when he gets older. Yes, I definately don't want to be transferring him to a feeding container. That could be a severe pain in the whatever part of me he decides to eat.

[BoidKeeper]

I use newspaper. Cheap, safe to feed on. Can't spot clean but it's easy to pull the whole thing out and replace it.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Vengeance]

I don't have any Boa's so correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't care fresh be an ok loose substrate to use? It's safe to ingest in small quantities and much easier to spot clean with then newspaper or paper towel. Also it's relatively cheap, not as cheap as newspaper, but still pretty cheap. But just throwing that out there as an option.

[lostwithin]

Hey, I Use Astroturf, with a layer of paper towel underneath. This is because the stuff I uses cant be machine-washed, so the paper towel absorbs the urine ect. During cleaning I hose down the Astroturf and replace the paper towel.

If you like a different idea try Peat moss. Its cheap, and if you soak it in water, then pack in into the bottom of your cage and turn the heat lamp on for a day or so it'll completely dry out hard as a rock, this stuff is mold resistant, it can hold humidity, and absorbs everything, NO smell and easy too clean. I got this idea from a horse farmer. They used it with the horses (allot more of it) because it kills all the smell. Good luck,
Devon

[boa]

Newspaper for large boas.Paper towel for small boas.We have never had any problems with this substrate.Hope this helps

[ChristinaM]

ohh, peat moss.....

is that a possibility?
I thought I read somewhere that the dust from the dried stuff could be harmful?

[condabroad]

I use a mix of fir bark and cocnut fibres, it is fairly cheap and easy to clean, but I have some on newspaper as well and it cleans well

[Edwin]

I am using aspen bark chips right now. To avoid accidentally ingesting any loose substrate, I feed my bci on a paper plate.

[lostwithin]

Hi, actually I had a post up about the dust wondering if it would bother my snake ha ha. Any way, what I found was it was ok when it was kept damp, or kept dry, it was the drying process in between right after you pack it that it was really in the air. It didn’t seem too bother any of my animals; I had Boids, Geckos and a frog on it. at first it was loose and damp, for snakes it seemed fine, but my gecko and from ate allot of it feeding, although it didn’t hurt them at all I decided too pack it and dry it. Then took it right out of the smaller animals cages, and just left it with the bigger snakes. non ever seemed too have any problems, I on the other hand did, when it would be drying it would really bother my eyes. not the snakes, just me, and one day after cleaning it out completely I decided I didn’t want too pack more and switched too Astroturf. Because of my eyes and because my little albino burm really looked dirty all the time lol.
But it didn’t seem too bother any of my animals at all, hope that helps,
Devon

[vanderkm]

When we had boas we used terry towel when they were under about 3 feet and then switched to flannel sheets in their adult cages. I really hate the look of newspaper and find that it isn't absorbant unless you use lots of layers and everthing just pools on top. The cloth absorbs fluid waste, it was easy to dump the poops into the garbage and launder just like baby diapers (really big ones!), with a double rinse cycle.

I liked that I could be confident that the bedding was really clean (never could with carpet) and I don't think spot cleaning is effective with large boids - there is just too much waste that soaks into damp substrate like coconut husk or peat moss.

There is some danger that the towel may stick to a prey item and be swollowed along with it, so we always observed the snakes during feeding and ofen would feed just on the lino floor of the enclosure.

Just another option to consider - if you want something that can look nicer than newspaper, give good absorbancy and be easy to manage,

mary v.