Mr. Skittles - Page 2

lovemyskittles · 05-28-10, 10:49 PM

We've decided that we're going to use it until they're too big for their current enclosures and the reptile carpets aren't a one-time use (sites about the carpet and the box the carpet came is tells you to wash it every so often). For our enclosures the carpet runs about $10 - so it's really not expensive - cheaper than what I paid for my cypress mulch at the pet store ($12 for one bag that was a one-time use). The snakes will probably be kept on paper towels when cleaning our carpets though. Honestly - I REALLY liked the way the mulch looked but since I had a problem with it and don't want to use it for now I'd rather use the green carpet (also comes in brown) than paper towels since the carpet looks a little better.

**Aaron_S** · 05-29-10, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovemyskittles

We've decided that we're going to use it until they're too big for their current enclosures and the reptile carpets aren't a one-time use (sites about the carpet and the box the carpet came is tells you to wash it every so often). For our enclosures the carpet runs about $10 - so it's really not expensive - cheaper than what I paid for my cypress mulch at the pet store ($12 for one bag that was a one-time use). The snakes will probably be kept on paper towels when cleaning our carpets though. Honestly - I REALLY liked the way the mulch looked but since I had a problem with it and don't want to use it for now I'd rather use the green carpet (also comes in brown) than paper towels since the carpet looks a little better.

I made the last line bold because it says that due to looking better than paper towel you're going to continue using reptile carpet. So you've put YOUR wants over the snake's needs. Yeah I don't I'll be responding to any more of your questions since you don't seem to want the answers.

Kmef07 · 05-29-10, 08:39 AM

Hey I had a minor scale rot problem when I first got my brb, and I found out that I was trying to reach the required humidity by keeping the substrate moist. That was the wrong thing to do. I found that I needed to keep the humidity up but keep the substrate more dry. I put a wooden box over my aquarium and that kept the humidity up and also I could keep the substrate dry. Just keep a nice area dry at all times so your brb can go to. Maybe a hide that you keep dry all of the time.

lovemyskittles · 05-29-10, 03:10 PM

We haven't noticed the snakes minding the reptile carpet and how is it harmful/less beneficial for our snakes? I've done research on the carpet and I can't say that it seems harmful - that's why I said I'd choose the carpet over paper towels (neither is worse than the other but one looks a little better). I don't know what you're thinking the carpet is but the carpet we have is not a rough surface at all. But if you know how it is harmful for the snake and somehow I didn't find anything about it online let me know - I wasn't trying to say I'm putting the look of the cage above the need of my snake - just didn't see how the paper towels were more beneficial.

Quote:

Hey I had a minor scale rot problem when I first got my brb, and I found out that I was trying to reach the required humidity by keeping the substrate moist. That was the wrong thing to do. I found that I needed to keep the humidity up but keep the substrate more dry. I put a wooden box over my aquarium and that kept the humidity up and also I could keep the substrate dry. Just keep a nice area dry at all times so your brb can go to. Maybe a hide that you keep dry all of the time.

Thanks - I'm guessing I could have done the same thing that you did when you first got your BRB. After taking the mulch out I did put in a dry-hide and of course put his humid-hide back in as well. A wooden box over it? Do you have a picture of that? Right now I'm keeping moist paper towels over the cage (on 3/4 of the screen top) and then have a towel over the paper towels. We live in a humid area so w/o anything extra to up humidity it would stay around 70-75% but with what I have going on now it's anywhere from 85-95%.

Kmef07 · 05-29-10, 03:24 PM

this is the setup i used to have before i built my big cage. The towel on top is just to make it look better cuz the wood on the top was not very appealing. It really helped keep humidity in. I also had my lights in the wood box. I put a hole on each side of the box to help airflow and covered them up for more humidity and heat and uncovered them for less humidity and heat. I found that just putting a paper towel on the top was hard cuz it absorbed all the humidity and moisture and I constantly had to keep spraying it.

lovemyskittles · 06-03-10, 12:12 AM

Thanks for the picture Kyle - we're going to build something similar to yours. Really appreciate the input and picture.

dragunov.762 · 06-03-10, 12:17 PM

another option to the repti carpet is fleece. i don't know how well it will work in a BRB cage but it is washable and soft (wont agitate any scale rot). like i said i don't know how well it will hold up in high humidity but it might be worth looking into a little bit

totheend · 06-03-10, 10:16 PM

Reptile carpet is crap. It isn't going to help with humidity, gets dirty and harbours bacteria. It won't allow for airflow underneath your snake which will only make the scale rot worse. So if the carpet is damp, expect the scale rot to get worse.

lovemyskittles · 06-04-10, 11:37 AM

Update on my snake: scale rot never got worse (by the way, it was two small points about the size of a pin-point) plus he shed a few days go. Since we're in the humid summer months of the year putting wet paper towels on the top of the cage (w/o spraying the enclosure at all) the humidity can get up over 95%. So until the dry winter months come in (which is when we plan on putting a wooden box on the cage as Kyle told/showed). I know how airflow works and understand that it wouldn't dry if it got wet; however, since the carpet isn't getting wet I can't imagine that it's going to harbor any more bacteria than mulch, aspen, etc would. Also, you're supposed to clean/replace the carpet - so if you don't do that then yes, as with any substrate, it will start to harbor bacteria. Maybe I'll look into the fleece if the carpet seems to bother him - but since it isn't a rough surface I think he'll be fine.