Decking out the Enclosure

[Mysnakeau]

I am running out of questions I can think of to ask, but are stimmies tree climbers or do they stay on the ground?

What's best substrate to use? I've heard sand is no good for pythons. Does this include the desert sands you can buy? Any views?

[MrBredli]

Newspaper is the best (and cheapest) substrate. If you put branches in the cage they will be used for sure, even though they are a 'terrestrial' species.

[bikiescum2003]

that desert sand is the worst in my opinion. its such a fine sand it gets in everywhere. on top of that it gets very clagy when damp so cant be good if they digest it let alone the build up on the vent.
newspaper is the best but i havealso used auarium gravel. just alot more work involved in cleaning. other than that i would suggest marine carpet

[josho]

iv used that de dusted wood shavings and it seems to be realy good thats all they use in the states

[Scotty]

Reptile carpet looks better than newspaper IMO and is very easy to clean

[AntaresiaLady]

Mysnakeau, our Stimson has a branch in her enclosure that in total is about 1.5 foot high, it goes from the warm end to the cool end on a diagonal top to bottom.

She used it as soon as it was in her enclosure, and can often be seen sitting and cajoling around on it.
She appears to like it.

We use white paper on her enclosure floor, its easy to keep clean, and is cheap. We use A4 pieces, as it makes it easy to replace a piece at a time should she poop on one piece and not the one next to it. Her whole paper is replaced every week, and spot cleaned every day.

[Mysnakeau]

I haven't heard of reptile carpet. I'll have to check out my catalogues at work tomorrow and see if they have any. But I use paper for all my other pets and birds so that certainly sounds the easiest to me.

Is there any particular tree branches that are better than others? Or tree types that I should avoid? Can it have leaves? I was planning on just some silk plants for greenery.

I got my first stocks of silk plants for reptiles in the other day. It never occured to me that one of them in particular looks so like a dacka plant , but it makes a lovely bushy vine in my Frog Display

Kathy

[wil]

i use recycled paper kitty litter. it works a treat and its cheap

[Bonustokin]

yea same tis "Dr Harry's light and easy Cat Litter" its 100% recycled paper
the most common cat litter used is "breeders choice"... well so it seems....

[tempest]

I'm using desert sand at the moment and wouldn't recommend it. I realised that it wasn't the best choice after I first fed my diamond because some of it sticks to the food and wouldn't be good on the snake if too much is ingested. I'll be changing my substrate soon and until then will be feeding my boy in a tub.

[craig.a.c]

I used to have a branch in my stimmies enclosure, he only used it when he was sloughing. I took it out to give him more floor space now.

[bikiescum2003]

the reptile carpet is the same as marine carpet but more expencive