Substrate Q.

[Xenogenesis]

Gday

A few of the fellas at work and I got our act together and cleaned up the yard at work, so we hired a mulcher, I grabbed a few boxes full of mulch to use as substrate in an enclosure, just woundering if pine has any negative effects on snakes? (I'm sure it's all pine as i put the tree in myself and collected it at the other end )

Cheers
Kyle

[Xenogenesis]

Oh, and to all those people that are refuseing to post in digust, I'd obviously give it a vinegar bath I just don't want to bath it just to find out I cant use it.

[MoreliaMatt]

i'd say it would be fine if you soaked it for a while in a diluted bleach bath or baked it in the oven for a few hours.... just dont start a fire! lol

[Xenogenesis]

Lol, I'll try not to, thanks for the advice mate

[MrBredli]

Yeah, just give them a few coats of polyurethane and you'll have a re-usable easy-to-clean substrate that will last forever!

Not a bad idea actually..

[MoreliaMatt]

haha i'd like to see someone have the patience for that!! lol

[GSXR_Boy]

ify ou soak it in a 1/10 ratio of bleach and water (and dry it out obviously!!) it should be okay.

[Sparty]

Doesn't it get smelly when you miss parts that you didn't clean\ couldn't see to clean?

[Pythoninfinite]

Pine actually has resinous compounds which can harm snakes, you would need to "age" it outside for a few months, as is done with orchid potting mix (pine bark) to release the harmful aromatic compounds. Not a good choice.

Jamie

[hugsta]

I have made some aromatic compounds in my time........

[Pythoninfinite]

That's one for chitchat Hugsta, not here thank you!

Jamie.

[nvenm8]

It would look good! But I advise against it as Pythoninfinite mentioned plus the difficulty of trying to clean the enclosure properly. Pine will absorb liquid, so unless you do a very large area (total substrate change) you will never have a properly cleaned enclosure.