cage substrates

[sasquo123]

hey i was just wondering what cage substrates everyone uses.
i always wanted to go for the interesting/natural look and i didnt go with sand as i heard that the snakes can end up ingesting too much of it when fed so i went to reptile bark(wood chips) but now ive had 2 snakes ingest wood chips whilst eating, one actually died(ingestion of wood chip wasnt actually seen but it happened a few days after him eating and have never had any other issues with him), the other happened last night, i ve been watchin everyone closely when eating so it dosent happen again but i was too late with one of my female stimmies, she had a bark chip half in her mouth but i was too slow to retrieve and she swallowed it, im on tenterhooks, watchin her and praying she dosent die....and yes ive now removed all the substrates from all cages, theyre now all on newspaper which looks so bad, so what does everyone use and have other people had issues with the reptile bark?

[dtulip10]

i use news paper and breeders choice cat litter

[ceramics4herps]

I use Breeders choice kitty litter..

[Jaxrtfm]

Marine carpet, out with the dirty, F10 the floor, in with the clean, hang the dirty one over the clothes line and hose it off, let it dry, F10 spray and its ready for the next change

[it_slithers]

Umm sasquo you should of learnt from the first time. Tisk Tisk!
Feed your animals out of their enclosure if your worried what they may injest.
I use sand and tiny pebles mixed together. Never had a problem with it, despite what alot of people assume.

[sarah_m]

I use Oz-Pet litter (similar to breeders choice) but put a piece of newspaper in when I am feeding, which has worked for me. My other one is on paper towel with a view to using the marine carpet when she goes into her big tank.

[Nicole74]

Butchers paper

[sasquo123]

yeah i know i should have removed the bark, it just looks so pretty in the cage regretting it now obviously
does the breeders choice cat litter look ok though and have your snakes every ingested that? is that made out of recycled paper?

[sasquo123]

does anyone have any pics of the marine carpet? ive never heard of it, where abouts do you buy from?

[it_slithers]

If your still keen on the bark sasquo, why dont you just take your snakes out of their enclosure and feed them in a tub?? Or try what sarahm said, put paper towl down when feeding???

[Sock Puppet]

Mine are on aspen, looks great & never had a problem with it. A few times they've had a fibre caught in their mouth, but they always manage to get rid of it, usually by rubbing the side of their mouth aganist the log or hide for 30s to a minute, then it's out. I'm not overly worried if they ingest it, the fibres are thin & I'm confident they'll pass it easily, or digest it (it is organic after all, & if they can digest fur & bone.....).

Having said that, aspen is pretty expensive, $40 for a large bag, so I'm considering switching to Breeder's Choice or Max's kitty litter. If I don't like those products I can always switch back or just use newspaper.

[Jaxrtfm]

does anyone have any pics of the marine carpet? ive never heard of it, where abouts do you buy from?

its the carpet they use for boats and wet areas - pools, spas etc, Synthetic so it doesn't rot. I got mine from bunnings but you can try any place that sells carpet, the roll is 2 metres wide so you can generally get a few pieces out of it depending on the size of your enclosure.

[sasquo123]

i brought my marine carpet after an expensive trip to bunnings earlier, it was on special so if anyones looking for some it only cost $15 a metre, i was very suprised but the guy i spoke to said that it is definetly marine carpet, only thing is it only came in blue so my cage looks really dark now

also had to fix my glass tracks so when mrs spotted and mr stimson go back into their respective cages tomorrow it will all be fresh and new for them!

and as for my girl stimmi who ingested a chip, so far so good, shes bright and happy and no more bark in her enclosure! thanks for the help all

[dukyboi]

ebay has really cheap matine carpet and fake grass half the price of bunnings

[herptrader]

Simply adding a handful of dried gum leaves and twigs to something like breeders choice or gravel can look great.