sand

[chief]

hey i am just looking for any one who uses sand as a substrate cos a lot of people have told me not to use it cos snakes swallow it and snakes get clogged up from it but a mate of mine has been using it for his diamond and its going fine...so any 1 who has used it or is using it please tell me ur experience with it.

cheers Andrew

[Anthony88]

I have never used sand b4 but i think if you feed the snake out of the enclosure or away from the snake there shouldn't be problems.

[chief]

yeh i was think ing of putting half cardboard in the enclosure when feeding what do u reakon ?

[tfor2]

I have heard somewhere along the line that sand get caught between snakes scales and cause problems but i cant confirm if thats true, maybe someone else here can clear that one up?

[scotchbo]

Sand can also clump together and cause the snakes chloaca to stick shut there fore the snake wont be able to pass anything and could die from it if not caught in time it is very very dangerous with snakes

[mysnakesau]

I was told that sand can be a fairly high maintenance substrate to use.

[herptrader]

I use it for our ackies - they love it.

As for it getting stuck in their scales - sounds like bunkom to me. If this were the case snakes would never be able to survive in the wild.

There is a chance that it can get swallowed with food... and if they swallow enough of it, it might lead to gut impaction.

High maintenance - yes. Harbor bacteria - probably, anything that holds moisture in an enclosure environment will do this.

[nickamon]

I use sand. To prevent my snake from swallowing any sand while feeding, I feed her on top of a plastic tray. (I had tried cate feeding, but she didn't take to it.)