substrate

[patonthego]

My coastal got a new enclosure Tuesday of last week and she has not gotten down on the fake grass once. The first few days she stayed on one of those plastic hanging vines that I attached to the sliding glass front but then my hsuband tried to to get her off there by letting it fall down and she immediately got onto a exo vine that was nailed from side wall to halfway along 4ft enclosure. Being the big chicken he put a glove on to try and get her off there yesterday and even thought she never tried to stike he wasn't successful. Today I tried to tempt her down by showing her a fuzzy rat which she wanted but she didn't get onto the grass where I placed it after she smelt and saw it on the tongs. I watched what she would do and her tongue was going wild but she simply came right up against the glass and looked me in the eye as if to say get the rat for me mum............................

So yes I did as I was asked!! She took it very fast and is still on her vine. SO what do I do?? Should I change the substrate to what else?? Marine grass from Bunnings?

HELP!!! I'm missing out on holding her.
I just looked at some pics that were taken in the first few days and she was stretched out along the front on the grass!! So what has changed???????

[BlindSnake]

Not a fan of the fake grass.Use newspaper.its cheap,easy to change and comes free in the mail every week.

[Tsubakai]

Marine carpet from Clark Rubber. Lots of different colours and gets very soft after a couple of washes. I put my pieces straight in the washing machine and then its very quick to dry (sometimes use the clothes dryer if I want a bit of extra heat to help kill any germs but I think its just that I'm too lazy to hang it up on the line)

[dazza74]

probably still getting used to the new the enclosure .i use fake grass with my coastals and my diamond with no hassles

[meshe1969]

Something worth checking that I wasn't aware of:

Was talking to our local garden supplier and he mentioned that in hot weather, fake grass can be hotter to walk on than bitumen.

[patonthego]

Just wanted to add that since I bought the marine grass (still in roll) she has been down on the fake grass climbing all over so it wasn't the problem she must have just needed time to settle down. However she now ends her nights on her hanging silk plant and never uses the hides should I take them out and add something else for her? I must admit the rock hide is looking too small for her now anyway but whats the point of buying a bigger one if she isn't going to use it. The light hasn't been coming on should I raise the thermostat to at least 30 so it comes on. The temp guage sits on 28. Her enclosure is a pine wood with heavy glass sliding doors on the front.

[jack]

some snakes can get huffy if their environment changes, i have a 5 year old bredli that refused to make the transition to a bigger hide and has to squish under his old one...
i think you you should just give your python some time to settle and not constantly change its home environment.

[taipan24]

If she's still having issues with the grass, you could change to sand. That's what I use, and my spotted python loved it. She got huffy when I took her out and put her on the carpet so I could change the enclosure around.
Also, with the hide box, you could put something underneath it so she's not lying on the grass when she under it. Does that make sense? Even if you just put newspaper under it, she'll be able to lay on something that she's more comfortable on.

[herpsrule]

dont use sand..

im going to use newspaper, and leaf litter in myne. the leaf litter makes it look good, and the newspaper is cheap and the only thing i find wrong with it is the ink, can sometimes get on your snake if the paper gets wet. but not to worry

dont use sand..

Nat

[taipan24]

What's wrong with sand? My snake loves it.

[pugsly]

Sand isn't prefered as it hides things like mites too easily, needs changing all the time (as does other substrate) but is a pain in the bum to change. Newspaper is by far the easiest and most effective.

[caustichumor]

As far as substrates go you will get everyone giving a different BEST to use, sand, crushed gravel, bark, paper, kitty litter, fake grass, carpet, some people use bath towels! all can be used succesfully with various species. And all of these mediums will have their good and bad points.

[patonthego]

thanks for all the interesting views, she is now more settled I think but still doesn't use the hides preferring to "sleep" on her silk plant attached to glass by suction cap BUT when she gets bigger it won't hold her then. She does move over the fake grass, (now use the marine one from bunnings) when it's dark in here. I htink the hides are too small for her but reluctant to waste money on a bigger size if she won't use it.