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BigRed

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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a substrate to use in my snake enclosures to make them look really eye catching and natural, I've tried astro turf and marine carpet which both work well but don't give me the natural look i'm striving for.

does anyone have any suggestions?

I've got 1 black head
1 proserpine carpet
2 julatten jungle carpets
2 stimsons
 
Sand?

The problem with most "natural" substrates is keeping clean etc. If the substrate isn't easily removed then you'll have problems with bacteria and mites. Stick with the fake grass. Personally I just use newspaper.
 
Kittys crumble looks prett good and your black head might shot digging through it. My woma loves burrowing in it. Would look good for the stimsons aswell.

I have seen some nice jungle enclosure with bark. Gives a nice natural look aslong as you also have greenery in the enclosure
 
Bark chip stuff looks good on the floor, especially coupled with leaf litter - this is not easy to clean though.

Have also seen photos of terracotta color kitty litter.. looks good and much easier to clean.
 
i thought about bark, was a little worried about keeping it clean, i'd like to put some live plants in with the jungles, just not sure which ones would work well and are non toxic..
 
I use Reptile One coco fibre substrate - it's cheap as chips (3bricks $10, and one expanded filled 4 take out containers). You do have to let it dry though. When I first got mine I didn't have an oven, and it took 2-3 weeks for me to feel by touch no dampness. BUT if you've got an oven to dry it I reckon it'd be fine.
In regards to poos, I find it easy enough to spot and remove them for my titchy baby spotted so your larger snakes' larger poos would be even easier to spot. You just take out the surrounding stuff too and it's all gone!
 
i find kitty's crumble is good once its dry, but it takes over a week to dry it to the level where i feel comfortable putting it in with my jungles, let alone a desert species like a woma or black headed which will get mouth rot and resp infections if your not too careful. im still trying to find a system to dry it out so i can keep on using it though as i do really like it as a substrate once its dry, but the humidity issue could be a liability.
i chuck recycled cardboard kitty litter into a blender for my desert sand type substrates, works quite well but takes bloody ages. i just love chucking things into the blender!
 
BigRed
i thought about bark, was a little worried about keeping it clean, i'd like to put some live plants in with the jungles, just not sure which ones would work well and are non toxic..

You'll find out very quickly that live plants don't do well in snake enclosures. They get broken and squashed very quickly. Try using fake plants hung from the top and wrap your branches with fake vines and plants. If done right, looks really good.
 
Yeh it is very moist I just put it in a tub and leave it spread out for a while and I find it drys in a couple of days
 
Yeh it is very moist I just put it in a tub and leave it spread out for a while and I find it drys in a couple of days

might work if you have a big tub and a little enclosure, but i tend to try clean all of mine at once (as it is easier on my schedule to do it this way) so i have to have a lot of substrate ready to use at the same time and the tub that i keep it all in would only do half of them anyway (if that) so i fillit up and rotate it all around every second day to dry it out as much as possible and it takes a week before ill use it in my water and CTS enclosures (humidity stays high for a couple of days still, but they are doing alright with it) and 2 weeks for my jungles, where it stays nice and dry and the only humidity is coming from the water bowl.

Sye
 
For a natural look with the carpet pythons i would use leaves and for the Stimsons i would use rocks and dirt. If using rocks make sure they cant move and crush the snake. I prefer to give my snakes something to read rather than a natural look most of the time.
 
For a natural look with the carpet pythons i would use leaves and for the Stimsons i would use rocks and dirt. If using rocks make sure they cant move and crush the snake. I prefer to give my snakes something to read rather than a natural look most of the time.

they get all worked up over the footy if you use the sports page though... my snakes are all richmond supporters
 
they get all worked up over the footy if you use the sports page though... my snakes are all richmond supporters

:lol: Mine are all Carlton supporters, thats the brewery that makes their homes.
 
hahah, mine are all living in toilet paper rolls and light-globe boxes and the occasional larger store bought hide
 
They should be happy guys at the moment. Are they Tiger snakes?
 
if you are asking me, then no. no tiger snakes. housemates wont let me get poisonous snakes. 2x common tree snakes, 2x water python and 2x (soon to be 3x) jungle carpet python and 1x bearded dragon. they are richmond supporters because i am a richmond supporter and ill be damned if they go for any other team.
 
well the natural look is fine but newspaper is what most people use very cheap easy to remove some of my hathies burrow under it the others hide in split toilet rolls
 
if you are asking me, then no. no tiger snakes. housemates wont let me get poisonous snakes. 2x common tree snakes, 2x water python and 2x (soon to be 3x) jungle carpet python and 1x bearded dragon. they are richmond supporters because i am a richmond supporter and ill be damned if they go for any other team.
Well thats lucky as you will have a hard time locating a poisonous snake! Venomous on the other hand are everywhere.
 
RasNewEnclosure.jpgim trying the oz pet pet litter atm, its compressed wood pellets and i think it looks great!

no ones up to shedding yet, but they dont feel dry or anything, so i dont think its gonna affect them badly sheddingwise, they also seem to enjoy the feel of it, theyre often just curled up on he floor now.

not a great pic, but all i have with me. :p
 
Id get peat moss for your Morelia and then buy some redish pebls for your black headed and your two stimmies.good luck!
 
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