Substrate for Monitors

[saximus]

Do many people use kitty litter for monitors? I know heaps of people seem to use sand almost exclusively with them but I'm finding it difficult to clean and it gets smelly pretty quick. I use Oz pet for my snakes and I was thinking about maybe using that when my tristis upgrade to their new, bigger enclosure. Are there are issues with doing this or is it just that people prefer the look of sand?

 

[Kenno]

Substrate is the major husbandry consideration for monitors in captivity. It can cause no end of problems if its incorrect. Plain play sand is not ideal but it is certainly better than newspaper or kittylitter. The latter two materials will equate to a very unhappy and unhealthy monitor. The best substrate is a blended mix of sand and bioactive soil(garden dirt!) with minimal Detritus and clays. The subrate should hold a burrow and varied levels of moisture well. It's often hard to get the blend just right if you haven't seen or felt it before. There are some great overseas monitor forums, I suggest you look them up (varanus dot net is a gooden) or even try YouTube or google. Regards

 

[ozziepythons]

I have used paper pellets in the form of kitty litter as substrate for monitors. It is dessicating and the monitors would end up with shed skin fused to the scales. I use for sand monitors and knob tailed geckos sand I source locally from the mallee scrub. If its dry it shouldn't become smelly and I've found it quite easy to spot clean with. Always have a sieve (kitchen strainer) handy for partial or total clean outs.

 

[Reptile_Lover]

when i had my ackie mate i used a mix of coco-peat and reptile sand, she was happy and it holds together well for digging, she had made a nice burrow in a hill of it i made her, kicking myself for selling her.

 

[saximus]

Ah yeah I didn't think of the desiccating thing. Thanks for the replies guys. I'll try mixing it with some dirt and/or coco peat. They are Tristis so not sure if they like digging but I suppose it's always nice to give them the option

 

[sesa-sayin]

KENNO!! can you please say, in your opinion, as to why newspaper is not a good substrate for small mons.. certainly, easy to replace, and therefore clean, and provided there are 2 or more layers, easy for them to go under for protection and security

 

[crocdoc]

KENNO!! can you please say, in your opinion, as to why newspaper is not a good substrate for small mons..

I have used paper pellets in the form of kitty litter as substrate for monitors. It is dessicating and the monitors would end up with shed skin fused to the scales.

Same goes for newspaper.

Not Kenno, but I agree that newspaper is not a good substrate for monitors. What ozziepythons said about paper pellets goes for newspaper, too. It doesn't hold humidity and small/baby monitors have a high surface/volume ratio so they dehydrate easily, especially with the hot basking spots required to keep monitors healthy.

 

[sesa-sayin]

CROCDOC so glad you informed re the "no humidity in newspaper" certainly, i raise a few juvies every year on newspaper, but i provide a container of clean, fresh, moist spagnum in the enclosure, which they sometimes sit in...am acutely aware of (lack of humidity ) with juvies/hatchies, because in the beginning i lost a few in Jan/Feb...will use something else this summer

 

[cadwallader]

what are where do you get blended sand from??? and just top soil from the nursery? mixit 50/50 is that roughly how you do it???
Cheers

 

[Tristis]

I use sand, it's the best I've tried.
News paper will make your monitors toes and tail tip fall off.

 

[Kenno]

Thanks for the comments crocdoc and Tristis,

Bernard, how do you propose the monitors deposit their eggs on/under newspaper? Burrows? if they aren't happy with the available nesting sites they often hold onto the eggs, this causes massive issues. Keeping them on newspaper is fine for the short time after they are born but i cannot see what advantage it serves to keep them on anything other than proper bioactive substrate?

enlighten me

 

[SamNabz]

Bump...

Thought I would bump this thread instead of starting a new one.

I was wondering if any one uses a bio-active substrate in their indoor monitor enclosures?

I did a search and found one thread where Southside Morelia has done this for his Hypsilurus species.

Looking for anyone who does this in their monitor set ups, and if so, please share what materials/methods were used.

 

[saximus]

lol you fool.
I know very little about it Sam so I won't be much help but if you look here: Bio-active Substrate | Gecko Time
There is a picture of an ackie so I'd guess it could be used for them. I'm now using a mixture of coco peat and sand for both my tristis and ackies. It seems to hold the moisture a little better at the cool end than straight sand. I'd be interested to look into how to promote microbe growth to create this type of bioactive setup

 

[SamNabz]

lol why am I a fool??

Cheers for the link and info.

I'd like to set it up and start a little bug breeding ground to do as they explained in that article. Just looking for some insight into which bugs etc. to put in there...

 

[cadwallader]

i was keeping my ridge tails on aspen bedding, i found it great they could burrow, and they held their shape much better then expected... never had a problem with sheding and the woodies breed in there, but i am now using sand and dirt and they havent seemed to dig at all yet (2 weeks)

 

[pythrulz]

Tea tree mulch is good or fresly mowed grass but it does hold to much humidity untill it dries out but my monitor seems to like it

 

[crocdoc]

I wouldn't recommend freshly mowed grass. If it's piled too high and starts to decompose, it will reach extremely high temperatures.

 

[SamNabz]

Freshly mowed grass is one of the worst substrates you can use. If it's piled too high and starts to decompose, it will reach extremely high temperatures.

Cheers for the info, Dave. To be honest I've never heard of any one using mowed grass as substrate...

Anything to add regarding bio-active substrate?

 

[crocdoc]

I've used all sorts of substrates for my lace monitors, from leaf-litter, to assorted mulches to pine shavings. If they were a real burrowing species I'd probably be going a dirt/soil/leaf litter mix. I presume by bio-active substrate you mean one containing natural microbes? I find that with a large enclosure that is spot cleaned, it becomes bio-active all on its own after a while!

 

[jinin]

I use Brikkie Sand, it holds the burrows well.