GTP Substrate

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Skitzmixer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2010
Messages
483
Reaction score
1
Location
Cranbourne, Victoria
Those of you with GTP's what do you use for substrate? i've got a while before the little guys ready to move in, so figured i'd get it started now and begin testing etc..

Cheers
 
For the hatchies and juveniles there is nothing wrong with using newspaper. I personally use a repti-carpet as it holds humidity really well.
 
My mate that has three GTP's has different substrate. Two enclosures have artificial turf which holds the moisture in fairly well but the other one has Coir peat that he got from bunnings and that seems to the better substrate out of the two in terms of keeping the humidity. Hope that helps.
 
Mines 14 months old, he's been on papertowel for a while, which is fine but he's getting moved into a display enclosure when he's old enough so i'd like to see what other options are out tehre.

My mate that has three GTP's has different substrate. Two enclosures have artificial turf which holds the moisture in fairly well but the other one has Coir peat that he got from bunnings and that seems to the better substrate out of the two in terms of keeping the humidity. Hope that helps.

Thats perfect, i'm heading down there in about 10 minutes so i'll have a look for some. Any specific one to look for?
 
Thats perfect, i'm heading down there in about 10 minutes so i'll have a look for some. Any specific one to look for?

It's called 'coco peat' it comes in big blocks that look like a brick. You soak it in water and it expands out to about 7-9 litres worth. It holds moisture great! But it is prone to smelling as you cannot get the urine out of it easily. If you're willing to change the bedding weekly to fortnightly, it's great looking stuff! I use it for all of my frogs and it holds the humidity beautifully.

ive been looking around for snakes, and i ive seen gtp. they look cool and stuff but then i saw the price

What experience do you have in keeping pythons? GTP's have very specific care requirements and that is why they are on an advanced license. The hatchies are fragile and fussy feeders, which makes for a high mortality rate. They are tricky to breed, tricky to keep and tricky to raise, hence the major expense in purchasing one. They are NOT a first time snake. You should keep reptiles for at least a year before considering a GTP. They need high humidity, narrow heat range and allot of patience.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's called 'coco peat' it comes in big blocks that look like a brick. You soak it in water and it expands out to about 7-9 litres worth. It holds moisture great! But it is prone to smelling as you cannot get the urine out of it easily. If you're willing to change the bedding weekly to fortnightly, it's great looking stuff! I use it for all of my frogs and it holds the humidity beautifully.

I found the stuff, but they only had one with slow release fertiliser in stock. So i'll wait a bit and have a look at the other stuff. Its not to expensive either which is good..
 
Last edited:
Yeah it's only a couple of dollars a brick and you can use half a brick at a time and just store the rest in a tupperware container or glad wrap.
 
Nope, never claimed to be one. Just asking if people could keep it on topic, its a pain when my emails go off thinking i have some helpful information only to find out its got nothing to do with what i asked.

Its good when members help others stay on topic. More should be thinking this way..
Cheers

Toby
 
I buy it in a bag. Then just spot clean for a while then change it completely now and then. Its much cleaner than peat and wont stick to everything.
 
It's called 'coco peat' it comes in big blocks that look like a brick. You soak it in water and it expands out to about 7-9 litres worth. It holds moisture great! But it is prone to smelling as you cannot get the urine out of it easily. If you're willing to change the bedding weekly to fortnightly, it's great looking stuff! I use it for all of my frogs and it holds the humidity beautifully.



What experience do you have in keeping pythons? GTP's have very specific care requirements and that is why they are on an advanced license. The hatchies are fragile and fussy feeders, which makes for a high mortality rate. They are tricky to breed, tricky to keep and tricky to raise, hence the major expense in purchasing one. They are NOT a first time snake. You should keep reptiles for at least a year before considering a GTP. They need high humidity, narrow heat range and allot of patience.

I heard the same thing about gtp's not being for beginners, so I decided to get one as my first snake. How ever I did research for over 12 months and read a lot of literature on the husbandry needs for them. It's as easy/hard as keeping any reptile I would imagine, put in the effort to research and ensure you have your enclosure set up perfectly in advance to the arrival of your gtp (easy) wait till it turns up and have no idea how to care for it ( hard) Just makes sure you don't force it from a perch and all will be well.

cheers Dave
 
+1 for spag moss, I used the hemp chips first off and they grew mushies even with full dried out cycles. The spag is great for holding in the moisture for slow release, and no mushies.
 
Paper towel the first few months, then eucalyptus mulch from bunnings. Spot clean and replace monthly or as needed. Care needs to be taken when feeding though. Its cheap, functional and looks great. The smell maybe strong straight out of the bag, I find a rinse with water in a tub and let it air out in the sun for a few days fixes this.
 
What about a bio-active substrate? Like the ones posted in with thread by insane? I have read two of his before but can't remember what section they were in.
 
Paper towel the first few months, then eucalyptus mulch from bunnings. Spot clean and replace monthly or as needed. Care needs to be taken when feeding though. Its cheap, functional and looks great. The smell maybe strong straight out of the bag, I find a rinse with water in a tub and let it air out in the sun for a few days fixes this.

Sounds pretty interesting. So many options here i guess it just comes down to personal preference. Glad I'm starting to work this out now rather than when he needs to be moved in.

- - - Updated - - -

What about a bio-active substrate? Like the ones posted in with thread by insane? I have read two of his before but can't remember what section they were in.

bio-active substrate? Never heard of it, i'll search around and have a look.
 
spag moss is great, keeps the humidity, i just spot clean the mr hanky's and change it completely every couple of months. gtp will crawl through it and sometimes mine hides under it for 1-2 days when it's in shed. gave me a heartattack the 1st time tho, routine check and no gtp on the perch....aaaaarrrgh
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top