granulated walnut shell

[nless01]

hi all hope you had a great australia day.
my problem was that my diamond had this stuff or granules more to the point stuck between the lip and jaw we caught it early and no damage was done but has left me with the problem of what to use for flooring i know about news paper but was thinking along the lines of breeders choice paper pellets and was wondering what poeple thought of this i have five large homes to do and all the branches are screwed to the floor which would make it like a jigsaw to use paper any suggestions would be of great help cheers "tony"

 

[peterjohnson64]

Nless I think you will find that Breeders Choice would have about a 50/50 approval rating with APS members. I think most people agree that newspaper is by far the best (for snakes) but some people don't like the look of it. Breeders choice will get in their water and swell up but that probably wont be a problem as it is just paper. However some people say it creates a dust. I personally have not found this with my dragons. But I also feed them all out of the cage. I dont want them eating in the cage because they will probably then ingest the pellets.

Newspaper is far cheaper and easier to clean IMO. Unles you remove all the breeders choice you can't be certain of getting rid of all the gremlins.

I know this isn't advice either way but I have founnd the breeders choice discussion on here like stockbrokers. Half of them say to buy and the other half say to sell. It's just a matter of which expert you talk to.

 

[Reptilegirl]

hey Nless
something other the paper that alot of people say works well is a fake grass... astroturf or marine carpet... get twice as much as you need to line the enclosure.. then when it gets dirty just take that bit out and put the other bit in and chuck the dirty bit in the wash... you can it from bunnings or the like
good luck with it
Megz

 

[reptililian]

I see your dilemma, nless. Looks like Breeder's Choice might be one of the few options available to you. That's the problem with having things attatched to the floor, hey! Lucky enough people seem to believe that BC is a suitable substrate.

Cheers, Lily

 

[Rennie]

I'm no expert (by far) but the only problem I've found with BC is with my beardies not pythons, the roaches all hide under it. I have noticed the dust from it, but it just hasn't caused my pythons any problems yet (fingers crossed)

 

[Reptilegirl]

opps didnt read the part about the branches being screwed in...
theres stuff like eco-earth which is a "compressed coconut fiber".. or bush flooring which is "an all natural, aged wood bark".... or eco-litter which is a "natural Australian pine and hardwood plantation timber waste compressed into pellets"....
anyone used any of these before?

Megz

 

[reptililian]

eco-litter which is a "natural Australian pine and hardwood plantation timber waste compressed into pellets"....

THATS what it must have been! I saw a substrate in someones pic (can't remember who, but it was really recent) that looked like BC, but was a kind of pale fawny brown colour. I was wondering what it was! thanks Megz.

I'd also be keen to hear reports on how other types of substrates go.

The thing I didn't like about BC was that I couldn't be confident that I had removed ALL the particles that had been urinated on. And it kept getting caught in the tracks of the doors, though this was easily fixed with the purchase of a dustbusted. O how I loved my dustbuster!

But what I DO like about BC is that it is recycled, from a product that is already there.

 

[instar]

Forest Gold Blend Euclyptus Mulch! Looks great, easy to spot clean, noconcern of ingestion. Ive been using now for many months Great stuff and cheap. Get at Bunnings!

 

[Rennie]

I used bush flooring once, I didn't like it because the poo's camouflaged a bit, it also had a lot more dust than BC.

 

[olivehydra]

a "natural Australian pine and hardwood plantation timber waste compressed into pellets"....
anyone used any of these before?

Megz

Mmmmm natural plantation timber. I love trees that grow in a straight line, mmmm natural :wink:

 

[bubbaloush]

Thought i might add a new one in here, with my python i change the flooring around a bit, in the past i have used sand bought from the local reptile shop with all the nasty germ n stuff out of it, it is easy to spot clean and easy to completely change as a vacuum cleaner works wonders and gets the sand from the runners the glass is on, i always put news paper down first though, might be something to thik about if you need to go around things, another one i have used is like bark (kind of) bought from the same reptile shop to give the python a different texture and make it feel more natural for him

 

[Reptilegirl]

only thing about sand is it can get under the snakes scales and be very irritating...
Megz

 

[SLACkra]

people generally say sand is bad. mainly b/c its hard to clean and the sand under the scales thing.

why don't you just rip off chunks of news paper and place them around, make it nice and thick. your snake will like it like that as it wil be able to hide under the newspaper.

andrew

 

[soulweaver]

don't use BC, if BC swells in water, what do you think it does in stomachs?

this causes impaction. Don't ask about bad cases of impaction.

 

[AntaresiaLady]

There's stuff called Reptilite available...has anyone had any encounters with it?

It seems to be good from what I've heard. Haven't used it myself, but its been recommended to me a few times by Perthite herpers.

 

[herptrader]

don't use BC, if BC swells in water, what do you think it does in stomachs?

this causes impaction. Don't ask about bad cases of impaction.

All sorts of things swell in contact with water. This does not mean they can cause "gut impaction". Think of a piece of toast for example.

Given the way that a pythons digestive system works it would not surprise me if it would get broken down by your average python.

Gut impaction tends to occur with solid substrates such as sand, walnuts husks etc. that do not break down and are not flexibly enough to pass through the digestive tract.

I would be very surprised if BC pellets were ever proven responsible for gut impaction.

The biggest argument against BC is that it is dry and dusty.

I have been using it for many years with our pythons without ill effect. I like the look of it, the price and that it is suitable to go in the compost bin once it has been used.

 

[soulweaver]

I've seen git impaction first hand from BC, in most cases BC casues impation at the vent making it hard to pass anything.

Just because it has never happen to you, doesn't mean it won't in the future, i wouldn't be touching the stuff though.

 

[SLACkra]

mmm but if you fed outside the cage then the chances of acidental injestion would be lowered considerably. anybody have a general idea how often snakes acidentilly injest stuff inside their cage(not including acidentall swallowing when feeding)?

soulweaver how old was the snake that suffered from impaction from the BC? did it injest the bc when feeding or is that unknown?

andrew

 

[soulweaver]

seen two seperate cases from two different breeders.

1. was an adult black head which was only vent impaction.........
2. the gut wasnt quite adult, maybe 4ft snake.

Yes feeding outside may mean you never get impaction, in both cases i can't say if this was done or not, i jsut saw the end result, and regardless of which way they fed, i know what i won't be using.