Synthetic grass for reptiles. Is it good?

[Ryderthefrog]

Hello everyone,

I am thinking of getting synthetic grass for a substrate for my two coastals and beardy but am wondering if its good/easy to clean. At the moment I have news paper and it's not the best aesthetically speaking. I am also considering critter crumble but I'm worried about them eating it. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Misnomer]

Synthetic grass eventually gets brittle and starts to break up with regular cleaning and it's exposure to heat sources. Marine carpet is a lot more durable if going this route.

 

[SteveNT]

We use it for all our herps. Looks good, easy to clean. Each enclosure has 2 pieces cut so it is a simple changeover at cleaning time.



after 3 years I've seen no sign of brittleness but then we dont use heat sources in Darwin.

 

[5potted]

I use fake grass which is waterproof ($35 for 5 sheets, gotta love eBay). Used with newspaper underneath works a treat. Just throw in the shower for a scrub, shake off water then replace.

 

[Ryderthefrog]

Thank you very much everyone found a good seller on eBay.

-Ryder

 

[AirCooled]

I have never use with any of my snakes, used it for a beardie but changed to full sand, under the fake grass became a hiding place for woodies and crickets

 

[Lawra]

Thank you very much everyone found a good seller on eBay.

-Ryder

I've had a look on eBay for some. Could you let me know who you got yours from please?

 

[SteveNT]

No drama with dead rats though. My bhp finds the rubberised underside very useful for shedding and he builds a labyrinth of tunnels under the astro turf.

 

[DeadlyDanny80]

Bunnings has a range of synthetic turf at a good price...

 

[Becca-Marie]

Bunnings has a range of synthetic turf at a good price...

Will the cut it to size for u or do u need to buy it in rolls?

Sent from my LG-P690f using Tapatalk 2

 

[Riffherper]

My beardie hated it (spike-iness) and I found it very hard to get poo out of. Stains easily and is all round a pain. IMO it's hard to beat sand for beardie and newspaper coupled with natural paper kitty litter for snakes .

 

[DeadlyDanny80]

Will the cut it to size for u or do u need to buy it in rolls?

Sent from my LG-P690f using Tapatalk 2

You can buy it off a roll for minimum half meter lengths... Cost you $15

 

[jessicastockwell]

Only problem I had with it, which was pretty stupid of me not to realise in the first place, is that the heat doesn't penetrate through it very well from underneath. My childreni loved to get underneath it, it's easy to clean, provided you have a spare piece to use while the other is drying.

 

[RSPcrazy]

I've used it, but found it to be to much of a headache.
To clean it, you need to hose it off, scrub it and leave it to dry. I had spares, so I didn't have to wait for that piece to dry, but 9 out of 10 times, my snakes would mess on the new clean peace within an hour of being cleaned. So I then had to hose off, scrub and leave the second piece to dry as well.

I don't know why so many people promote how easy it is to clean, I found it to be a massive pain, and much more time consuming then traditional methods. It might not feel so time consuming if you only have one or two snakes to clean, but when you have around 60, every minute counts on cleaning day.

But the worst part about it, was some of my snakes, repeatedly got there teeth stuck on it. One coastal would get her mouth stuck when eating. Another coastal was very angry and would strike at you when you got too close, most of the time, he would end up biting the grass and getting stuck. I also had a BHP that got stuck twice, once during feeding time and the other during a shed.
When they got there teeth stuck on it, it wasn't easy to get them off. There was no chance they would be able to get themselves off, they would regularly loose teeth.

I will never use the stuff again. IMO the only benefit it has, is looking good.

 

[Rogue5861]

I'm looking into scenic mats at the moment to use, very low pile with latex backing. Not sure if it will suit but it is pretty cheap ($25 for a 1.2x2.5m roll) an comes in a few shades of green.


Rick

 

[euan]

very easy to clean
just put in the washing machine
easy to sanitise that way as well
don't let the wife see though
get the good quality type

 

[princessparrot]

Is it ok for frogs?

 

[Planky]

Don't think my 8ft piece would fit the washer machine..

However Cleaning this stuffs a dream.. Takes me longer to start the pressure washer then it does to clean then the clean one hangs on the line while the spare is used

- - - Updated - - -

Make sure u get the "short" grass style

 

[Umbral]

I used it for a while and also found it a bit of a pain to clean compared to critters crumbles where you can just spot clean. The other issue I had was that my womas didnt seem to like the feel of it, they would arch as much of their body off the ground when moving so I figured if they didn't like it then it had to go.

I don't think compaction would be much of an issue with critters crumbles, it doesn't compact together like sand and provided your snake isn't tiny it should pass through with no issues. I am no expert on this, just stating my thoughts. If someone would like to correct me I'm happy to learn.

 

[Ellannn]

Looks great but I found it was a pain in the bum to clean!