#snake substrate

[omg-snakes]

Hello! Cute snakes! I have a question: do hognose snakes need burrowing substrate? Like a dig box or something?

Hiya and thank you!

Yes, hognose snakes will be happiest and healthiest with enough substrate to burrow into. Their turned-up snoot is designed to act as a shovel and they will instinctively want to push that shovel into the dirt and get to rooting around like the little piggies that they so closely resemble in facial feature and overall temperament.

Aspen bedding works just fine and holds a burrow well if you’re not able to go bioactive or demi-bioactive. Just make sure that you have enough substrate for the snake to burrow down and be completely covered. You can also bury cardboard tubes or half-rounds of cork under the substrate if you want.

Dig boxes of coco coir, top soil, and long cut sphagnum moss can double as humid hides and will give your hognose some texture enrichment. 

They’re fairly shy snakes so the more they can feel hidden and safe, the less stressed they’ll be, the more likely they’ll come out to say hi, and the easier it will be to handle and feed them.

[cairothebp]

So I was given these earlier, I've never heard of this stuff before and I was wondering if anyone has heard any reviews or used it before and could tell me stuff about it, I'm having a hard time finding information :/

[omg-snakes]

What substrate is good for corn snakes that isn't aspen? I'm hoping to have a kind of half aspen half something else in my corn's enclosure, but I'm not sure whats good. Any suggestions?(I love all of your noodles btw ^.^)

Hi there!There are lots of good options that aren’t aspen. You can use something like coco chip or coco mulch, which is going to be more chunky than coco coir and is less dusty, though some brands can be rough to the touch. You can also use cypress mulch, though honestly it’s better for humid enclosures and gets splintery when dry.Sani-Chip is a good option though it won’t hold a burrow.If you want something silly/pretty, you can use paper pulp beddings like Carefresh which come in tons of neat colors. Just make sure you choose one that doesn’t have the Odor Stop formula or any baking soda additives (which is not great for reptiles).If you want something natural-looking, you can mix a custom blend of substrate with peat moss, long-cut sphagnum, coco mulch, cypress mulch, washed play sand, charcoal chips, and cleaned leaf litter! This can be a pain to clean, though.You can also use new substrates in a tupperware-style container as enrichment. I give my snakes diggy boxes of extra-deep substrate and/or sphagnum moss that they can root around in.The only things you want to really strongly avoid are going to be anything made from pine or cedar, sand by itself (especially calci-sand), walnut shell, and alfalfa pellets.

I hope you have lots of fun trying out new substrates with your snake friend and that you find something they really enjoy!

[omg-snakes]

Is reptile carpet ok for a corny snakey

Hello!Meh, honestly it’s not my substrate of choice. The advantage is that it’s dishwasher safe, but it offers zero burrowing opportunities and it’s not very absorbent so every time your snake makes a mess you’re going to have to wash a wet, slimy, icky repti-carpet. It’s nice for lining dry hides, though, and it’s okay as a bottom layer under the substrate for a burrowing reptile to keep them from pressing themselves directly against the glass.

[cairothebp]

I want to put soil in Cairo's tank so it'll hold humidity better, if anyone knows if this would be okay please let me know! Tagging @wheremyscalesslither and @i-m-snek because those pop into my head first but anyone who has advice or anything, I'd love as much input as I can get!

[thlpp]

Hi! I know you don't currently use mulch substrate, but are you at all familiar with how freakin humid that stuff is fresh out of the bag? I've tried to manage this by airing out the mulch before redoing each tank but it still makes my humidity RI-high for a day or two. Any suggestions?

I think you’re on the right track with airing it out for a bit. You can fast-track this by putting it on a cookie sheet and baking on super-low for like 30 mins, then turn oven off, open the door and let the physics take its course.

If oven doesn’t sound too appealing, and you have room, lay it out on newspaper or trashbags in a thin layer (no thicker than an inch) on the floor, and let it sit for a day or so. That should go faster than just keeping it in the open bag.

Finally: If you’re not using cypress mulch as part of a bioactive setup, consider switching to astroturf, and keep a dig-box in one corner for the snake to dig in. I use these corner litter pans they sell for rabbits, but you can use any plastic container with tall-ish walls, so most of the mulch stays in.

Jus’ sayin’.

[rainbowsnakes]

what's a bioactive setup?

Hello anon. 

A Bioactive set up is essentially recreating a functioning ecosystem within the animals enclosure. It keeps all the substrate naturally clean and provides great enrichment for the animals- especially those that like burrowing.   

The substrate will have invertebrates added to it like springtails, woodlice, maybe a few earthworms and even certain beetles and millipede species can be used.  All these creatures make up the “clean up crew” of a bioactive set up.  They break down the animals waste into the soil where the nutrients can be used by plants (though you don’t have to incorporate plants into a bioactive set up).

This method of keeping has been practiced by amphibian keepers for ages but is not as commonly used for snakes and lizards, though it is starting to become more popular.

While Levi and Glados are brumating I thought I would give it a shot.   

[rainbowsnakes]

Experiences with Lignocel?

Hey all. Has anybody got any opinions of Lignocel as a substrate for snakes? It's usually advertised as a more absorbent and less dusty than aspen. 

I've been chatting with inexplicablyodd about it, who got some for their snakes but is feeling pretty reluctant to use it now after reading some horror stories about this substrate clumping in snakes mouths (usually if they are fed in the tank but also freak accidents) and sometimes killing them...  

From this I'd say it sounds like its not worth the risk and stick to aspen??

Interested to know if anybody else has any input.