I'm set to receive my first carpet python in a few days; an Irian Jaya. I'm pretty excited and want to setup his enclosure correctly so I'm not tempted to handle him too much during his first few days of adjusting.

The enclosure I have now is a 45 breeder with normal dimensions. I've kept ball pythons and Colombian boas before, so I do know my way around snakes. With that said, I'd like for this guy to have a more "natural" type of a setup and wanted to inquire as to whether anybody here has done such a task.

My plan involves a few sheets of corkbark used as hiding spots and/or background cover. I'd also want to add a few branches for him to rest and bask on. For the substrate, I was thinking either coco fiber from the petstore, or some sort of (hopefully cheaper) mix of soil/vermiculite. I would also like to use tropical plants where I could (non-poisonous of course).

My main concerns stem from the difficulty of having to clean this environment. I don't mind replacing the substrate every two weeks (or weekly?) but I'm having trouble finding a chemical to sanitize the cage with that won't harm the snake and plants. Also, I've used coco fiber before but remembered that sometimes it can bring mites with it. I've been told an easy way to fix this problem is to bake the substrate at 250*F for at least 30 mins.

I'd like some feedback on my little "plan" here. Look promising or is it a lot more work than I'm anticipating?

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