I agree that newspaper looks ugly. But carpet (if you mean real wool or synthetic carpet) would just soak up the waste in no time and be impossible to keep clean. If you mean indoor/outdoor, astroturf plastic-type carpet, it won’t even absorb the liquid, leaving your snakes lying in a bacterial soup, so you’ll have to constantly swap it out with a clean piece; and some types will be very abrasive on snakes’ bellies.



Some people go with various wood products like bark or aspen. Advantages: looks better; might be a more secure feel for smaller snakes; holds moisture Disadvantages: holds moisture; expense with bigger snakes; my main complaint – you’re still utilizing the “scoop the poop” routine which leaves a lot of the snake’s waste to build up under and in the bedding.



My recommendation: try indented kraft paper and/or newsprint on top of the newspaper. Disadvantages: well, it’s still not free like newspaper alone! Advantages: It looks a little better; keeps all the advantages of newspaper; results in a little less black ink on water bowls or white snakes. For me, the main advantage is that you keep that ease of cleaning – roll it up , toss it, clean/disinfect, throw down new layers of paper, done.



The pic below was taken to illustrate sagging Vision caging on a different forum, but you can see the newsprint (the plain white paper) and the indented kraft (the brown paper). It’s your call on whether it looks any less ugly than regular newspaper, but it’s my solution for the present. I’m always open to trying something else.



-Joan

[ Show Entire Thread ]