It is unlikely your snake will actually "eat" cage substrate. Consider this: the world is not lined with cage carpet,paper towels,or newspaper. A snake in his natural environment must pursue prey on sand, dirt, leaves, gravel, etc. Most substrates, if accidentally ingested, will pass through the snake's digestive tract just fine. Typically, substrate is only ingested by accident during feeding. A simple way to avoid this is to feed your snake in a separate container with no substrate, then gently return him to his habitat.

Advanced Vivarium Systems published a book on desert vivaria. There are some great ideas in it for lighting, substrate, live plants, etc.

Let's face it, one of the reasons to keep snakes is that they're awesome looking creatures. Why not maximize the display quality of your pet? At the same time, you may be actually improve his quality of life to a degree. I keep several of my snakes in naturalistic vivaria, but unfortunately I'm one of the few people on the planet who still doesn't own a digital camera. I can tell you though, a well thought-out vivarium is well worth the extra cost and effort.

All the best,

Perry

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