Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am sure that people have gone onver this a million times but i am still nto cure. My mali is 8 months old and i currently have jim on news paper. I am not sure what the best substrate to use is. I have recently tried useing millet as a substrate. I noticed him injestig alot of the millet. And when i looked at his feces i saw what looked like alot of millet shells. I figured the millet has no nutritional value so i switched him onto newspaper but i would like to use sand because it is more natural. Do you think playsand would be safe for such a young mali? If not what do you think the best substrate option is. (sorry for posting two topics in a row, i have alot of questions )

it's best to keep such young'uns on paper. When he's a year old you can put him on a particulate substrate.
There is no 'perfect' substrate, so a lot of the decision is what works best for you & your animal.
The two problems associated with seed seem to be when uros eat too much of it and when they have trouble walking on it... It is better that a hungry uro eat his greens rather than seeds, so you may be better off avoiding seeds.
If you do opt for sand, you should figure a way to feed him in such a way that you minimize ingestion of sand, such as a feeding platform. It ususally works well, provided your uro doesn't like to drag his food around.
--benedita

I had just posted a reply to the same question a few days ago at this post: http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1054413,1054413 . In summary, my OPINION is that you could go ahead and put him on sand....but that's just opinion.

JR
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