Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been using non-fertilized potting soil as a substrate for my black rat snake and corn snake. I was wondering if that is good and is spanish moss a good substrate?

Have you considered aspen bedding? It looks good and is easy to take care of. I would imagine that the potting soil is difficult to keep clean and dry.

ep
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Occupants not paying rent:
1.1. balls
1.1 corns
1 everglades rat
1 w. hognose
1 bearded dragon
2.1 cats

The potting soil I use is really nothing more than top soil... It dries very fast under the light in there and stays very dry... I saw some comments about aspen shavings sometimes causing resporatory problems and intestinal problems if swallowed so I avoided it...

I have only had the black rat snake a few days, but he seems to like to burrow under the soil... If he isn't there, he is balled up on a branch I have in there...

The only problem with the soil is when it comes to cleaning because I have to break out the water hose and stuff... I really just want to make the environment as natural as possible...

I heard some people talking about using moss as bedding and that they really liked it and I wanted to see if spanish moss is good too cause it is a lot cheaper than the specific reptile moss you buy at the pet store...

If it is good stuff, I plan on keeping the soil as the main substrate and putting a good pile of the moss in a corner for the snakes to burrow under and or lay on...

Thanks for the comment...

"Cheaper is not always better!!" and "You get what you pay for.."

Watch where you buy your moss from, which every type you choose, especially if it's from the home improvement giants, I had bought some from home depot once and it was laidden with bugs... it didn't appear to have any when bought, but once I sprayed it down, and put it in my enclosures, a few days later noticed some small beetle looking things crawling around in the cages... wasn't harmful to the snakes, but still, they weren't supposed to be in the cages!! But you did say you wanted it to be as close to real life for them, so maybe you want bugs....

my trick to the expensive reptile moss stuff is to wash and reuse. I hate paying that much for the moss b/c i know it cannot possibly cost that much to "make". i have green tree frogs and some fire belly toads and thats what i use the moss for, everything else is on that indoor/outdoor carpet. (its black to it looks pretty good w/ my logs and vines and stuff, its a lot easier to clean too- dishwasher ) With the moss stuff, I have enough to totally change out the cage and put fresh in and by the time the other stuff has been cleaned and dried out, its time to clean cages again. - just a thought.
beth
p.s.- i clean my amph. cages with vinegar/water solution. and rinse very well, I'm pretty paranoid about toxins and such so i rinse the 'dirty' moss off in a colandar (sp) and then let it soak in the vinegar and then rinse it again and let it dry out.
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Although I haven't used potting soil persay, I have used the coconut husk product - e.g. EcoEarth, EcoPeat, etc - with immense success.

If you can deal with the extra cleaning necessary (soil tends to stick to everything) then I say experiment and see how things go.

Just because most people use aspen doesn't necessarily make it the best for the snake in question. Aspen is available and cheap and generally works well for many species. Still, I have had just a few snakes get runny noses on aspen that went away completely when switched to coconut product substrate or else newspaper.

I realize ratsnakes may be less prone to burrowing, so keep that in mind when reading my comments below.

For kings and milks, the property of the soil holding humidity under the surface is a real benefit. My hatchlings of various milks and kings absolutely thrived using the coconut husk dirt as a substrate. They were not dehydrated like alot of baby snakes one sees and the feeding response of some (like ruthveni) seemed to improve, and although it is difficult to actually prove that statement, I still stand by it. Dehaydrated hatchlings do not do as well IMO, especially for largely sub-surface ground-dwelling species.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

> I have used the coconut husk product

That's what I've been using for some time.
The stuff I use comes compressed in a brick. It's a bit of a pain to prepare, but what I do is prepare it ahead of time. When I use it, I have it ready - and prepare another batch.

Sometimes I mix it with some reddish desert sand product - I forget what it's called (I used my bag of it up last time).

>>I have been using non-fertilized potting soil as a substrate for my black rat snake and corn snake. I was wondering if that is good and is spanish moss a good substrate?

I like 'dirt' for some animals and while I don't prefer it for most of my snakes I think it is better than most substrates. At least if they ingest much it won't kill them. Same with moss. Though moss is better for not putting fine dust everywhere when it dries out. And I think with tiny snakes it is safer against being ingested. My vet dislikes wood (yes, even aspen) because he has seen babies dead or dying from eating even a small piece of it.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

That's the primary reason why I feed my guys in a separate container, I use sterlite tubs, with hole drilled in the tops and sides... works ok for small collections doing this, but if you've got a big one, might be harder to pull off...