just making new cage, giving her lots of digging room, is cypress mulch ok for her? ive got some other "repti bark" i may mix in too with some hay from my tort. id go outside and dig regular old dirt but im not sure what kinds of chemicals are around here. ill try to get a pic up of the new cage when its done if i can
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nile substrate ?
po
Jul 30, 2006 03:37 PM
Replies (4)
Paradon
Jul 30, 2006 06:30 PM
I don't know about you, but I use newspapers, butcher's papers, and paper towels as subtrate. I had a pac-man frog that died of impaction after eating a prey full of dirt in his tank. i fear that if my monitor eat the prey with dirt on it he might die of impaction just like my pac-man.
po
Jul 30, 2006 07:39 PM
im building a 3 level cage and the bottom will be dirt, the top level is where she will get her meatballs and mice, and she gets her fish in her water bowl, so im not worried about impaction with her.
i have seen some pretty bad impactions in my day (at work as a vet tech and running a herp rescue) and they suck thats why my beardies are on paper and the leos are on outdoor carpet and all the snakes get feed out of the cages. i just know some woods are not good for herp and the people on her would know if it was bad for her.
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Paradon
Jul 30, 2006 11:31 PM
And also, when the fully mature males defficate, they can invert their hemipene, which happens sometimes, and get dirt on it before they retract back inside. This can cause some clogging up and infection.
scales53
Jul 30, 2006 10:42 PM
Never kept a nile on cypress but I've kept many other reptiles on it. All seemed good and my customers that use it all report good things. It does not seem to mold and I have seen that problem with repti-bark and coconut fiber. The only problem was an outbreak of mites when I used mulch. Never had that problem with ZooMed's product. Don't know, it could have not been related to the mulch but I won't take the chance again. The only reason I don't use it now in the shop is that after a year my wife figured out that was what was making her allergies worse.
Mike
