Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is there any problem with using a dampened towel as a substrate in my tank if i change it weekly?

I have actually thought about this in the past. Why not use a cloth towel instead of a paper towel and just wash it with bleach. It would have to fit the cage exactly, and you would have to change it when dirty rather than just once every week.

I would not, however, recommend a damp towel. This could lead to infections of the skin (blister disease). This also points out a problem with cloth substrate - it holds water well and so if the water spills, the snake will have wet substrate.
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

This subject has been discussed maybe not in these forums but in the herp trade. It's definately not recomended. Not only for the reasons of any kind of build up of bacterias or fungus which would most likely cause an URI among many other pathogenic problems. But snakes have on quite a few occations accidently ingested towels then if you aren't able to induce it to regurgitate it a vet bill would be in the near future.