Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What soil type do Western hognoses frequent where they occur? (Always sandy/loamy?)

Has anyone tried a substrate other than wood shavings or paper products? How did it work out? Thanks.
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Mark

I found it harder to spot clean and maintain, but I have a lot of animals, so it just wasn't practical. If you do go soil/peat/sand mix or something similar, freeze the bags first, I found bugs in my stuff.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

I agree with Jenea. I had to keep Easterns in a "natural exhibit" and I hated it. It was terrible to keep clean and to keep the right moisture in it. Hogs generally prefer sandy soils, since they are the easiest to dig in. I've been a big advocate of aspen shavings and currently I am trying out Carefresh (the blue colored stuff looks great with a Western!). I can see the desire to use what is "natural" for the hog, but frankly, there is NOTHING natural about four glass walls. There are many benefits to aspen shavings, and few detriments (don't feed on it).
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Virginia Herping
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VaHS
Virginia Herpetological Society online store
http://www.cafepress.com/vaherpsociety

"The irrational fear of snakes is the only excuse a grown man has... to act like a complete sissy" - Colchicine

I have used rabbit pellets for all of my colubrids for 15 years. I only started keeping western hogs a year ago and have found the rabbit pellets to be equally effective. There are a few positives and negatives in using rabbit pellets, but if you use them with the appropriate species, ones that enjoy less humid environments and that enjoy burrowing, they are great. You can also feed off of rabbit pellets as if any are ingested, because they are basically ground up alfalfa and what not, they can be easily broken down in the digestive track and easily passed unlike wood shavings or other non-digestible substrates. However, if you live in or need a humid environment, then I would not recommend them as they do have a tendency to mold under humid conditions. Another nice benefit is when defecated upon, they clump up like cat litter and that makes it very easy for quick cleanup. Hope that is helpful