Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I've kept kingsnakes for about 10 years with wood shaving substrate and vermiculte to incubate eggs. It has worked well but I was wondering about coconut mulch and if it might be better since kingsnakes in the wild appear very attracted to humitity in general.

I just bought one of those bricks(of compressed coconut) that you put in water and it expands. Has anyone else tried this stuff? Either as a substrate or as an incubation medium? It seems real nice but I was wodering if it molds or has any other bad attributes? Also I have always used vermiculite for incubating eggs but I hate the way it seems to adhere to the neonates and dehydrate them somewhat when they hatch out.

I am trying this stuff in a couple cages right now as a substrate(with a high dry hidespot as well) and plan on using it on at least one clutch of kingsnake eggs this year but I am wondering if anyone has experiences with it already.

i have tried it... once.... and never again. i followed the direction on the bag that it came in ( soak it in water etc....) and when if finally dried out HOURS later i started to put it into the enclosure and it was very dusty.. i did not like it at all and it did not turn out to be as much as i expected... personally, for that more natural look i like the coconut husk. it holds humidity well and is very easy to clean and maintain... other than that i use newspaper

Thanks for the reply. I can see how dusty would be a problem. I am starting off using it differnt than you. I soaked it, and mixed it around then I put it in the cage wet,on the bottom as a moist layer. Then I put a layer of dry sand on top and stacked some broken clay pot pieces as hides. My thoughts were this would raise the ambiant humidity and the snake can burrow down to the moist layer if it wants, or stay up in the pot pieces if it wants to be dry.

Anybody got any other experiences? Problems with ingestion, impactions or anything else?

The brick of coconut bark/fibers worked well for me when I used it for my dart frogs. Hold humidity real well and never saw mold although I did have moss covering most of it

Thanks very much.

After not being impressed with the magical brick, I use a pre-prep'd bag of the finely ground coconut fiber. I use a 50/50 combo of the finely ground and the larger husk pieces for my RBR but I just use the husk by itself in my ball python enclosure... adjust and experiment to see what works best for you... that's the great thing about this hobby, there are baseline husbandry guidelines that need to be met, but after that the skies the limit... I've had no issues with mold or mildew, but then again, I don't keep the stuff in my cages long enough for molds to form any ways...

Karl

Funny how folks, namely me, can have a completely different opinion on a subject.

You are correct - kingsnakes thrive in conditions of a moderate humidity, and they will take advantage of higher humidity at times, with hatchlings choosing higher humidity often. The catch is that the substrate shouldn't be wet.

Using a mixture of the coconut coir fiber you mentioned and some calcium sand, I think this makes the perfect kingsnake substrate. Holds moisture without being really wet. Much less dust than aspen or any other wood/paper product. Harmless to the snakes.

I raised some prairie kings from hatchling to adult in this very mix. They stayed buried so much that during the day, one would think there were no snakes in the cages. They came out at night. Anyway, skin tone was excellent, and the snakes thrived.

My nose is sensitive to wood dust. Aspen makes me sneeze sometimes. This stuff, never. Snakes can burrow in it easily.

I've since used it for spotted pythons, and I like the results.

You can try it and see. Not everyone is a fan, since it is messier to make than simply opening a bag of aspen. Your snakes will do well on it. That last statement is a sure thing.
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Mark

Thank you very much.

I have a natural terrarium where I've used a mixture of one of the bricks of ground coconut husk, orchid bark, sphagnum/peat moss mixture, and a small amount of the Miracle Grow Organic mixture, which mostly has more sphagnum/peat moss and some natural fertilizers for my plants. My snake loved the humidity and the opportunity to burrow. The only problem I had with my setup was that he found his way down into my rock-drainage layer, under a plastic mesh that I used to keep the substrate off of the rocks. I've moved him into a Spartan enclosure for now, but when he is bigger and can't quite fit in with those rocks, I'll move him back into his favorite terrarium. The plants are growing well in it for now.

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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan) (Deceased )
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

nah this stuff it perfectly fine, i use it with all my herps as they are all tropical, i didn't see where your from but if your in canada canadian tire sells the exact same coconut fibre in an expanding 2cu ft bag for about half the price as those pet store bricks