Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's time for me to clean my tank and I've decided to change my substrate from the lizard litter I have in there now to astroturf. I'm doing this because I prefer feeding my BP in the same tank and am afraid of him swallowing some of the lizard litter. It says the stuff is ingestible but I'm still afraid something bad will happen if he swallows some of it. Anyway, I need help with the UTH that I have. Since I'm going to put the astroturf in there he's going to be much closer to the UTH than he is on the 2 to 3 inches of reptile litter that he's on now. I have a thermostat that I'm going to try so he doesn't burn himself that has one of those sensors on the end of a wire. First off, how do you set that up? Do you just lay the sensor on top of the turf over the UTH in there or put it underneath where it is directly touching the glass over the UTH. Plus, I want to make sure I don't sacrifice air temperature in there either where it cools the UTH to the point where the surface temperature is fine but the air above it gets too cool. Anyway, any advice concerning this would be appreciated. Thank you.

i used to use astroturf but now i use pine chips. when i had astroturf i just left the uth on all the time at full
it was a little warm there so what i did was cut a few strips of turf and placed it over the uth spot. this gave a buffer and it was all good. one thing u will notice is that the snake will begin to be a jerk and start hiding under the turf if u dont set it in the tank firmly. i was tired of not seeing my snake so i switched and now he uses his two hides instead of under his substrate.

I wouldn't use PINE chips either !!! It causes respiritory problems , ask any breeder and they will agree!! Aspen ,Cypress mulch,or newspaper is what BREEDERS use and that is what is best! Pine chips are for mice and rats, NOT REPTILES!!!! Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles.

I used the green Indoor/outdoor carpet years ago and found that it causes irritation of the belly scales (red streaks on the belly scales). Because of this I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND using it for any Ball Pythons! It will cause stress on the snake and may cause it to go off feed. If you don't mind the looks I recommend using plain black/white newspaper it is smooth and easy to change out. Again you will regret using that turf crap, in time it WILL cause belly irritations. Anthony McCain-McCain's Reptiles.

We have a peice of wood over the UTH, with little rubber "feet" holding it up, then the thermometer probe, then paper. There's like 1/8" - 1/4" of air between Abigail's floor and the UTH.

We have always used newsprint in the past, but switched over to craft paper. If anyone lives near an IKEA, they have this fantastic product. It's a roll of craft paper that is 20" wide. It's nice & thick paper, not to mention it's cheap. [Like most things at IKEA.]

They also sell a bright primary color holder that has a handy straight edge to hold & cut the roll. It's in the kid's section. [With the 6 foot stuffed snake, no snake owner should be without a big cuddly plush snake! My neice or nephew that is due here next month is getting one!]

Maxwells

...yes, Kraft paper is very good. Conversely, astroturf is one of the WORST substrates used in herpetoculture. It's very hard on the belly of snakes, and is EXTREMELY unsanitary. It is almost impossible to disinfect, and gets quite STANKY. It's one of my biggest 'pet-peeves' in the reptile supplies' market.
Scott J. Michaels DVM