Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is ESU reptile jungle mix an acceptable substrate for my california king? its time to move him to a 20 long and the only decent substrate that i could find at the local pet store was that jungle mix. i kinda remember reading that some people used that. i know aspen is better but i have never been able to find it. he's on astroturf right now so i never do a separate feeding enclosure but i am willing to do that if the only draw back to the jungle mix is the possibility of ingestion. thanks....joe

I believe the jungle mix is a fir bark-type of stuff, and it should be safe for your cal king. I would be careful not to keep it too moist though. I have noticed the bags I have seen seem fairly damp, and the cal king is a desert dweller, you don't want to have problems with scale rot. Other than that it should be fine. Ingestion (and more likely mouth infection from getting poked while feeding) could be a problem. It will make a much better display with something like that rather than the newspaper I use for my colubrids
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Jeremy J. Anderson


2.4 Corns (motley, lavender, snow, amel, ghost, "normal"
1.4 Boa constrictor imperator (adult male anyone?)
1.1 Boa constrictor occidentalis
1.1 Whitewater albino Rosy Boas
1.0 Lonely Ball Python
2.0 Dumb darn dogs (1 Newfoundland, and 1 Border Collie Mix
1.0 Russian Black Hamster
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0.1 Girlfriend
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Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.