Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are you sure? I posted something a while back about it having high ph and I looked it up. What the recommended ph for brb's? I'm not certain what is low/high. (I mostly know about cat pee!)

What about cypress mulch? (and newspaper..if you like)

Linda

Linda,
. A good substrate should probably have a neutral or near neutral pH. Perhaps snakes, like BRBs that may live in rotting vegetation could be adapted to the slightly lower pH which would be expected in rotting vegetation. Neutral pH is 7. The lower the pH the more acidic. A pH very far from neutral in either direction could cause skin problems. I am not sure what the pH is of any of the products we use for substrate. I would think that most of the commercially available products which are packaged and labled as reptile cage substrate would have a near neutral pH. I worry that people may be using products which may look similar to these products and actually have an acidic or basic pH. Urine is acidic. If a substrate is allowed to collect very much snake urine it could become acidic enough to cause skin problems. I do not have skin problems with my BRBs. I keep them on damp newspaper or papertowels or shreded or chipped cocoanut husk substrates. I suspect that most sking problems in BRBs are due to substrate problems. Long story short.....be careful selecting substrates and definitely change substrate VERY often.
Jeff

>>Are you sure? I posted something a while back about it having high ph and I looked it up. What the recommended ph for brb's? I'm not certain what is low/high. (I mostly know about cat pee!)
>>
>>What about cypress mulch? (and newspaper..if you like)
>>
>>Linda

My problem has always been creating multiple environments(moist / humid vs. dry) within a single (usually wood for insulative properties) enclosure. My male prefers a drier environment (and suffers from seasonal respiratory problems) and the female exclusively moist (now with a skin problem). I've always had success with moss in a Rubbermaid hide box and have to admit that cleanliness slipped a bit in this case.

Craig