Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I can understand need for substrate on glass bottom tanks, but I have some vision cages with plastic bottoms. My pine snakes seem to like the plastic bottoms better than the substrate. They push the aspen over to one side and sit on the plastic. I also made them hide boxes out of old shoeboxes, but they keep knocking them upside down and sitting in them. This leaves the top open so they arent hiding, but they sit in it like they dont care for the aspen or something. Any ideas, or are my snakes just acting normal and accidently doing this?

I have used aspen, cypress bark, bark chips, bags of this and bags of that. I think there is nothing wrong with your substrate. You might need to fluff it from time to time and make your substrate deeper so that they can burrow. I suspect that packing or moving the substrate from the edge is part of the snake trying to escape. It can see throught the glass and tries to get out. you might tape some paper to the outside of the tank and see if that helps. As far as the chice of substrate...I like Tek-Fresh. The snakes stay clean, they can burrow, pack it down, whatever. It is by far the easiest to spot clean.

Mike B

By nature these snakes like a burrow. My pits seem content with a plastic dish pan turned upside down and nestled in the aspen. First I cut an access hole just big enough for the snake to slide through in the bottom of the pan/top of the hide. Perhaps the cardboard shoe boxes don't have enough weight to stay put as the snake tries to coil up in it? Substrate and hides are important for creating an environment where your snake feels secure. A snake can stress out if it feels too exposed, (vulnerable to predation). Just my opinion. . .
regards,
althea

I agree with althea; a substrate for burrowing is important. Pines are fossorial, so it's unnatural for them to sit out in the open for long. I think that your pines are knocking over the light shoe boxes and end up sitting in them because they're the nearest thing to a hide that they can find.

If they can push all of the substrate to one side, I'm guessing that you should put a lot more substrate in the enclosure. Your snakes are probably trying to burrow but can't go deep enough to cover themselves properly. My own snakes have lots of hides but tend to burrow more than use the hides.

Good observations from althea and blackpine. My solution is to use plain paper in the cages for my pits for ease of cleaning, but offer a plastic hide container (shoe box up to blanket box size depending on the snake) full of loose bedding with a lid with the access hole cut in it.

-Joan

I havent seen them try to burrow yet. They leave huge mounds of aspen when they push it around but they always sit on top of it. I believe now that they are pushing the aspen in attemp to escape though the glass. There is only glass on one side (as I said vision cages) and there is a ton of room for my young snakes, I dont know why they wouldnt go towards the back of cage where it is darker and more secure.

Im thinking it is true that they are pushing the boxes over due to being lightweight. I was going to get a hidebox from a pet store but I began to wonder if they did this on purpose, as they seem to like to sit in the overturned boxes.

I have had the exact same thing happen to me...my pits, back when I used aspen, would burrow and make huge plain spaces in their cage, only to just lay on the bottom.

Snakes can be different in how they act to aspen of course. I have found that since using newpaper and paper towels only, my snakes use their hideboxes all the time and very rarely get under the newspaper.

BUT.....I do guess that they would like to burrow in aspen as well. Either way, I doubt they would prefer one or the other.

Take care!
Billy

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Genesis 1:1

Hey Billy,

Have you found that your males prefer the sports section? I try to rotate between all the sections to give them a balanced intellect. Take care.
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Tim

S
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Genesis 1:1