Reptile & Amphibian Forums

which oh these would make a better substrate?

Newspaper, unless you only have a couple of snakes.
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CB

"I post because I'm bored"

im only gonna get one, for now. so which one would be better?

I would think either would be as good as the other, just get two pieces cut the same so you can put the clean piece in while the dirty piece is being cleaned.
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CB

"I post because I'm bored"

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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

hey tigergenesis, can you tell me how you clean the carpet adn how often? also a long time ago my friend used lizard liner for his geckos and stopped because someone warned him that mites or something like to hide in it. did you have a problem like this? how long have you been using it? is there anything else i should know?
sorry for all the questions
thanks

Never heard anything like that. Of course, I would think that the animal would have to have mites first and that's how they'd get in the cage and I guess then I could see the mites getting in the carpet. But my understanding of mites is that they need a host and pretty much stay on them - i could be wrong.

Great thing about Ball Pythons is they don't go to the bathroom as much as say colubrids. So you don't have to clean up as much with them. My BP is pretty regular. Once a week he leaves urates and another day he leaves a big fecal/urate combo present. I of course spot clean as needed, but after he leaves the big gift I take the carpet out and put in the clean one (before doing so I disinfect the inside of the cage with Nolvasan/Virosan that is diluted in water and kept in a spray bottle for easy application). To clean the old carpet (and any thing else I'm cleaning) I follow this process:

1. Clean - hot soapy water. I let the items soak for a bit and then I scrub everything with a sponge.
2. Rinse
3. Disinfect - let items soak in a water & Nolvasan/Virosan solution (at this point I also disinfect the sponge). You can also use bleach and water but I prefer the Nolvasan - no need to wait for it to dry like bleach because it is safe for reptiles.
4. Rinse
5. Dry - some items I let air dry and some I dry off with a towel. I either let the carpet air dry or toss it in the dryer.

It is a bit more work than say newspaper, aspen, cypress, etc. But like I keep saying - I just love the look of green agains a BPs colors. And if you don't have a lot of snakes it's not too much trouble.
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"

to answer your other questions. I've been using the same 2 pieces of Lizard Liner for almost a year now. I've heard of some people washing in the washing machine (and some of those people had it ruined that way), but I think that might wear it out quicker and you can't disinfect that way. And I do not have an odor problem with the carpet at all. After I've cleaned and disinfected it bears no trace of animal odor.

Here's a great link for more info on the proper way to clean and disinfect (and an explanation on the difference between the two and why you must do both):
www.anapsid.org/cleaning.html

Hope that helps!
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Check Out My Albums

1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 Rough-Scale Sand Boa "Arwen"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"

0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer
"Kira"