Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a friend who's been browsing through websites looking at hognoses, since I just got one, and she noticed how many of the pictures of hoggies and corns on one site had them on fishtank gravel. I think they only do that for photographs, but she likes the way it looks a lot. So now we're both curious, can you use gravel as a substrate? It doesn't seem like it would be very comfortable for the snake though, especially since they can't burrow in it. And it's not absorbent at all. Sounds like a bad idea to me, but hey, why not ask?
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purrhisswoofmeowblubsqueakneigh

gravel is, as you said, not absorbant at all. this is going to sit down there and just breed mold, mildew, various fungii, as well as possible diseases. cant be burrowed in, overall bad idea.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Caligula)... coming soon

I'm not really sure if the snakes really like it by itself... you could use it as a mix with sand successfully, but I would not suggest it by alone. A 2 parts gravel to 3 parts sand would be an ok mixture I think. It may be possible to do, but cleaning gravel can be some serious work. You can rinse the gravel off with a modified bucket and hot water, but unless boiling water is used I'm not sure if it could kill all the bacteria (with actual fishtanks at least).

In my opinion I don't reccommend gravel because it's alot of extra work that isn't necessary. If you do mix it with sand, I would suggest some form of digestable sand that is made for geckos to be safe.

My suggestion is to use wood chips, shreds, orchid bark, cypress mulch, paper towels, newspaper, or something different...

Good luck
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Current Collection:
0.1 Antherystic elaphe guttata guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
0.1 Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta - Black Rat Snake
0.1 Leucistic elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake
1.1 Morelia spilota cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Tiliqua scincoides intermedia - Northern Blue Tongue Skink

while we're on the topic, what is the overall view of sand as a substrate? I like the look of it, but i never thought of it untill just now
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There's a village in Texas missing it's idiot

I have tried sand on a few occasions with rosy boas and various other herps. Sand works better than pea gravel as far as being able to keep the substrate spot-cleaned, but it is still not the easiest substrate to work with. Sand seems to permeate any small crevice, door tracks, etc no matter how careful you are. It somehow gets on the floor around the cages the same way. It sticks to the water bowls and often gets in those as well. And the weight of sand doesn't make things easy when stacking cages.

I wouldn't say sand doesn't have its place as a substrate, but I find it more difficult to work with than wood chips or paper.
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Mark G
Collection:
Beautiful San Felipe rosies
Some CA rosies
Some Ariz mtn kings

Alright, I thought it was bad. I told her a good idea might be some sand with maybe a rock of gravel here and there, maybe just a few multicolor pieces for the sake of novelty.
Personally I don't worry too much about ingestion with my snake. I feed her in a seperate tank entirely. I'd much rather completely avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion than deal with prying her mouth open to remove flakes of this or that or deal with impaction and then days and days of crying my little eyes out if/when it killed her!!
EW! I never thought about sand's weight as a factor! What a pain in the butt that would be to keep clean... I'll let HER play with the sand I'm sticking with these lizard litter chips/shavings. She looooves to burrow in them. The coconut bark was pretty, and it made it easier to see her, but I'd rather she enjoyed herself
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purrhisswoofmeowblubsqueakneigh

>>I have a friend who's been browsing through websites looking at hognoses, since I just got one, and she noticed how many of the pictures of hoggies and corns on one site had them on fishtank gravel. I think they only do that for photographs, but she likes the way it looks a lot. So now we're both curious, can you use gravel as a substrate? It doesn't seem like it would be very comfortable for the snake though, especially since they can't burrow in it. And it's not absorbent at all. Sounds like a bad idea to me, but hey, why not ask?
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>>purrhisswoofmeowblubsqueakneigh

Gravel isn't a good substrate. To me neither is sand. It is abrasive and drying and doesn't hold a burrow. If injested it kills. If you want something for a burrower I would use Carefresh or Cellsorb Plus or Aspen ....holds burrows, digestible and absorbent and easy to clean.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

bad idea, if she wants something other then plain looking substrate try that colored sand, its calcium. i would just use dried out expandable bedding(bed a beast type) or aspine. theeir both cheap and easy to clean.

As I just posted, I suggested sand with maybe a few specks of gravel for the sake of novelty. She doesn't like aspen or lizard litter, but not for the reason I do. I don't like to use it simply because I have a snow corn and it's just so bland looking to see a white snake on a pale bedding with a pale wooden branch in there... bleh! She on the other hand "just doesn't like it" and wants something "prettier." I've just kinda gotten over the whole wanting anything aesthetically pleasing for the snake of the happiness of the snake now. We're back to good ol' lizard litter and all she does all day is crawl around under it. Now if only she would "discover" this hole in the box on the warm side I cut for her... silly girl
Thanks!
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purrhisswoofmeowblubsqueakneigh

what about dyeing some reptibark with food colouring ..just an idea

ooooo cool idea! i never thought of that. Maybe I should do that with Aurora's "Lizard Litter"
Oh wait... hmm... wouldn't it just make it all clump together?
Experiment time!!!!
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purrhisswoofmeowblubsqueakneigh

DO NOT DIE THE BEDDING RED, YOU WILL KILL YOUR SNAKE GUARANTEED. RED FOOD COLORING IS MADE FROM A SPECIFIC SPECIES OF SOUTH AMERICAN LOCUST WHICH FEEDS ON POISONOUS RED FRUIT. ALTHOUGH HARMLESS TO HUMANS, THE POISON CONTENT IN RED NUMBER 40 WILL KILL A SNAKE IF INGESTED.

(source on die composure: Fast Food Nation copyright 2001.)
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2.4 Malaysian Blood Python
1.2 Borneo Black Blood Pythons
1.2 Sumatran Blood Pythons
2.4 Pastel Red Tail Boas
2.4 Ball Python
1.0 Albino Retic
0.1 Tiger Retic
0.1 Albino Burmese Python
1.2 Calibar Python
1.0 Macklotts Python
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.2 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.0.1 Brown Water Snake
0.0.1 Florida Banded X Northern Water Snake
0.0.1 Costa Rican Parrot Snake
0.0.1 Desert Night Snake
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0.0.1 Mangrove Snake
0.0.1 Western Shovel Nose snake
0.1 Ornate Flying Snake
0.0.1 Mandoda King Snake
0.0.1 Mohave Side Winder
0.1 Neon Cape Gopher
1.0 Thia Beauty Snake
0.0.1 White Oak Grey Rat Snake