Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have Kings and Milks, right now i'm using Repti Bark. Any known problems with this?

the substrate is based on the type of system you're planning to create. for example, i know a guy that use top soil in his leapord gecko tank, and they didn't like it at all. leopard geckos come from a country where the soil is hardpacked not loose and so for that animal the best substrate is back yard clay.

what herp are you planning this for? most tropical substrates should be made from clean ( no animal byproducts or wastes) soil, milled peat moss, leaf litter or leaf mold, sand and some bacteria to help the cycle start. no fertilizors - black jungle sells something but really, you just need benificial bacteria. they really need to learn something about the nitrogen cycle.

if your planning for a ground snake like a corn or garter, use a packable dirt mix of clay and again, clean soil.

for others, well, just email me.

Use newspaper or paper towels. Seriously. If you must offer a burrowing substrate, use CareFresh.

Reptibark is dusty, very mite-friendly and smelly - stick your head in the bag and breath in deep. Yuck.

I keep all my snakes on newspaper. I decorate the cage with rocks and large pieces of wood which are easy to move when I need to clean.

Snake - colubrids in particular - are messy little buggers and seem to poop like it's going out of style. Newspaper is cheap/free, sanitary and absorbant and easy to clean out.