Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering what other folks use. Thanks

Bob.

I used to use coconut bedding it holds moisture really well.
-----
"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

Coconut husks rock as subtrate!! Way better than that reptile bark crap I used to use many moons ago, oh those were the days....

I had trouble with blister disease on the Rhino Ratsnakes I was keeping. I could not seem to provide the ideal conditions and they spent too much time soaking.

I finally offered hide boxes with moist sphagnum moss and that cleared things up. I tilted the hide boxes slightly so that there was always a bit of standing water on the lowest part. That sort of provided areas of wet moss and areas of dry moss.

np

It really depends. The Gonyosoma I keep, for example, are unique in that they are very likely to deficate in their hide boxes. I have never seen this to the same degree with other species.

For other species, probably a bit less often that a typcial substrate change. I say this due to 1) under the assumption the species does not or rarely deficate in their hides and 2) due to the acidic/anti-microbrial properties of sphagnum moss.

a box of moist eco-earth, etc (the coconut husk stuff ground up) mixed with a little potting soil. Raised them. Most of the cage moist, some dry.

The snakes thermoregulated just under the substrate, and moved from moist to dry when they wanted, though they spent most of the time in the moist. No blister disease. No shed problems. Nice supple skin. Did great.

I did notice that the adults did not take advantage of the moist areas as much as the babies, but I didn't work with the adults long enough to reach any conclusions.

I'm beginning to think we keep certain species too dry, especially the hatchlings. I know this for fact with mtn kings.

The cages were well ventilated. Let the substrate hold the humidity just like in the wild. The air can be dry for most colubrids.

Do you think there is any advantage to putting a small container in a hide filled with whatever material you choose to boost humidity as oppossed to just using it as the bottom lining in the hide?

Bob.

A cleaner cage, that is for sure. I like the humid hide approach because you don't get dirt everywhere every time you go into the cage.

My dirt cages were just experiments.

FR the field guy would tell us that snake eggs are laid in areas that are humid but dry, meaning dry substrate but more humid air due to little or no evaporation. How one achieves that in captivity is a mystery to me. Perlite does drain well and so is probably a good approximation when put in a closed container with just a few air holes.

I think that snake cages might be best if given an area like described above - humid yet dry - but I don't know how. My captives did great with ventilation and deep dirt. I still don't know anything except we keep hatchlings too dry.

A very knowledgeable breeder showed me something one time for hatchlings. He never kept a hatchling w/o a humid area. He said it defied what they look for in nature to keep them on dry substrate without a humid hide.

Another guy kept pyros in a humid room in dry substrate cages. He was able to get eggs with virtually no cooldown, and his eggs hatched. Blew me away. Pyros and no cooldown? Contradicts what most people practice.

Again, if we all keep accepting what is in books and what we see most of (sweater box racks, Flexwatt, etc) then we might miss what is best for the snakes, whatever that may be.

n/p
-----
Treemonitors.com