Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering what you guys over there use as substrate In the past, I have used cage bird sand for both Rough Scaled and Javelins,however it is heavy and also easily ingested especially if the prey item is a little wet. I mention it is heavy as I keep all my sand boas on a rack system. I have tried Aspen,but I find it dusty and again there are ingestion issues when feeding.
At present I use newspaper,they are thriving and eating well although I sometimes have a sloughing issue. I was considering a moss box as I have used these on many Colubrids and never had any issues.

By the way.geat site with some usefull info. Here in the UK sand boas do not seem to have reached the populatity as over with you.

Regards

John

I used shredded aspen.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Thanks for the imput Chris.

John

How do you feed Chris,in the enclosure or in a seperate box. I am concerned about ingestion of the Aspen.

Cheers

John

I feed some animals in the enclosure and some out of the enclosure (just depends on setup). I feed babies their first 3-5 meals in the enclosure (seem to start better that way). If you only have a couple animals and they eat out of the cage then go for it. When you have a large number of animals feeding in the cage can be easier IMO. I have never had a snake die from ingesting bedding.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Thanks once again Chris.

John

Back when I had a large colony of conicus I used sand for a substrate without any problems for almost 20 years. They will always ingest small quantities, but they have obviously evolved to handle it. I also noticed that neonate conicus fed much more readily when kept on sand, as I believe they felt more secure when burrowing into it. The only drawback of this substrate is the weight.

Kelly

Sani Chips work awesome. Not too much dust, light weight, easy for them to burrow, clumps up their waste nicely and if you feed live not much ingestion. Frozen thawed, wet rodents can get some stuck on them however, but the pieces are small. It can create a very dry enclosure so a larger water bowl for a little humidity works well for shedding. I've been very happy with sani chips in the short time I've been working with sand boas.

Thanks for the imput guys. I do agree that Conicus neonates do seem to feel more secure in sand.

John