What are some good substrates for a northern pine. He LOVES to burrow. I've got him in aspen right now, but he has a habit of pushing it up into piles while he's digging around the edges, then he ignores the piles and tries to dig through the floor.
What would be a good alternative ?
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substrate for northern pine
Poomwah
Jan 21, 2014 01:15 AM
Replies (5)
Poomwah
Jan 22, 2014 11:03 PM
I've read their natural habitat was an area with sandy soil. So I thought, mix sand and soil, but in what amount? Then I read that sand can be bad for snakes, so I thought, just soil?
ELZiggy
Jan 22, 2014 11:15 PM
I'm very new to the world of pits so I can't speak from personal experience but I know other keepers that use a 50/50 mixture of play sand and top soil for their snakes. I'm not sure how well it holds burrows though. I use aspen for all my critters but often want a change.
Poomwah
Jan 23, 2014 09:56 AM
Aspen has always been my "go to" substrate. It just seems that with this guy, no matter how much I put it, he bulldozes it into piles and has bare floor in places. Funny as heck to watch, but I'm just imagining he'd be happier with something to actually dig in that wouldn't get pushed out of the way as easily.
I had thought about the 50/50 sand soil mix, especially since northern pines are from an area with sandy soil. But I've read a lot about sand related problems so I wasn't sure.
ELZiggy
Jan 23, 2014 11:32 AM
I got my Sep. 2013 baby bull snake a week ago. I put her on paper towel just to make sure she was mite free and I would think after a week that should be plenty of time to confirm that mites are NOT present. I was just wondering if it's ok to go ahead and put her on aspen now or should I wait the entire 3 month quarantine period?
viandy
Feb 04, 2014 02:31 PM
About the mites; The only thing you'll be able to see is adults. If there were no adults on a snake there could be newly hatched mites that would be too small to see until they grew a bit, or eggs that would need to hatch first. An excellent information source is on the VPI web site, Dave Barker goes over the whole life cycle. The general idea is to give enough time for mite eggs to hatch and be discovered - and eradicated. That can take an entire life cycle.
http://vpi.com/publications/the_life_history_of_snake_mites
Andy
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