>>ok,,, i really appreicate all the help here, for this newbie(me,,hehe)...currently my king is in a 20 g long tank, and I use aspen bedding.....I was thinking of changing the aspen bedding to the green turf so that I can feed him in his tank and not worry about him swallowing the aspen...Im really woried about the aspen, as I had a brother who lost a corn snake a few years ago because it swallowed the aspen, so im very stern on not feeding him on the aspen...so I narrowed my options to two, either feed him in seperate container, or switch the tank to the green turf and feed him on this...what are opinions on this turf? do kings like this? I do know he borrows in the aspen, and concerned with the turf he will be more skittish cause he cant borrow any more...he does have hides in his tanks, but doesnt use right now due to the bedding...2nd question, what is the opinion of most on live v f/t? I understand that you have to be careful w/live, but i heard that mostly w/ rats and not mice, cause mice dont really attact the snakes...he has been eating F/T, and i figure to keep him on that..thanks again, Pete


I keep all my adult snakes on news paper easy to clean and no worries of ingestion. Depending on the species and how well its accumulating I will use newspaper on the bottom followed by shredded newspaper for "extra" hiding/security/borrowing. I find my colubrids like hiding under the newspaper so I try to fold it certain ways to give them extra hiding areas.

I think most natural substrates have pros and cons to them and I have tried most of them and always go back to newspaper. My biggest worries are ingestion of the substrate followed by the small possibility of introduction of insects/eggs depending on where/how it was processed.

I wouldn't recommend green turf as it holds the smell/bacteria is a pain in the butt to clean and shreds over time.

If your snake is taking F/T there is never a need to change as its the most beneficial to you and your animal.
-----
Jason A.
"Long time Herper, first year Breeder `07."

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