# Substrate Dos And Dont's For Carpet Pythons



## reen08 (Feb 9, 2017)

ACCEPTABLE

* Paper Sheet Products - Newspaper, Paper Towel, Butcher's Paper, Paper Pellet Kitty Litter. Replace when 
soiled and the whole lot weekly

* Cypress Mulch - Make sure it's 100% Cypress Mulch and does NOT contain demolition or salvage content

* Aspen Shavings - Can be used although it can cause ingestion hazard and must be completely thrown out every month. More often if you mist the enclosure

* Fir/Orchard Bark - Expensive but absorbs and releases water really well

NOT ACCEPTABLE

* Pine Shavings - Releases fumes that can cause respiratory problems

* Sand - Not good in humid conditions and it's dusty

* Artificial Turf - Poor substrate (for most snakes)

* Gravel - Must be washed all the time especially when soiled. Unless you have the time to do this forget it

* Cedar Shavings - Releases toxic fumes that can sicken and kill your snake

PLANTS

* Both live and fake plants can be used although fake is a lot easier to maintain

* Live plants are coated with pesticides. Before putting a live plant into your enclosure discard the old soil on
plant and replace with new soil. Wash the plant. DO NOT use anything with fertilizer, pesticides or perlite

* Really great plants for your inclosure can include Bromeliads (Neoregelia and Aechmea), Ferns (especially 
Pteridophytas spp.), Small Umbrella and Fig trees, Peace Lilies, Devil's Ivy, Paw Paws, Split-leaf 
Philodendrons

PERCHES

* Tree branches you can use would be Willow, Dogwood, Walnut, Maple, Ash, Crepe Myrtle, Oak, Sweetgum etc

I hope this helps out with some common questions


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## Grunter023 (Feb 10, 2017)

What about Eucalyptus mulch?


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## Newhere (Feb 10, 2017)

Also spot cleaning of the substrate is unhygienic and lazy no matter what you use. 

Sure it will absorb a bit but imagine urinating on you carpet and calling it clean just because it's absorbed, not cool people.


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## Iguana (Feb 10, 2017)

Newhere said:


> Also spot cleaning of the substrate is unhygienic and lazy no matter what you use.
> 
> Sure it will absorb a bit but imagine urinating on you carpet and calling it clean just because it's absorbed, not cool people.



Spot cleaning usually involves taking a majority of the substrate that the urine soaked into, not just taking the solids. The solids are first removed before the 'patch' of urine that had soaked into the substrate. 
I understand where you are coming from, but you can't really expect a full cage clean every time your reptile defecates/urinates, especially with Lizards who go every day.


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## Newhere (Feb 10, 2017)

You may want to read the title of the thread again.

The 'patch' would be easy to remove if you came across it immediately after the snake went. Otherwise capillary action would eventually spread it through the substrate depending on its absorbing ability obviously.


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## Iguana (Feb 10, 2017)

Newhere said:


> You may want to read the title of the thread again.
> 
> The 'patch' would be easy to remove if you came across it immediately after the snake went. Otherwise capillary action would eventually spread it through the substrate depending on its absorbing ability obviously.



I did, maybe i'm missing something you're implying? If so please let me know. 
My statement was in response to your first one, I gave my opinion on the separate issue of 'spot cleaning'. 
I can usually get to it within the first couple hours, but depending on how big the enclosure is, and how big the 'patch' is, it really doesn't spread a whole lot, might be different if you were using pure coco peat/husk. But that's just from my perspective using critters crumble.


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## reen08 (Feb 27, 2017)

Eucalyptus Mulch. Umm. No. Sure it looks good but it's also slightly poisonous. Can also contain ticks and mites along with spiders and whatever else. If you are going to use it wash it thoroughly with water and bleach (mainly water), rinse well. Let it dry. I'd do another rinse with just water and then re dry. You also have to stop your snake from ingesting it. Good luck with that one. For lizards a definate NO NO as they will try to eat everything. Try it if you like but don't say you weren't warned


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## Peckoltia (Feb 27, 2017)

I use kitty litter, the stuff made from recycled newspaper. I just make sure that it is not perfumed (some are) - I spot clean every time any of my pythons take a crap or urinate. By spot clean I had a scooper about the size of a dust pan and remove any obviously soiled material + a bit more. If the bottom of the melamine is also dirty I will wipe that down too. Every month I will replace the whole lot.

I have been doing this for the last 10 years and never had a 'problem' or an issue with cleanliness.


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## Ghillies (Feb 28, 2017)

Newspaper, roll it up and throw it in the bin! Done.


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## dragonlover1 (Feb 28, 2017)

Ghillies said:


> Newspaper, roll it up and throw it in the bin! Done.


newspaper ??? NO WAY, IT LOOKS LIKE ****E.
All my dragons are on sand,my pygmy banded are on chipsi and my new blond mac is on aspen.
My thing is scoop daily sift weekly change 6 monthly,over 10 years and no problems


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## pinefamily (Mar 1, 2017)

Sand or sand/coir peat mix for lizards, and recycled paper kitty litter for snakes. Same routine as Rick, more as less, re cleaning.


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## Peckoltia (Mar 1, 2017)

I used to use newspaper - but it looks terrible. I think butchers paper would be a better option but never went down that road. I also found when one of the snakes would pass waste you could noticeably smell it outside of the cage. The kitty litter does a good job at reducing the smell.

Each to their own though, as long as you don't mind the look, your cages are clean and your animals are healthy then it doesn't really matter.


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 1, 2017)

reen08 said:


> Eucalyptus Mulch. Umm. No. Sure it looks good but it's also slightly poisonous. Can also contain ticks and mites along with spiders and whatever else. If you are going to use it wash it thoroughly with water and bleach (mainly water), rinse well. Let it dry. I'd do another rinse with just water and then re dry. You also have to stop your snake from ingesting it. Good luck with that one. For lizards a definate NO NO as they will try to eat everything. Try it if you like but don't say you weren't warned



Interesting posts reen08. I wonder where your info comes from? My live plants have no insecticides on them, because I propagate them myself. I do use soluble fertilizers because the snakes don't actually eat the potting mix. As far as eucalyptus mulch is concerned, I used it for a year or two without any ticks and mites appearing on my snakes (your suggestion is a nonsense), and the reasons I stopped using it were twofold - it has too much fine, dusty material when it dries out (and thus is quite dirty to handle), and it is very hard to re-wet when it dries out - water just goes through it without wetting it and lies beneath the mulch on the floor of the cage.

Jamie


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## Ghillies (Mar 1, 2017)

Yeah newspaper doesn't look pretty but my animals are for my own enjoyment so it doesn't bother me at all as it's free and easy to deal with.

I guess it does smell if you aren't changing it but I don't have that problem.

But as long as the tub/enclosure is kept clean and the snakes are in good health it doesn't really matter does it?

Plus I like to get my weekly betting tips of my snakes


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## pinefamily (Mar 1, 2017)

Only pick the ones they don't poop on?


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## pythoninfinite (Mar 2, 2017)

Anything from the Murdoch newspaper stable will clear constipation overnight !

Jamie


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## Nero Egernia (Mar 3, 2017)

reen08 said:


> Eucalyptus Mulch. Umm. No. Sure it looks good but it's also slightly poisonous. Can also contain ticks and mites along with spiders and whatever else. If you are going to use it wash it thoroughly with water and bleach (mainly water), rinse well. Let it dry. I'd do another rinse with just water and then re dry. You also have to stop your snake from ingesting it. Good luck with that one. For lizards a definate NO NO as they will try to eat everything. Try it if you like but don't say you weren't warned



I don't know whether there's much difference between the eucalyptus mulch and the leaf litter, but I use eucalyptus leaf litter for my lizards, straight from the bush, no cleaning, no disinfecting, and have had no problems with it. There were no ticks or mites. But I do get an assortment of insects. These are mostly spiders, grubs and beetles, and, depending on the lizard, are either consumed with relish or are simply ignored. And no, my lizards do not try to eat the leaf litter.


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## reen08 (Mar 16, 2017)

The post was mainly for pythons not lizards. I'm not saying do this and don't do that. They are only suggestions. All types of mulch, wherever it comes from has insects, spider etc. That's why I say to clean it as much as possible. If you've been lucky enough and never had a problem with mites, insects that's brilliant. It's just a precaution. As for spot cleaning, thing will probably sound very weird to you all, but I've toilet trained one of my pythons. Don't ask me how. She just waits until I take her out in the backyard. With my other girl, she just goes wherever she likes. Once she has toilet, in the particular spot, I'll pick up the solid with paper towel and then remove roughly 15cm of the kitty litter around the spot that she went. Then I'll F10 that whole spot, let it dry and then replace with new kitty litter


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## Buggster (Mar 16, 2017)

reen08 said:


> The post was mainly for pythons not lizards. I'm not saying do this and don't do that. They are only suggestions. All types of mulch, wherever it comes from has insects, spider etc. That's why I say to clean it as much as possible. If you've been lucky enough and never had a problem with mites, insects that's brilliant. It's just a precaution. As for spot cleaning, thing will probably sound very weird to you all, but I've toilet trained one of my pythons. Don't ask me how. She just waits until I take her out in the backyard. With my other girl, she just goes wherever she likes. Once she has toilet, in the particular spot, I'll pick up the solid with paper towel and then remove roughly 15cm of the kitty litter around the spot that she went. Then I'll F10 that whole spot, let it dry and then replace with new kitty litter



My Woma is also very well toilet trained xD 
Well... she has no problem relieving herself on me, but she won't do it in her enclosure, so that's a bonus... I think...


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## reen08 (Mar 16, 2017)

I've never been toileted on and I prefer to keep it that way


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## Ian69 (Mar 16, 2017)

My Woma is the same. Will never poop in the enclosure. Always waits till she is out and gives a nice little tail wag to let you know its coming. Slip some paper towel under her tail and straight in the bin when finished.
Never thought I would see a toilet trained snake......


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## dragonlover1 (Mar 16, 2017)

my snakes go where and when they like but my oldest beardy headbutts the glass when he wants out, so I take him outside and he poops on the grass! Woo that save me a stinky mess


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## nick_75 (Mar 16, 2017)

I use newspaper because of the ease of cleaning. I do a full replacement after any waste has been passed and F10 weekly.
The best part of using newspaper is finding people in the paper who irritate me and putting that page face up and hoping they get a face full.


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## nick_75 (Mar 16, 2017)

reen08 said:


> I've never been toileted on and I prefer to keep it that way


Lucky you as it is not a fun experience. Especially coming out of an Olive python. Another bad one was a wild Coastal Carpet a few weeks ago that was thrashing around as it musked me. It went everywhere! Tagged me quite a few times as well.


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## reen08 (Mar 18, 2017)

I must be really lucky. My sense of smell is almost non existant LOL Lucky some of us have herps that will go on command so to speak


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