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Hey_Mildred · #1 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 12:59 AM

Hi.. Just wondering what everyone uses as hides? Also can someone please tell me what the dissadvantage would be to using newspaper as a substrate and cardboard as a hide? I can't seem to find any.... but have recently been criticized... I mean my boas are very healthy and don't seem to get anything stuck or lodged in their mouths this way.... I also found that the boxes were very helpful when I first got them to get them to feel more secure while they ate....

humm.. I don't see a differance other then opinion.. let me know what you think.

Thanks

Mandy

HisssssyFit · #2 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 01:05 AM

I don't see anything wrong with using cardboard boxes as hides, I guess the problem would be when they use the potty inside there.

I use newspaper as substrate as we don't have cypress here and I don't want to take the chance with the other types as I think they're cedar and clay flower pots as hides myself...easier to clean, this may change in the future though, who knows

Hey_Mildred · #3 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 01:33 AM

Yeah.. I check them daily to see if there is anything, and if so.. I just grab them a new box.... It works out pretty well.. I actually have ceramic hides in the tanks also but I always seem to find them in the boxes....

CruiserMaiden · #4 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 02:02 AM

I wouldnt stress using what you are using. If your snakes are happy and healthy then tell those people who are complanining to get over themselves... If they want to use something else, thats fine, but you just do it your own way - they're YOUR snakes...

plums · #5 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 01:54 PM

isnt there a problem with mites in cardboard ????

Jem_Scout · #6 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 02:18 PM

Plum- if you do end up with mites in the cardboard, you just throw it away and put in fresh boxes after you treat the snakes...not a problem...

joker_8 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 02:36 PM

Im surethere are pros and cons for everything, a piece of aspen could get lodged in the snake and kill it, aspen is still a top contender. So use waht works for ya as long as the snakes are healthy. They only down side i could see, and Im not sure what degree it would be but, for instance my cage, I mist 3 times a day and I think if I had cardboard and newspaper it would have adverse affects on the structure. I may be wrong.

JuliusSqueezer · #8 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 02:46 PM

There isn't a problem with mites in anything if you don't bring mites in in the first place

Hide preferences vary. Some snakes just want to get in something and could care less what it is. Some prefer to just burrow...for instance, a hide in a dumeril's boa's cage is a waste of space. They prefer to burrow. Some snakes want or need a tight space with a good bit of weight or resistance so they can wedge in tightly and feel secure. Some just never hide anyway. I use old slightly bent car tags in a lot of my smaller pitviper cages. *shrug*...always seem to find them under a piece of tin in the wild...seemed logical.

Newspaper works ok..except it does nothing for absorbing moisture and holding humidity. You have to actually change it much more often...like near daily due to water spills where with cypress or other natural substrates, you can usually spot clean it for months between changing. It doesn't help dissipate heat at all from the UTH so you realy have to be careful not to overheat with it or you burn your snake. It's not pleasing to look at all. But...number one reason...ground dwelling snakes love to or feel a need to burrow in substrate and I don't believe squeezing between layers of newspaper is good enough. We keep them caged against their will...it seems the least we can do is give them their burrowing rights

IMO, if you keep dumerils, rainbows, sandboas, sunbeams, blood pythons, most candoia...and many others on a substrate that they can't properly burrow into, you are abusing/neglecting your animal's basic needs...Plus, my snakes are all rather dumb and can't read anyway.

Ratsicles · #9 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 06:56 PM

For my smaller ones I use cardboard hides ... I usually cut a box in half (height) ... then cut out a door. I change it out whenever they deficate. This is mostly because they outgrow stuff fairly fast. I use newspaper substrate for all. The biggest disdvantage to cardboard on bigger snakes is that they like to crush em, for them I use rubbermaid type containers.

Bryan

iLLwiLL · #10 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 08:34 PM

i'm really not a fan of newspaper . . .

i keep all my boas on corrugated wrap (cardboard liner), and use plastic hides. my dumerils have a large hide made from half of a huge rubbermaid container that they use very frequently. when i had them on 3" of corn cobb litter (what a nightmare that stuff was) they never burrowed, but i have read that some like to do so. i think its best to find a happy medium for your substrate needs . . . it should be something you can be happy with (ease of cleaning, overall appearance, etc.) and something you feel your boas are happy with.

~Will.

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