Question on substrate?

[Tonya]

Ok, I finally got my rtb in his new home. He is in heaven. I have a real potho vining plant in there and that is his favorite hide spot. Here is my question, I found this sustrate at the pet store and it says safe for snakes and other animals. It is made by Zoo Med called Eco Earth. It is compressed coconut fiber. It is sold in bricks that you put in water and it expands. It is almost like real fine wood chips. Has anyone heard of this and is it an appropriate substrate to use? It was semi cheap and says that it naturally asborbs and breaks down odor and waste. Don't worry though, I clean out the cage on a regular basis and don't allow waste to sit in there.

Thanks again for the advise.
[addsig]

[LdyDrgn]

Eco-Earth isn't really the best stuff for substrate. Not only is it messy, but it can (and will) get into the mouth and cause mouthrot. Some people mix it with bark or cypress. Bark mildews too easily. Cypress is great all by itself but can only be found in big landscaping bags on the east coast.

Where are you located?
[addsig]

[captainmorgan]

I use something like that. It's not coconut I don't think. It's really like dirt. I've never had a problem with it personally and my snakes seem to love it. As long as you don't feed in your cage your snakes shouldn't get mouthrot. My snakes never eat the dirt and it hasn't gotten in there mouth either. I checked. It's really like dirt to me. It holds moisture better than any other substrate I've ever used and I've tried em all!!! It is cool, just add water and it will expand to a decent amount. I buy 6 of them and have enough for two tanks. One's a 40gal and the other is even bigger. And I find that it works good against mites if you mix a small amount of seven dust in with the substrate. I covered the top layer with a very fine dusting of seven dust and rotated it in with the dirt. They will poop under the dirt though so you do have to look for it!!! That's the only thing I've found. It can be a little messy when taking stuff out like my snakes.... [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[SteveP]

I tried the coconut fiber stuff a few years ago, when it first came out, and found it to be more messy than I wanted to deal with. General rule of thumb in my estimation is if you're east coast: shredded cypress. If you're west coast: shredded aspen. If you're somehwere in the middle: don't know. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[LdyDrgn]

Capt... It would get into my snake's mouth, and I wasn't feeding in there, either. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[Tonya]

Well thanks for the help so far. I live in Indiana. At this point I am not sure what to do. At the time it was cheap compared to a bag of wood chips the pet store sells for $25 and I got three bricks of this for $6 and only used two.
Any more advise would be appriciated. I have a big cage to cover. It is 48" x 24" x 24", just got done building it not long ago.

Thanks again, Tonya
[addsig]

[Whatsabateater?]

pssssstttt newspaper [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[SteveP]

Actually I always thought shredded newspaper would be kinda cool. A little less sterile than just sheets layed down (which I've done) and its one of those mindless things to do on an evening while you're sitting in front of the tube with your boa on your shoulder. Also, it's recycling and cheap!!! Otherwise I have no idea what else "organic" or natural looking would be available in Indiana. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

_________________
Nature...the original Master Planned Community!

[captainmorgan]

Oh no!! I wasn't trying to say you were feeding. I was just saying for those who might...I guess I came off to forward huh?? sorry. Good luck with your bricks and let us know how you like them!!!! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
[addsig]

[LdyDrgn]

Tonya... Home Depot has the large bags of cypress for about $3-$5.... can't beat that!!! Just wash it before using it. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
[addsig]