What's the best substrate for ball pythons..

[Cohazard]

Racks are a perfect choice I currently have 3 x AP 1630 models which are the 3 foot deep by 18 inch wide that i house male boa's and grow ups. Racks are fantastic because shed is never an issue. Id fully recommend aspen or newspaper. I switched to newspaper when I had a mite scare, and never went back due to the ease in which it is changed. But aspen has a HUGE advantage with masking snake **** smell.

EDIT: I have the above racks plus 4 other racks and 4 AP 4 foot cages lol.

If you have any questions or concerns on PVC caging please feel free to send me a pm Ill go into depth

Cool thanks Mikeyy! I just browsed youtube and found a cheap DIY rack idea using a home depot PVC rack, heat tape, and a digital thermostat.

I will be assembling this over the next few weeks, and it will house my future snake collection (only 'planning' on four snakes )

 

[Gene0514]

@Mikeyy

One thing i always wondered about with the aspen, what happens when a large bp takes a a crap/piss/urate? Because my python takes huge craps and soaks his tub every time. This is easy to clean with newspaper, but I can't imagine how it would be with aspen. Would the aspen like soak up all the urine?

 

[Toby_H]

Thanks for all the great replies.My biggest priority is making sure my animals will feel comfortable and healthy.

Everything else is secondary.

We are only discussing substrates that work for the snake, I didn't realize that detail needed to be seperately repeated...

Everything else is not secondary... some things are third, forth, fifth, etc...

Since you are using tubs, chances are appearance is a very low priority for you. So it is a lower priority than cost or practicality (yet still remembering meeting the snakes needs is the #1 priority).

There are a lot of details that will decide which is "the best choice"... There will most likely be several choices that meet all of your snakes needs to choose from. Each of these will have pros and cons outside of meeting your snakes needs. I was entertaining a conversation to help explore how you would prioritise those pros and cons...

 

[Cohazard]

Hey Toby, wasn't trying to brush off your point, I know those are important factors, but right now I just wanted to discuss the pros and cons in relation to the snakes, not to my personal preferences in maintenance, budget, or taste in aesthetics.

Thanks for the help.

What are your setups like?


To those who are keeping snakes on paper in plastic bins, what do you need to do to regulate humidity and what level are you maintaining it at?

 

[muscle]

To those who are keeping snakes on paper in plastic bins, what do you need to do to regulate humidity and what level are you maintaining it at?

It depends. Many things affect humidity. i.e. where you live, room humidity, air flow in bins, substrate, type of heating, etc.

I'm in Florida and don't have humidity issues, except with animals in air conditioned rooms.

If you are going to use bins with lids (without a rack system), you'll need to put air holes in the sides of the bins (I suggest using a soldering iron). The size and the amount of holes you put in the bins will greatly affect your humidity.

As far as substrate goes, as mentioned above lot's of different substrates can be used. It's going to come down to your preference. I myself hate aspen as it makes a mess. I also dislike newspaper due to the ink. My favorite for balls is cypress mulch and corrugated cardboard. For boas, I prefer the corrugated cardboard.

 

[Cohazard]

Cool thanks again. I will just have to trial and error with it to see what works and what doesn't, thank you.