The Best Substrates for Ball Pythons (and the worst!)
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- In this video we’ll talk about the best - and worst - substrates available for Ball Pythons. Choosing wisely for both your setup and your snake’s needs is a great first step to keeping it healthy. As always, I’ve written a full article on this subject, that you can find here:
ballpythonbreeder.co.uk/ball-...
My Morphmarket : www.morphmarket.com/stores/bp...
Coco chips: amzn.to/47wk3ff
Aspen chips: amzn.to/3NXA32O
Unprinted newspaper: amzn.to/3TQQRfK
Cypress mulch: amzn.to/48OH8uv
There are a few things substrate can do for your snake. It can make it more comfortable, which is frankly a pretty good start. It can also play a vital role in regulation humidity and hygiene within the enclosure. Let’s get right into it…
In this video and accompanying blog post we’ll learn about:
1. The top five best substrates -
a. Newspaper
b. Coco chips
c. Cypress mulch
d. Aspen chips (not shavings!)
e. Paper towels
2. The five worst substrates -
a. Cedar
b. Pine
c. Sand
d. Reptile carpet
e. Coco fibre (kind of…)
3. The relationship between substrate, humidity, and enclosure type
Contents of this video:
00:05 Intro
02:24 Newspaper
03:50 Coco chips
05:57 Cypress mulch
07:07 Aspen chips
08:12 Paper Towels
09:40 Cedar chips or shavings
10:17 Pine chips or shavings
10:52 Sand
12:13 Reptile carpet
13:06 Coco fibre (coco coir)
14:56 Relationship between substrate, enclosure type, humidity
18:15 Conclusion
From what we’ve just discussed, it’s easy to see how choosing the right substrate could affect your pet’s wellbeing. Myself, I always choose the right one for the enclosure in question - the best substrate for you will be one that you can replace regularly, and which helps maintain the correct humidity. I’m hoping that you will now be confident enough to choose the one that will work best for you. As always, feel free to get in touch and ask about anything else you'd like to know though.
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Love the snake bro ❤ liked and subbed good info 😊 i just got two of my first snakes ever a black head lavender albino and a normal similar to the one your holding in color and pattern.❤
Thank you! 🙂
Awesome video great topic!! Beautiful snake 🐍 keep up the good work!!
Thanks! I've just subbed to your channel - looks like you've made a good start 🙂
Very good video, helpful and nice snake :)
Thank you! 🙂
I used the coconut fiber block (that dusty earthy crap) in 3 days I had mold. I use a combo of paper towel in the hide and coco chip because they tend to push chip off the hide floor and pee in it. Sometimes the coco chip makes me nervous but I haven’t had issues just make sure you rotate it and agitate it from time to time to do it doesn’t get stagnant. Helps with bacteria and smells.
Hey thank you for watching! It sounds like what you are doing is working well. Good point about rotating it too 🙂
You're 100% right on it not being mold resistant a guy just did a video on a gravity ball python of his that got a horrible RI and she got it from having mold in the Coconut that you're talking about.
Good point - nothing is truly mold resistant! The best way to tackle mold is to change substrate often or use springtails and isopods in bioactive setups. The issue with bioactive though is that they let bacteria and protozoa grow almost unchecked. In my experience, no substrate is perfect - we need to pick one that we can afford to change fairly often and holds enough humidity for our enclosure type
This is a very useful video for me .I think since my bp is a bit ill paper towels are the best bet for me . But i will come back to this if the time comes to change . Its a bit confusing for me as a new keeper with some people saying spray then down every day others saying keep them very humid and others saying dont let them get to wet or it will breed bacteria. .
I would definitely agree 👍 I think it is confusing because everyone says this or that substrate is best, when we should all really be focusing on choosing the most appropriate one for our setup or keeping style
Ohhh I was wondering if Eco Earth or ground walnut shell was safe but I assume not if they might clog heat pits
Thank you for the useful video. I’ve had my Royal for 8 years now and always used Beech chips as her substrate. Is that even the same as Aspen chips or If It is I didn’t know that?
Hey Cameron, thank you for watching! Beech chips are similar to Aspen, but I actually think they are slightly better at holding humidity. Good job you commented, because I really should have mentioned Beech chips in the video!
I live in northern New England in the US. Ive found that covering the screen top with tinfoil during the winter months helps with heat and humidity retention.
That is a great idea - thanks for commenting!
I use Forest Floor but for some reason i think it's keeping my humidity too high but that might be because of the large water bowl? But i find it weird because im in the desert
It could also be a ventilation issue - is it a tub setup or vivarium? Sometimes it's a bit of a balancing act where one extra vent or a couple more ventilation holes will get the humidity just right. It's true that a smaller water bowl could help too, though. It's a tough one though getting humidity balanced, especially out west! Thanks for watching 🙂
@ballpythonbreeder.co.uk_ oh, she's in a tub setup, amd I can try either, I was told she needs to be able to fit in her bowl too, it is getting a bit tough to figure this out but is too much a big issue?
What would you recommend for the scaless balls?
Honestly for scaleless Ball Pythons the safest thing is probably unprinted newspaper and a high humidity enclosure like a tub or pvc setup. They are pretty delicate!
I've been using paper towels. I like being able to see right away if my snake has peed. I also don't want to deal with messy chips and dirt. I just add an extra bowl of water and a humid hide for moisture.
Sounds pretty smart to me. Thanks for commenting!