Im not sure about what this portion of the website is for but im posting a discovery ive found for great mediums?

I use a thing called expanded clay pellets.Ive seen them in 3 sizes a little smaller than golf balls about a small button and then theres some reely small ones.I mixed the two smallest and put them as my ball pythons medium.

Pros: there inexspensive and there nice looking hold moisture well and there not rough on the skin or under belly thery dont stick to pray (they dont look editable)

Cons: sorry cant think of any

Everyone that uses or has used please post a reply and give them a try

What exactly is the expanded part? Are they already expanded. Or do they expand with water? Cause that's real bad.

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Mike
"Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." - Mother Teresa

It sounds like you are talking about the material used for hydroponics.
These are not suitable to be used in your snake's cage! If accidently swallowed they pose a serious impaction risk! Yes they hold moisture. But you do not want the bottom of the enclosure to be constantly damp. This will lead to scale rot disease.
They will also absorb urine and fecal matter causing your snake's environment to become very unhealthy and smell like a sewer.
You would be better off sticking with the conventional aspen shavings, or cypress mulch from the garden center. However since you just got the snake it is a good idea to simply keep it on newspaper for the time being to monitor for any intestinal problems or ectoparasites.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hello,

I have to agree with Merlin and I want to offer 2 pieces of advice. The first piece of advice is that you research any new product BEFORE you decide to use it with your herps. You should know what the stuff is, what it is designed for, and if other users have used it successfully before you go and toss your herps on it.

Also, please don't tell our users to try a product before you yourself know what the deal with it is. You could lead a new user down the wrong path because they feel it must be safe since someone told them to use it on this site.

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I agree with Rich and Merlin....I use newspaper with all my reptiles....it makes it so easy to clean and it is totally inexpensive....I get mine for free...I dont even buy a paper for myself...good luck!!

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

mabie you guys have never seen it it dosent expand when added to water it dosent stick to the prays fur so it wont get swalloed and it only keeeps the moisture from flooding it helps in the evaporation process u dont pour a gallon of water in it u just simply mist the cage im not a moron lol it works fine dosent look like food smell like food or attach to the food lol it dosnt seem to have any negative affects on my snake or my taranchula please check it out for yourselfs and tell me if u feel the way u currently do

id reely like u guys to try it ok I wana know if its bad or good becouse I think its good so I need a experienced reptile owner to tell me how it worked when they used it Thanks a lot from me to yall
-HoanIsMyBallPython

How can you say that something that you just put in a tank for the very first time with an animal you just got has no negative effects. You have nothing to base your opinion on! And maybe you didn't read my post! I never said that it will continue to expand. I told you what the stuff was because I used to dabble in hydroponics which is what it was designed to be used for . If you are in doubt compare it against this
HYDROTON, expanded clay pellets, hydrocorels
If you apply enough water for the material to make any difference at all it WILL be constantly damp. That is the reason that it is used for hydroponics. They wet it and it holds a thin film of water for plant roots till the next time it is flooded. It WILL have the other bad effects I mentioned.

Whether it sticks to fur or not there is still a chance of the snake ingesting it as it swallows the prey. Snakes do not ingest substrate because they think its food and deliberately eat it. It happens by accident.

The reason that you don't get responses from people who use it is because nobody uses it other than as a drainage layer for under the soil in a planted vivarium. An experienced keeper does not have to put something strange in an animal's enclosure in order to tell whether it will be functional or not when it clearly will not. You have gotten replies from some VERY experienced keepers and you are chosing not to listen to them.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hello,

I have to agree with Merlin again. You have nothing to base your opinion off of except you like how it looks and believe it works. We CAN base our opinion off of our experience. You are asking us to go out and buy a product so we can test it and tell you it is safe. Since you seek more experienced opinions to verify it is safe, why do you have your herp and "t" on it without this knowledge already? The fact you seek this information should be enough to let you know that you yourself don't know enough of this substrate to safely use it with your critters. Do you see what I mean?

You are asking for us to try this item out and then tell you what we believe. The thing is, those of us that have been keeping herps for a number of years now would never do that. Why would we toss out what we know works to "test" something we don't know?

I would suggest getting that stuff out of your enclosure and using something that has been tried and tested.

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ok ok listen I seem to made a mistake ive used it in my tarantula cage for a year already and my father swears by it im hoping that someone else would or would have tried it so I could tell my father how you guys feel about it I didnt just throw it in there without testing it first ive used in my spider tank for a year.Ill talk to my father and see what he thinks about switching

A point you may well consider given it is coming from direct experience with the substance is mine...i used the substance you are talking about and I lost my first ever corn because of it, and my "advice" to use the stuff was given to me by an expert corn keeper who has a collection exceeding 200 corns.
She has never found an issue with it hence suggesting I use it, i on the other hand, not knowing the signs to look for, saw my first corn wither away and die from impaction. Since then I have collected a fair few herps and 'touch wood' all are doing great. None of which by the way are now or will ever be going near that clay stuff ever!
Hope this gives you another angle to view things from.