I'm wondering what the best kind of substrate would be for my Columbian red tail. lemme give a little history:
I adopted him, and according to his previous owners, he has had many problems with parasites in the past, and they recommended crushed acorn shells (which is what I’ve been using). he is also very aggressive around feeding (he was raised on live rats, I give him fresh kills now), I’ve learned not to go into his house at all for at least 3 days after he's eaten. (He’s 6feet and packs a mean punch) this means putting him in a separate feeding area would not work, and he often gets his bedding in his mouth. Another concern of mine is that as the weather has been getting warmer, I’ve noticed the acorn shells have started to cast off dust. my boy has a bad immune system, I had to have him on antibiotics a few times this past winter, and I fear this could have allot to do with it and I’m kicking myself for not noticing the dust till now. I’ve switched his substrate to newspaper for now, but well, it's an eyesore.
Does anyone have any suggestions for my baby? i know we'd both appreciate it! =^.^=

Reptile carpet or towels?

Yeah, i'm with Val, if he has a problem with eating the substrate than you should go with something non-particulate so he doesn't ingest it.

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Hello,

You could use butchers paper, which is often solid brown. You could also try to get your hands on some unprinted newspaper. Reptile carpet would work as well and the papertowels too. (I think the papertowels would not fair well with a large snake moving over it though. They would end up bunched up.)

You could setup a seperate feeding container where the snake could actually reside for a few days following a feeding. It would need to be heated, but could be pretty bare and as simple as a sterilite tub with a human heat pad under it.

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Thanks for the tips guys, the paper is defonitioly not working, woke up this morning and he bunched it up like crazy, the little monster. actualy managed to fold it up, into his water bowl. i'll probably end up going with the reptile carpet.
i'm defonitioly going to try the tub feeding with him... never occured to me to just heat the tub... ::sigh:: stupid D

he would need to have a water supply in there too right?

Yes he would need a water supply and a hide also... depending on how big the tub is... if small enough you may be able to get away with possible putting a towel right on top covering it ;P

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Best bet is paper towels, not the prettiest but probably the safest. It is also cheap and easy to clean too. About the hide, I dont provide them, if they are scared they just hide under the newspaper. But a water bowl is a necessity.

Good Luck

Alex

Here are some pictures of Nietzche's re-designed house, sorry for the fuzzyness. i ended up going with the reptile carpet and he is much much happier with it. the tank he's in is smaller than i'd like... it's the one he came with. i've been making plans to build him a huge house, but i'm moving in a few months so i'm waiting to build it untill i'm in my new place. in the meanwile I just take him out every day =^.^=



Thanks to everyone for the great advice!

The carpet looks REALLY nice.

I use aspen and have for years. I take them out and feed them on newspaper, works just fine. Never had any ingestion issues.

But after seeing that carpet...wow. Very nice and clean.

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The carpet looks great!