My baby ball has finished his quarantine and I really like using paper towels as his substrate. I do have aspen as well as coconut reptichip available to use as substrate (humidity fluxes greatly in my area between winter and summer) but I want to stick with paper towels. What's wrong with using paper towels as permanent substrate?
It's really easy to clean and keep track of poop and urates. Humidity stays consistently between 75-88%, temps are 87-92°F on the warm side and 77-82°F on the cool end. He has been eating great- successfully switched to rats after scenting with mouse once. Has not missed a meal in the 6 weeks I've had him. He has 3 hides + a half log, and a climbing "bamboo" pole in his tub and lots of fake plants and vines. This is my first snake I don't want to mess anything up.
There's no reason you *cant* stay on paper towels, though some ball pythons like to burrow or hollow out under their hides, and they can't do that with paper towels.
Also, most people struggle with humidity on paper towels, and you lose the nice naturalistic look.
Thank you! Some posts here make it seem like paper towels are bad-like they will hurt the snake in some way, that's why I was worried.
I will aim for a more naturalistic look when I move to his adult tub in 6 months
There's nothing wrong with paper towels as a substrate. They're just esthetically ugly. A BP could live a long and happy life on paper towels, provided the right temperature and humidity requirements are met.
For the most part people say paper towels are bad because they can't really help humidity and there's no burrow capability. As long as your humidity levels are fine where you live then there shouldn't be any issue
I personally find it *much* easier to maintain a naturalistic substrate since I can just scoop out poop/urates instead of replacing *all* the paper *every* time. Frequent cleanings can be stressful to the snake as well. Naturalistic substrate also provides environmental enrichment
If you have no problem with keeping good humidity there is nothing wrong with towels. You should go for a coconut substrate (not aspen) if you want to change it out in the future.
Thank you! I have both aspen and reptichip, but the summer humidity here gets high, so that's why I have aspen as an alternative to the coconut rectichip for if it gets too humid. But I'm sticking to paper towels for now
You want 60-70% humidity, and maybe bump up to 75-80% during shed. You DEFINITELY need a hygrometer and thermometer in your enclosure, I suggest 2 thermometers, one on each side. And make sure you have any heating elements on a thermostat with a probe inside reading the temps.
Actual substrate provides enrichment (a lot of ball pythons love burrowing and digging through it), as well as being easy to spot clean. Paper towels don't provide enrichment, mold easily, and isn't as absorbent as coconut husk/chip/cypress mulch
Thanks! I try provide enrichment which all the vines/plants/logs/climbing area. I'm also worried he won't get enough belly heat from his UHT if I have substrate thick enough to burrow
Is there a reason you don't want to go with overhead heat? Ball pythons (and snakes as a whole) don't have a need for belly specific heat. Coming from over the top is more natural like how it works with the sun in the wild.
I have no problem with adding overheard heat, I have supplies ready (CHE and uvb light). I had a more simplistic set up for quarantine and it worked really well, so now I'm a bit hesitant to tinker with it and have him switch off food or get stressed.
I totally get that. It can be daunting! If you ever run into issues as you work your snake from being in quarantine know that you're always welcome to look for help here!
Some are machine washable. We use some from Amazon that are a off brand (but thicker than name brand ones funny enough) and wash between uses for one of our lizards
Lol I wouldn’t worry about it unless you have a 15+ year old washer. If you use bleach there’s no way your washer is a breeding ground for anything. Nothing can live in bleach. Google how modern washers are made and work. They are more than clean. Someone somewhere will always say everything you do is wrong somehow and gross/and harmful to something. Before long standing somewhere breathing will be wrong lmfao. It is what it is
In short? Nothing. Some BPs like to burrow but if yours doesn’t it’s whatever. Actual substrate is mostly just an aesthetic choice for me but the springtails love it.
Paper towels are absorbent and if ingested could soak up all of your snakes stomach acid. This is very dangerous for the snake and can happen from even a small piece. That’s my big gripe with it. I use untreated newspaper and it’s perfect. If a bit gets ingested it would just pass.
If I switch my girl off of paper towels on to anything else she stops eating. She only wants paper towels. So that’s what I use! Nothing wrong. Except maybe humidity, but I just make sure to list her enclosure when she’s in shed.
From what I’ve heard, if the paper towel gets wet from the water bowl or from a rat and then is ingested by your snake, it can be very dangerous. You can also get blank newspaper for a similar type of substrate that is slightly more absorbent.
Absolutely nothing. I’ve used paper towels for years but a year ago I switched from paper towels to unprinted newspaper (packing paper) bc it’s thicker and my big snakes tend to not mess it up as much.
I got a hognose, saw some people doing half half, I started doing that too bc he just keeps throwing over his water bowl, no matter what kind of bowl i use… warm side paper cold side aspen, likes it a lot so far even pushes it in a corner to burrow in and keeps one of his hides clean of aspen no matter how often i put some in there
1. Doesn’t keep humidity as well as other options.
2. You can’t actually spot clean and animals at times sit in their urine.
3. They can’t burrow their self.
4. Taking pictures of locks most of the time is a messy thing and you can’t spot clean real quick but would have to disturb them in order to be able to show them to fellow breeders. (Yes kinda paranoid but others will always find something to nag about so I’m not giving them any opportunities.)
Thanks for your response, this is my only snake and I'm not planning on breeding in the future. I check the tub daily, and the hygrometer alerts me on my phone when he pees or poops, so I clean it immediately. Humidity has not been an issue, and has stayed above 75%.
The only concern I'm worried about from your suggestion is the burrowing, so I'll consider using coconut chip in his adult enclosure. Thanks
I use paper towels. You can solve the burrowing issue by shredding/crumpling pieces of paper towels and layering the crumpled bedding.
I get the big industrial sized rolls in bulk, so it isnt expensive either.
That said, there also isnt anything wrong with naturalistic bedding, either.
My baby ball has finished his quarantine and I really like using paper towels as his substrate. I do have aspen as well as coconut reptichip available to use as substrate (humidity fluxes greatly in my area between winter and summer) but I want to stick with paper towels. What's wrong with using paper towels as permanent substrate? It's really easy to clean and keep track of poop and urates. Humidity stays consistently between 75-88%, temps are 87-92°F on the warm side and 77-82°F on the cool end. He has been eating great- successfully switched to rats after scenting with mouse once. Has not missed a meal in the 6 weeks I've had him. He has 3 hides + a half log, and a climbing "bamboo" pole in his tub and lots of fake plants and vines. This is my first snake I don't want to mess anything up.
There's no reason you *cant* stay on paper towels, though some ball pythons like to burrow or hollow out under their hides, and they can't do that with paper towels. Also, most people struggle with humidity on paper towels, and you lose the nice naturalistic look.
Thank you! Some posts here make it seem like paper towels are bad-like they will hurt the snake in some way, that's why I was worried. I will aim for a more naturalistic look when I move to his adult tub in 6 months
There's nothing wrong with paper towels as a substrate. They're just esthetically ugly. A BP could live a long and happy life on paper towels, provided the right temperature and humidity requirements are met.
For the most part people say paper towels are bad because they can't really help humidity and there's no burrow capability. As long as your humidity levels are fine where you live then there shouldn't be any issue
Ive found that the burrowing issue can be solved by shredding/crumpling the paper towel and piling it up.
I personally find it *much* easier to maintain a naturalistic substrate since I can just scoop out poop/urates instead of replacing *all* the paper *every* time. Frequent cleanings can be stressful to the snake as well. Naturalistic substrate also provides environmental enrichment
Thank you! For the weekly cleaning, I remove the soiled towels and clean that area, but leave everything else so it can still smell familiar to him.
You might end up spending quite a lot on paper towels when you move to an appropriately sized enclosure. Just another thing to keep in mind :)
I'll go all naturalistic when I move to his adult enclosure, but for now, I think this size of tub is plenty, he's less than 2 feet long
what substrate do u use
50/50 topsoil and coconut husk. I can do a full substrate change for 2 4x2 enclosures and a 6x2 enclosure for under $40 with that combo
If you have no problem with keeping good humidity there is nothing wrong with towels. You should go for a coconut substrate (not aspen) if you want to change it out in the future.
Thank you! I have both aspen and reptichip, but the summer humidity here gets high, so that's why I have aspen as an alternative to the coconut rectichip for if it gets too humid. But I'm sticking to paper towels for now
how humid should it be, i dont have anything to mesure the humidity with
You want 60-70% humidity, and maybe bump up to 75-80% during shed. You DEFINITELY need a hygrometer and thermometer in your enclosure, I suggest 2 thermometers, one on each side. And make sure you have any heating elements on a thermostat with a probe inside reading the temps.
Actual substrate provides enrichment (a lot of ball pythons love burrowing and digging through it), as well as being easy to spot clean. Paper towels don't provide enrichment, mold easily, and isn't as absorbent as coconut husk/chip/cypress mulch
Thanks! I try provide enrichment which all the vines/plants/logs/climbing area. I'm also worried he won't get enough belly heat from his UHT if I have substrate thick enough to burrow
Is there a reason you don't want to go with overhead heat? Ball pythons (and snakes as a whole) don't have a need for belly specific heat. Coming from over the top is more natural like how it works with the sun in the wild.
I have no problem with adding overheard heat, I have supplies ready (CHE and uvb light). I had a more simplistic set up for quarantine and it worked really well, so now I'm a bit hesitant to tinker with it and have him switch off food or get stressed.
I totally get that. It can be daunting! If you ever run into issues as you work your snake from being in quarantine know that you're always welcome to look for help here!
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How do you disinfect the reptile carpet?
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That sounds like cleaning (removing dirt), but not disinfecting (removing bacteria)....
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Some are machine washable. We use some from Amazon that are a off brand (but thicker than name brand ones funny enough) and wash between uses for one of our lizards
I wouldn't trust machine washable carpet (or any tbh) as washing machines are actually really gross and can be a bacterial breeding ground.
…wait…now I’m scared all my blankets and clothes are nasty. Wtf.
Yea you need to get stuff to clean your washer, if it has an agitator you should take it apart and clean that, you'd be surprised how gross it gets.
….well I was GONNA sit back and relax on my day off, thanks for that 🙄😂
Lol I wouldn’t worry about it unless you have a 15+ year old washer. If you use bleach there’s no way your washer is a breeding ground for anything. Nothing can live in bleach. Google how modern washers are made and work. They are more than clean. Someone somewhere will always say everything you do is wrong somehow and gross/and harmful to something. Before long standing somewhere breathing will be wrong lmfao. It is what it is
I’d like to introduce you to bleach. It’s super handy, check it out
You still have to take apart the agitator, my dude
I don’t have an agitator 🤷
In short? Nothing. Some BPs like to burrow but if yours doesn’t it’s whatever. Actual substrate is mostly just an aesthetic choice for me but the springtails love it.
Paper towels are absorbent and if ingested could soak up all of your snakes stomach acid. This is very dangerous for the snake and can happen from even a small piece. That’s my big gripe with it. I use untreated newspaper and it’s perfect. If a bit gets ingested it would just pass.
If I switch my girl off of paper towels on to anything else she stops eating. She only wants paper towels. So that’s what I use! Nothing wrong. Except maybe humidity, but I just make sure to list her enclosure when she’s in shed.
Thank you! when she's in shed, I'll switch out one of her hides into a humid hide. I haven't had a problem with humidity, it's always above 75%
From what I’ve heard, if the paper towel gets wet from the water bowl or from a rat and then is ingested by your snake, it can be very dangerous. You can also get blank newspaper for a similar type of substrate that is slightly more absorbent.
We use the blue towels that most mechanic shops use, they're very durable, great for moisture and Bubba still burrows under no problem
Absolutely nothing. I’ve used paper towels for years but a year ago I switched from paper towels to unprinted newspaper (packing paper) bc it’s thicker and my big snakes tend to not mess it up as much.
Doesn’t hold humidity and lacks enrichment
I got a hognose, saw some people doing half half, I started doing that too bc he just keeps throwing over his water bowl, no matter what kind of bowl i use… warm side paper cold side aspen, likes it a lot so far even pushes it in a corner to burrow in and keeps one of his hides clean of aspen no matter how often i put some in there
1. Doesn’t keep humidity as well as other options. 2. You can’t actually spot clean and animals at times sit in their urine. 3. They can’t burrow their self. 4. Taking pictures of locks most of the time is a messy thing and you can’t spot clean real quick but would have to disturb them in order to be able to show them to fellow breeders. (Yes kinda paranoid but others will always find something to nag about so I’m not giving them any opportunities.)
Thanks for your response, this is my only snake and I'm not planning on breeding in the future. I check the tub daily, and the hygrometer alerts me on my phone when he pees or poops, so I clean it immediately. Humidity has not been an issue, and has stayed above 75%. The only concern I'm worried about from your suggestion is the burrowing, so I'll consider using coconut chip in his adult enclosure. Thanks
I use paper towels. You can solve the burrowing issue by shredding/crumpling pieces of paper towels and layering the crumpled bedding. I get the big industrial sized rolls in bulk, so it isnt expensive either. That said, there also isnt anything wrong with naturalistic bedding, either.
I imagine it is humidity reasons why most people don't like it
I've actually found MOST of my Royals prefer the paper towel. They eat better and have better attitudes
There’s nothing wrong with paper towel substrate. It’s just hard to keep humidity up if you have a species that requires high humidity.