whats best for a boa at the bottom of the gage sand, stones, or cedar chips?

Question

cage*

Answer 1

Theres this product called Eco-Earth. It comes in a big brick, you put it in a bucket of water and it turns into a dirt substrate. Much safer than cedar, and it holds the moisture better than stones or sand. Its also not harmful it the snake ingests it. They sell it at Petco or Petsmart in the reptile section.

Answer 2

Sand is for desert reptiles, and isn't good for boas. Stones (I'm assuming you mean something like aquarium gravel) isn't recommended for many reptiles because they can ingest it by accident. This can happen with anything, but it's more likely to happen with small stones. Cedar chips should never be used for any reptile, because cedar contains oils that can severely irritate them. The best thing to put at the bottom of a boa cage would be a fir bark product made for reptiles (Repti-bark and Nature Bark are a couple different brands you'll see), cypress mulch, or newspaper if you want something that's easy to change out and don't care much about the looks.

Answer 3

Don't use cedar; it is toxic to reptiles. You can use mulch made of aspen, and this is much preferably to sand or stones because it retains moisture so much better, allowing for the high humidity required by boas.

If you don't dig the mulch, you can try Bed-A-Beast, which is ground coconut shell. It comes in a brick which expands when soaked in a bucket.

Mind, you didn't specify what type of boa. I had assumed a BCI (boa constrictor). If you have a sand boa, rosy boa, or other desertic species, then sand would be preferable.

Answer 4

I like cypress mulch personally. It retains humidity and will not mold. Repti-bark is also good, as is newspaper.

Cedar is toxic to most reptiles -- I would avoid it if I were you. It leads to respiratory problems among other things.

Gravel and stones are uncomfortable for the snake. They also conduct heat and can burn your snake much like heat rock would, if you have an under-tank heater. Also the stones do not retain humidity well at all. Sand is not really a good choice because it sticks to food items and gets ingested along with meals, which is bad for the digestive tract in the long run.

I recommend the cypress mulch. Plus it's cheap. You can get 50 pounds of it at Lowe's or Home Depot for 2-3 dollars, whereas the Repti-bark is 5 dollars for a bag of about 15 lbs. Both do well with humidity, however, and both are easy to spot clean.

Answer 5

You dont want to give cedar chips to any reptile. Bark chips or the eco earth mentioned above is the best.

Answer 6

My favorite is newspapers. They're cheap, easy to change, and the snakes don't ingest them when they eat.

Some people get around the problem of ingesting the substrate by feeding the snake outside of their cage. I used tongs to present prey so I never had any problems with snakes biting the hand that feeds it.

Answer 7

I use sand, and i had no problem in rearing boas in that substrate. there will not be much probs wvwn if they ingest some amount of sand.