Calci Sand

[sparhawkt]

Re: Calci Sand

personally i prefer to use newspaper as stated earlier in other replies here it is very easy to clean up and mine is very cheap in fact its free i just go over to the minimart and grab a couple of the thrifty nikel want adds that dont cost a thing. and because it is so cheap i change it every week weather or not i see poos or otherwise

[XzyluM]

Re: Calci Sand

I would never use such a substrate. The sand would more than likely get between the snake's scales, in their nostrils, and possibly there mouth. All of these, which would eventually lead to problems, not worth the risk in my opinion. Cypress Mulch should always be cured before using. I usually bake mine in the oven. You could also buy a can of Sawyer's and spray the substrate down and let it sit for about 3-4 hours and then it would be ready to go.

[Red]

Re: Calci Sand

Western hognosed snakes are way harder to keep then a rainbow boa... You probley should not get one.... If a rainbow boa scares you off then a hogg nose should as well... They need lizards and other things for food or they get a fatty liver that will kill them... they need alot more then you think... I know because I was going to get one and decided to reserch them for a year or so to make sure I knew what the hell I was doing.... If you want a rain bow just get all the info you need and there should be no problem...
Eric aka...red

[BWSmith]

Re: Calci Sand

Despite what CalciSand claims about being easy to digest. It is false. I have seem many cases of impaction as a result of CalciSand. granted, most were Beardies and leos. The sand will generally only digest if the body temp is at about 100 degrees and 8 inches or less for a 8% UVB. I have litterally had to spoon CalciSand out of a Beardie's gut. uggh.

Just a quick not on CalciSand ;D

[onesweetguy632]

Re: Calci Sand

Ok..Here's another thought for ya too. You said that you are keeping the snake on towel as substrate atm right ? When you are done feeding the snake in a tote or whatever it is your using for feeds...Make sure to give the snake a bath and get the scent of the rodent[s] off of it before placing back into the cage. We learned the hard way here about this one LOL. The snake ate, then the scent of the rodent got onto the towel after the snake was put back into the cage.and this is what we wound up with. ...



AND NO She is NOT resting her head on that towel.. She has it in her mouth actually. It took me like a hour and half to get it out of her mouth without injuring her teeth etc  at all when this happened..UGH.

**** Lori that must have sucked. Well I don't use a towel anymore I use cypress mulch. Everyone said bake it at 200 degrees so I baked it around 350 lol. I bet no buggers servived that. So what type of boas do you own? Right now I only have a red tail and a ball python. I was going to get a rainbow boa but everyone said they can be little asses and require extremem humdity levels. I think my next is gonna be a western hognose. But who knows...

[Doug]

Re: Calci Sand

HI,
 Why newspaper is great is that if you have a poo or urates it shows really well and you roll up the entire soiled area and wipe down  the cage with a damp paper towel and replace the paper and your cage is clean no carry over of bacteria and no smell of urates.
  All mulch/sands type substances  will have a build up of bacteria due to heat and humidty in your cage its  an incubator, many boa owneres only spot clean so any of that smelly water that gets to the bottom of the cage will stil be there after removing the big stuff that you see. Sooner or later you wiffees (they have extremly sensative noses it must be genetic) or your mom is gonna have cow about that funky snake smell coming  out of your room.you may not notice it cause you live there..Another problem is some animals are fed in the cage and can actually have probelms from mulch getting stuck on their teeth or worse in their stomach this has caused bowel obstructions that will require surgey to resolve. . so try newspaper change as needed if the cage is really dry a small amount of water on the paper will raise and hold humidty. .
 I usally put layers of paper ,,this lessons the amount of material making it to the bottom of the cage.
Another neat trick is to allow the edges of the paper along the outer edges of the cage to bend up, for some reason many of my snakes go in the same corner and always on the side of the cage and the floor so folding the paper up 1 or 2in at the corners prevents that bad stuff from getting on the cage I usally add alittle extra paper on the bathroom side of the cage.. quick clean up
roll it up wipe and replace.
   The more cages you have the easier it is to do cage maint the better, dont forget to change that water... doug

my really big cage is gonna require a mop handle, brush, and clean dish towels to wipe and go after replacing paper, been there yesterday  ( special dish towels reserved for cage maint.. not for kitchen use)   :P
The far right corner of this cage is the choice bathroom for my guyana's and its a long way with the door open...thank goodness they only go once or twice a month.. hehe

[LORI]

Re: Calci Sand

Ok..Here's another thought for ya too. You said that you are keeping the snake on towel as substrate atm right ? When you are done feeding the snake in a tote or whatever it is your using for feeds...Make sure to give the snake a bath and get the scent of the rodent[s] off of it before placing back into the cage. We learned the hard way here about this one LOL. The snake ate, then the scent of the rodent got onto the towel after the snake was put back into the cage.and this is what we wound up with. ...



AND NO She is NOT resting her head on that towel.. She has it in her mouth actually. It took me like a hour and half to get it out of her mouth without injuring her teeth etc at all when this happened..UGH.

[LORI]

Re: Calci Sand

I wouldn't use it at all for boas myself. Some like to burrow under their substrate..if they do this, then al I would think might happen as a result of it..Would be that their nostrils might get sand in em and that would not be a good thing at all.

[redtailedmel]

Re: Calci Sand

oops fprgot to mention how i heat it i have a 100 watt che and a 50 watt che one end stays at a constant 80 deg and the other at the bottom is 85-88 and up top usually is around 90-95 and my humitity stays at 60-65 usually of course i live in tx so thats about right. i also have 4 huge water bowls in there too thats helps hehe with out 2 of the bowls it stays at about 50-55 humid. as far as the mulch we use it on our ball python but, with the baby we have her on the calci for now , when she gets bigger she will be on something diff cuz like clay said it gets irritated we ran into that prob with a friends boas, but this doesnt seem to be like the zoo med sand , that kind was like dirt this that i have is kinda like little pebbley looking stones that are tiny lol ( that makes alot of cense doesnt it lmao ) sry for the explination

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Calci Sand

I would not ever use calci-sand for the large boas.  I have never been one to recommend a sand substrate.  I believe it to be irritating to the boas skin and it often causes impactation and mouth problems in the large boas, because it is extremely fine and gets in between the skin folds of the boa.

I know some people use it and if it works for them and it is closely monitored, then that's okay.  Just not what I recommend. Especially with so many preferrable substrates available today..

Also that extremely "fine" sand is used a lot for the desert boas (sand boas), which are equipped to handle it without problem.

[tatdaddy]

Re: Calci Sand

Look at it like this the sand is $ and could cause problems. The aspen, cypress mulch, news paper is the only stuff that I would use. It is less $ and looks better.
That and the one reason that leads me to think that it might not be good to use for redtails is this, Clay doesn't use it nor does Mr. Ronne. Now if they aren't useing it that just might say something. Just my 02.

Tatdaddy

[onesweetguy632]

Re: Calci Sand

my aquarium is glass and has a plexiglass top i have no problems with heat or humitity and like i said i use it and she doesnt seem to mind it either she likes it lmao ,always playing on it. and as im sure you know it does reall well with water and stuff too hardly ever really have to do much to it except every now and then you can bake it and stuff.

Did you buy the lid or make it? What do you use to heat the tank?

[redtailedmel]

Re: Calci Sand

my aquarium is glass and has a plexiglass top i have no problems with heat or humitity and like i said i use it and she doesnt seem to mind it either she likes it lmao ,always playing on it. and as im sure you know it does reall well with water and stuff too hardly ever really have to do much to it except every now and then you can bake it and stuff.

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Calci Sand

At times, it may. That is why it is reccomended that you bake it at about 200 degrees for a few minutes, that'll kill off any of those pesky little buggers. Or you could pretreat it with Sawyers tick spray or Prevent-a-mite. I, myself just use plain old newspaper or paper towels. It may not look at nice, but it's really cheap and easy to clean up after a mess. Plus it is more sanitary.

[onesweetguy632]

Re: Calci Sand

red tails are not desert dwelling animals so i would never advise using sand as a substrate. if ingested sand will cause a whole host of internal problems that you would rather not have to deal with. even if you are feeding in another enclosure i still would advise using something besides sand. personally i use cypress mulch which all my snakes seem to love, it holds humidity better than any other substrate i have used, spot cleaning is easy, and you cant beat the price per bag.

Does the cypress mulch ever have any mites or anything like that?