[Housing] River Rock?

[ACWN-Designs]

Is river rock, like for a fish tank, okay for a red tailed boa to have in the tank?

[SWOMPDONKEY]

Re: River Rock?

you mean like a rock to bask on? or rocks as substrate? I wouldn't use rocks as substrate.

[chaosboa]

Re: River Rock?

Yeah it's definatly alight, my wife and I went down to the river last fall and found some awesome flat rocks to make hides out of. We brought it home and cleaned it really well with bleach and then boilded it first before using them in the tank though. They are really dirty and probably full of bugs so i would definatly do that first. But other than than no problems.

[ACWN-Designs]

Re: River Rock?

As a substrate, it would be really small pebbles.

Please explain why you wouldnt recommend it - beyond any problems with things like feeding.


What kindve substrate would you recommend?

[ACWN-Designs]

Re: River Rock?

Yeah it's definatly alight, my wife and I went down to the river last fall and found some awesome flat rocks to make hides out of. We brought it home and cleaned it really well with bleach and then boilded it first before using them in the tank though. They are really dirty and probably full of bugs so i would definatly do that first. But other than than no problems.

Sorry, I meant as a substrate. When I said river rocks like for a fish tank, I was talking about those tiny little ones - thats automatically what I picture.

[ron petri]

Re: River Rock?

I would not recommend it one for shedding would not be easy for the snake one it and it would not hold humidity and the heating source would heat the pebbles up too much and possibly burn the snake. there are many substrateto choose newspaper being the simplest and aspen be the more popular. there are careguides here on this site to the left of the screen that could help out more. I use the combo of newspaper and aspen. one layer of several sheets of newspaper and aspen on top about 1/2 in. to 1 in thick. there are others but dont use cedar or scented products, the oils and scent are harmful to snakes.

[SWOMPDONKEY]

Re: River Rock?

If he/she poops or urates it will be very hard to clean. You would have wash all the tiny rocks and dry them. And if he/she happened to ingest one, it wouldn't be very good.

[ACWN-Designs]

Re: River Rock?

Okay! Thanks guys.


My mom wanted to know (she wont do forums, but she'll ask me to do it, lol) because she had some and wanted to know if it was an okay one or if it would be harmful.

Thanks again.

[SWOMPDONKEY]

Re: River Rock?

I use aspen, its cheap, looks nice, and easy to clean up. You can buy a BIG square bag of it at petsmart for $14. Also check out the ultimate boa care guide on here. Its full of usefull info.

[atreyu rokks]

Re: River Rock?

I use Cypress mulch... you can also use news paper if you dont want to spend the money....

Also just to throw a little heads up in hear for you- Be careful feeding on any type of wood bedding.. I only cover half of my enclosure with bedding, and I use the clean half with no bedding to feed on....

Also the half that contains the bedding, is the half that has the heat pad.

Hope this helped...

Stick around here on the RTB site... these guys are great and you will always learn something new

Mike