Substrate for Breeders?

[Greg'sGarters]

The cypress mulch I use for other snakes is actually just fine as it comes. It is made SPECIFICALLY for reptiles. I actually know the owner of the company. It's actually a very popular brand (I'm not sure if that's a local thing or if it is popular all over the US). It's called Keepers Choice. I love it for everything. I'm using pelleted newspaper though for my garter snake breeders now though.

[ConcinusMan]

Green Pet Aspen Supreme Pellets Pet & Bird All Natural Litter/Bedding at PETCO

Will this work? I can't find any place to buy the brand you suggested.

Screw petco. You'll pay way too much. Do you have a walmart around there?

I get this at walmart dirt cheap. Under $3 per bag and it's a lot. About 1/5 the cost petco charges for the same stuff.

[Greg'sGarters]

I am currently using Yesterday's News compressed newspaper pellets.

Screw petco. You'll pay way too much. Do you have a walmart around there?

I get this at walmart dirt cheap. Under $3 per bag and it's a lot. About 1/5 the cost petco charges for the same stuff.

Surprisingly, there is not a Walmart around here! It sucks because Walmart is one of my favorite stores.

[Artic Exotics]

I dig "good mews" which is pelleted newspaper thats just a hair larger in grain size to the petco brand. I also keep a "humid box" - essentially a Tupperware container with a whole in the lid filled with moist sphagnum moss (very mold resistant) just cuz the humidity tends to get really really low in my climate and the newspaper substrates do not help with that. This way they have a choice :-)

[ConcinusMan]

I also keep a "humid box" - essentially a Tupperware container with a whole in the lid filled with moist sphagnum moss (very mold resistant) just cuz the humidity tends to get really really low in my climate and the newspaper substrates do not help with that. This way they have a choice :-)

I think that a lot of people that fail at keeping northwestern's neglect this. They need damp, cool places to go. They need those micro-climates. You can't just put them on dry substrate, low humidity, and keep them at 85 and expect them to do well. Especially the babies. And sometimes, just sometimes, the babies will never eat and will just drop dead one by one unless they have these moist areas, and some fail unless you brumate them within a few weeks of birth. Then, when they come out of it, they'll eat. Overall, I think a lot of people just keep them too warm and dry. Just look at the climate in their natural range. They don't range outside that cool damp climate with moderate, short summers because they can't handle it. They'll drop dead in extended dry periods or hot spells. During hot dry summers they disappear because there is always moist cool places to hide around here and plenty of shade in wooded areas. I never find them far from the edge of a forest.

[Artic Exotics]

Surprisingly, there is not a Walmart around here! It sucks because Walmart is one of my favorite stores.

wow.. they made it to Kenai, Alaska but didnt manage to get one up in Hackensack, NJ? LOL thats a trip....

[Invisible Snake]

wow.. they made it to Kenai, Alaska but didnt manage to get one up in Hackensack, NJ? LOL thats a trip....

Walmart is not even in NYC and aren't allowed to put up a store here, I think it's because of some political nonsense

[ConcinusMan]

It has to do with traffic and available space. I don't know about anywhere else but the walmarts around here are huge. They take a lot of space. I don't see how they're going to insert one into a heavily urbanized area and then there's the traffic issues they cause. I can't see them coming to NYC or Hackensack due to the cost of real estate and development.

[Greg'sGarters]

Yeah, there are little to no HOUSES in Manhattan. If they don't have room for a house, where will they have space for a HUGE Walmart? Usually Walmarts have big parking lots also, and anyone who has ever tried to find a parking spot in NYC know's it'd be easier to rebuild the atom bomb! Lol.

[Steveo]

Yeah, there are little to no HOUSES in Manhattan. If they don't have room for a house, where will they have space for a HUGE Walmart? Usually Walmarts have big parking lots also, and anyone who has ever tried to find a parking spot in NYC know's it'd be easier to rebuild the atom bomb! Lol.

Ha! They'd probably make more money if they built a big pay parking lot instead of a store.