Substrate

[el lobo]

I think slate and shale are GORGEOUS! expensive though, unless you know where to find it...And I don't know how much she would be willing to go for the herp carpet, Wayne...I think she is going for natural and aesthetic.

[Garter_Gertie]

lobo, you're right on: natural and aesthetic.

Wayne, you've got me down, for sure! I read your thing for first time parents and as hot as my apartment [flat] is I think I'd need a cool down place, no heat until winter.

Three years ago if someone had told me I'd cry over the death of a pet snake I would have looked at them as though they had two heads. Today, yes. It would kill to loose Winnie. Even grumpy old Ripley. I can imagine what it's going to be like with my own.

I like the slate - maybe a piece or two in there. But not the whole bottom like that. Wayne, I was out having a smoke and running all this through my mind and thought about the potting soil with the vertilizer(s) in it. We're your ears burning?

I'd not use a lot of potting soil as I'm going to keep the plants in pots under all this stuff for ease of maintenance. Just enough to make a soil-like stuff that's scooped as easy as kitty litter. I'm really liking the idea of potting soil, reptile bark chips, gardening bark chips, a wee tiny bit of aspen shreds and then some meadow grasses.

[Zephyr]

I'm really liking the idea of potting soil, reptile bark chips, gardening bark chips, a wee tiny bit of aspen shreds and then some meadow grasses.

Make sure they're not cedar or pine. The only good chips are hardwood, aspen, and cypress.

[Garter_Gertie]

The other thing, Wayne. I've been cruising my head off and I can't find any cool pictures of "natural snake tanks," "natural snake enclosures," "vivirarium," etc. I've tried I don't know how many combinations and can't find good pics. (This is where you feel sorry for me.)

I have come up with a really cool idea for my tank! I LOVE to skulk and look for artifacts. I'm going to get like a teapot, and break it up using the largest piece as a hidey, pushed down in the 'soil.' Maybe something tin, too. You know, have like old artifact like things poking out of the 'soil'?

[el lobo]

That teapot sounds like a good idea...Make sure you try to imagine it as it will look in the viv, and not as it would look in a photoshopped picture a a broken teapot in the woods! what kind of teapot? Floral? I think I would have an 'artifact' viv for a rattlesnake, or a raccoon haha

[Stefan-A]

Avoid sharp edges.

[Garter_Gertie]

I very definitely have in my head what it would look like, Caleb. I've found enuff pieces and shards of 1800's stuff to have a good idea. Yeah, floral. I'd have to dirty it up and 'age' it...

Thanks, Zeph. I knew no cedar and pine. What I'd do is get the same kind as the reptile bark but it's just a bit bigger - 2, 2.5 to 3" pieces. It's what we use in Ripley's tank.

[Garter_Gertie]

Yup. Yup. No sharp edges. May have to put some kind of caulking-like stuff on the edges, but that could be done. Thanks, Stefan.

[el lobo]

Caulking would work. you could always file it down, assuming it is ceramic.

[adamanteus]

Darn! Nobody likes my slate!