Peat-moss

[kibakiba]

Well, snakes do like to burrow. Carefresh is cheap and allows burrowing, and it keeps their burrows. You can see them going in and out of the same burrow through the day. All my snakes seem happy (except Snap)

[Sonya610]

Well, snakes do like to burrow. Carefresh is cheap and allows burrowing, and it keeps their burrows. You can see them going in and out of the same burrow through the day. All my snakes seem happy (except Snap)

Yeah well I have not gotten the garter babies yet, am still setting up the enclosure. I may try it. Maybe they make a carefresh that looks more like soil.

If they like it then that is what is most important.

[ConcinusMan]

Peat Moss can have all kinds of stuff in it. It is potting soil which can include parasites or weird bacteria or whatever. Probably generally safe for most animals BUT if this garter is sensitive to something maybe not so safe.

If I were concerned and wanted the natural earth type look I would consider eco-earth or something similar for this enclosure instead. I am a newbie and not an expert, I like the look of eco-earth and bought some but am afraid of humidity levels being too high.

I agree. eco-earth (coconut fiber "peat") should be used instead. Regular gardening variety peat moss is too dusty. I wouldn't use it. I used it once before for a Pueblan milk snake and she developed a nasty sneezing problem. I switched to eco earth and she got over it pretty quickly. Eco earth dries quickly. Too much moisture shouldn't be a problem.

I would be a bit concerned about the mouth problem. There's a product used as a surgical scrub/wound cleanser that comes under different brand names and contains 4% Chlorhexidine. I dilute it to about 1% and use it to clean the mouth wounds twice a day, then apply a small amount of antibiotic ointment. Do this for about two weeks, keep the snake on paper towels, continue treatment for a week after it appears to be healed. The mouth might never go back to sealing properly so fine particulate substrate may be out of the question to use for this snake.

[Sonya610]

I agree. eco-earth (coconut fiber "peat") should be used instead.

Do you think I can use eco-earth safely here? (sorry to hijack the thread). I bought some along with carefresh, and want to try to eco-earth but worry about high humidity.

[HazAnga]

I know others may think differently on this, but I'm doing it and its working great. It's called a 'bioactive substrate system' something along the lines of this:
Bottom layer being lava rock, ontop of that a 2-3" layer of unfertilized pitting soil (regular boring dirt) then I've put a bit of reptibark mixed on with the dirt and as the top layer. I then have some vine plants potted into the substrate. In a corner I've put a tube that goes right to the bottom. That is how I water the plants, WITHOUT getting the top section wet or anything (the lava rock seperates the dirt on top from where the water would be, keeping the dirt dry). The plants are thriving and the garters absolutely love it. There's different ways of doing this and a little research helps. I'll post pixs later on when I git some time on the computer instead of my phone.

[HazAnga]

Also, mixing done of the coco fiber or eco earth with the porting soil works too.