From corn snakes and king snakes to boas and pythons, snakes make clean and quiet pets. Because they require specialized care, however, they're not always appropriate for beginners. Something as simple as choosing the wrong snake bedding could compromise your pet's health and safety. Snake substrate or bedding helps regulate temperature and humidity in the habitat and enables your pet to engage in natural behaviors like digging and burrowing. Some of the most popular types of snake bedding include:
To make cleaning your snake's habitat a little bit easier, consider using a reptile cage liner under the bedding. When it's time to clean the cage, you can simply discard the liner then disinfect the cage as usual with minimal scrubbing required. Make sure to use Chewy's Autoship to order snake bedding, scheduling automatic deliveries at a frequency that works with your maintenance routine.
The kind of snake bedding needed depends on the species and the type of habitat they require. For burrowing species, bedding should be lightweight and soft enough that the snake can dig through it. For tropical species that require a humid environment, substrate that holds moisture may be more appropriate.
The best substrate for snakes includes paper-based bedding, coconut husk, cypress much, and aspen wood shavings. Reptile carpet may be appropriate for non-burrowing snakes and sphagnum moss can be used in humid hides to support healthy shedding.
Put something non-toxic and easy to clean at the bottom of your snake's cage. Disposable cage liners, paper towels, or newspaper work well. Depending on individual species requirements, you may also need to add several inches of bedding to enable burrowing or to help maintain humidity.
Snake bedding should be at least 2–3 inches deep. The ideal depth may depend on the size of your snake and their burrowing habits. Small species like corn snakes may only require 2–3 inches of bedding while larger ball pythons might prefer 4–6 inches of bedding.
Spot clean your snake substrate daily to remove waste and soiled bedding. Depending on factors such as species, habitat size, and humidity levels, you will need to completely replace the substrate anywhere from once a week to once a month.
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