Burying Under the Woodchips

[wyldkat]

I had a panic this morning. I could not see my snake anywhere! My hubby took everything out of the Viv and had a good look at it. He is going through the milky phase so is pretty dull and seems to blend with everything!

We finally noticed a little spot next to the water dish moving slowly. He had completely buried himself under all the chips. My hubby recons its to get cool. Is this right? and is it normal? lol :shrugs:

Check back later... off pinkie shopping

Thanks

Kat
x

 

[Naeris]

...

Mine does that too, so I think it's safe to call normal lol

 

[howiet4702]

My new snake does that a lot. He makes little tunnels underneath the aspen bedding.

He comes out when he wants too...

 

[angeladams]

Both of my hatchlings enjoy making various tunnels around their vivs. They have various tunnel routes to their hides!!!
When i clean out their vivs and put in fresh substrate, they are not amused!!!

 

[Azruial]

lots of snakes love to burrow. I think it is perfectly safe, as long as the snake isn't consuming any of the substrate. It seems to be a way to hide but it can also be used as a temperature thing. Some snakes do it more than others. I remember the first time that I picked up everything from my cage and there was no snake; I was so confused and scared.
I think someone said they thought it could cause impaction, but no one else seemed to back the idea, so I think it's perfectly safe. what kind of substrate are you using?

 

[Jicin]

God i wish i had aspen over here. My snakies wanna burrow but woodchips really aren't suitable. I would love to see them burrow tunnels.

 

[Spirit]

If he's out and about, he's burrowing. And he NEVER uses the doors to his hide. That would be too simple! And when he's coming out of his hide, I often see this. Only he usually has a little substrate hat thing going on. So damn cute.

"Peekaboo. I see... ME!"

 

[Azruial]

Hey, Spirit, what kind of substrate is that? it kinda looks like my "bed-a-beast"

 

[Spirit]

T-Rex Forest Bed. It doesn't conduct the heat all that well, but it seems to stay pretty warm under the heat lamp or over the UTH. I aboslutely love it.

http://reptilesupplydepot.com/product.php/4385481270.html

It looks KIND OF like really fine wood shavings, but it feels sort of like really soft dirt/soil... kinda...

 

[Azruial]

Sounds just like my stuff, it's great.

 

[Spirit]

I seem to recall looking at them both in the store. Bed-a-beast (if memory serves me correctly) is much different in that it's larger chunks (edit: more like wood chips than plain old dirt). I think.

 

[Azruial]

Nope, bed-a-beast comes in a condensed block and when you put water in it, it becomes very much like normal dirt. My only problem with it is that it tends to separate itself out into some dusty stuff and then normal stuff. It's nice-looking and easy to clean though.

 

[Jicin]

Hmm. I might be able to get some of that stuff over here. But you need to add water to it? Wouldn't that become some dirty, molding mud?

 

[Naeris]

.....................

I love it when mine slithers under the chips, it looks cool - all that moving substrate with nothing to show for it lol

 

[Azruial]

Hmm. I might be able to get some of that stuff over here. But you need to add water to it? Wouldn't that become some dirty, molding mud?

Nope, the stuff is really cool. It's only about $6.00 for a block that covers my 20gal long perfectly. You have to take a huge thing of warm water and drop it in. It expands and DOSEN'T become mud! the only thing is that it smells terrible when you first put it in water so you may want to take it outside. After it expands (you can help it along by pulling it apart if you want to), you wring the water out of it and, if neccesary, leave it in the sun to bake dry. It's not mud or clay or anything, just loose dirt that's great for burrowing.
When I got it, I did it the wrong way, trying to expand it a little bit at a time, that was a big pain, but the stuff seems to work great so far!

 

[Spirit]

Azruial: It smells bad?? My Forest Bed has a FAINT smell of the outdoors when it's wet (woodish smell), but it's VERY mild and most certainly not a bad smell... I used MAYBE 1/3 -1/2 of it in my 25 gallon long (MORE than enough at over 1" deep)). And there is no possible way you can wring it out if you add too much water. Definitely sounds like different substrate to me. Mine cost $8 canadian for a brick, and I used just over 3 litres (4 would have been too much) of water to make A LOT of substrate. It wasn't QUITE enough water, but 4L would have made a soggy mess, so I broke up the dry bits and just moved them in amongst the wet stuff. Worked like a charm.

Edit: How in the world did you expand it a little at a time? I had to use a saw to cut my brick, and that was damn near impossible as it was! I expanded mine seperately. Cut 1/3 off, expanded that, then expanded the other half and used VERY little of the remaining half (just to top it up. 1/3 was enough, but there was little depth).

Jincin: No, both substrates (if Azruial's is like mine) become just like damp soil (NOT wet). You can pick it up in your hand and make a ball with it, but it's not wet enough to stay as a ball (crumbles back to dirt). If you choose to put it in your tank as is (make sure it's not too wet (wet = cold), if so, then wait and put it out in the sun for a while to dry it up), Your heat lamp will have it dry by the end of the day (though, your snake might not like it too much... - bring on the condensation).

Happy burrowing!

 

[Spirit]

PS. Sticking my hands in the dirt to crumble up the chunks is my favorite part!! Aw crud, now I want to make more. lol

Azruial: I'm curious about the smell you mentioned... next time I'm at the store I'll see if I can find it to compare the differences in smell (if any packed dry) and visual difference.

 

[Jicin]

Hmm. Drying may be difficult. It's cold and wet right now in Holland. Also, i only have a small appartment and a big pidgeon problem. And they carry al sorts of pests. Like mites so drying outdoors isn't an option for me. I may just give it a try to dry it indoors. If it really doesn't smell so bad.

 

[Spirit]

No, it'll be fine. It's nothing but rain here so putting it outside was a nono for me, and my apartment is usually cold so the room temps were also too low to just leave it on the counter.

Since outside for you is bad, my suggestion is to use less water than recommended (add if needed), and if you think it's still too wet, just put it in your oven at the lowest temp and stir it every so often (check every 10 mins at first maybe?).

You'll find that it's nothing like what you think it's going to be. I too had reservations about using it, but once it all expanded I thought "This isn't bad at all!"

My snake is kept in my bedroom, so that's where I keep the substrate. Right now (and since I made it 3 weeks ago) it's been sitting in a LARGE bucket (brand new or VERY well sterilized), open. No lid. My friends always comment on how good my room smells so that goes to show you how little the damp substrate smells. And no, I don't use room sprays or glade plugins or perfumes or whatnot. I don't know what they're smelling, but it's surely not the substrate.

If you stick your nose in the bucket, if ANYTHING it smells (VERY faint) like that outdoor "just after the rain" smell... but maybe not even that. If you ask me, it's almost odorless.

 

[Azruial]

Lol, the smell is just when you first dunk the brick into water. In the tank it has no smell, which is a major priority for me since I also keep mine in my bedroom.
As far as how I expanded it a little at a time? well, it took maybe 4 hours and was extremely painful. I'll definitely do it different next time.
To drain it, i just mean that I got the stuff out onto a plate and pressed it to get the moisture do drain a bit before I baked it. I may have explained myself poorly but to me, it sounds like yours is just a different company with the same idea.
Mine has no smell except at the beginning, even if you stick a handfull of it from my viv into hot water, there is no smell. I think the smell may be because I used water that was too hot? I don't know because there were absolutely no instructions with the one I bought.
I agree that it was nothing like what I had expected.
I might edit this post to add pictures of it later if you want.