Substrate to use for snake racks??
 

I have been experimenting with different substrates the last few months on my ball python racks and in my argentine tegu cage. Either i find something that limits odor but requires cleaning the whole cage when the snake deficates or the odor is bad but easy to clean... im looking for a solution and ideas please help me out? whats the best?! Thanks!

There is no perfect answer...especially for ball python AND tegu.
Sanichips are decent for BPs, but I wouldn't want to use them for a tegu.

Im more concerned with the ball pythons. Cypress mulch is good for the tegus. Any recommendations for the bps??

Howdy neighbor. :D

I like indented kraft paper for babies, breeding and quarantine. Otherwise, sanichips is my bedding of choice. Tried everything else and didn't like it for one reason or another.

I've never tried sani chips with the balls....would be worried bout chips getting in their vent I think, but Im pretty paranoid haha.

Just switched everyone from Cypress Mulch back to paper towels.....I like paper the most.

I don't use particulate substrates during breeding.
I liked the SaniChips when I was using it...but everything is on paper now. I use bogus paper for the balls.

Cleaning often is better than less so. I used to keep everything on cypress, then I'd go back to aspen*Less dirty...*, but then i would hate cleaning substrate because it gets EVERYWHERE on cleaning days. I tried SEVERAL types! ( Harlan Teklad diamond soft, carefresh, large chip and small chip aspen varieties, cypress varieties even reptibark/orchid bark stuff which was horrible!) Back to paper towel and im sticking with it. You get a few who NEED to mess it up, but its easy enough to fix. It makes washing tubs and really getting them clean a breeze too, because you dont have all sorts of dust or matter from the shavings/mulch to deal with.

Bounty, it's "The Quicker Picker Upper".
We use paper towels on all of our ball pythons from hatchling to 4000 grams, wouldn't want it any other way.

I have lost a snake due to aspen getting in the vent and causing an infection. I would advise papertowels, newspaper, and stuff like that. My case may be a one in a million but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, Josh. I've used aspen for several years now and haven't had any problems, but I have noticed that not all brands are created equal. A brand I used to purchase when I was in Georgia was extremely dusty, and I didn't like it very much. The brand I use now is not dusty at all, and the fibers are much softer (it's the PetCo brand).

I never liked newspaper. I used to use newspaper for leopard geckos until I noticed the ink was bleeding off onto the cage and sometimes on the geckos themselves, depending upon relative humidity. Paper towels work good and that's what I currently use for leopard geckos, but paper towels get all bunched up on me and the animal almost always misses the dang stuff. I dislike cypress mulch because I think that most cypress harvesting is done rather unsustainably (cypress grows in wetlands, which are very sensitive to mechanical disturbance).