Substrate In Water

One of my biggest peeves is that daily my corn snake and BTS kick tons of substrate into their water dishes. Now that isn't a big deal because I change the water daily anyhow but I hate having to dump out that soggy bedding into my trash and let it sit for a week or flush it and having that cause problems with my apartment plumbing. Does anyone know of a decent way to keep bedding out of the bowls?

Right now I put the bowls on a piece of tile but they just push the bedding onto that and then into the bowl.

Originally Posted by kepster57

One of my biggest peeves is that daily my corn snake and BTS kick tons of substrate into their water dishes. Now that isn't a big deal because I change the water daily anyhow but I hate having to dump out that soggy bedding into my trash and let it sit for a week or flush it and having that cause problems with my apartment plumbing. Does anyone know of a decent way to keep bedding out of the bowls?

Using dog water bowls, the molded plastic type that is hollow underneath, seems to help. As far as the plumbing goes, dump the water dish through a colander either down the sink or into the toilet; throw the solids into the rubbish bin and you shouldn't have any more clogs.

I also use the colander system, I have a colander that fits on top of a 5 gallon plastic bucket. When changing water I dump the old water through the colander catching any debris and retaining the water in the bucket. When finished I pour the water down the drain and empty the colander debris in the garbage.

I noticed that didn't really answer your question. From observation, the higher your water bowl the less bedding it seems to accumulate. I would purchase a water bowl with relatively high sides.

Or perhaps, take the garbage or more often ;-)