Substrate for reptiles

Ok I know this is a topic that many of us have views on. For your reptiles what is the main choice of substrate you use and why ?

Do you use a more natural setup so the animal looks and feels like it is at home in its enviroment?If so do you provide areas for the reptile to climb and explore the cage it lives in ? what type of hides do you use in there cages ?

This poll will be multiple choice.

The Poll doesn't seem to be multiple choice...

For me it depends on the animal being kept and where and why I'm keeping it...

For most snakes, it's bare bones essentials with a water dish, something to hide under or climb on as is appropriate to the species and a cheap and easily cleaned substrate (butcher paper, newspaper, aspen).

Some of that will change though... like my viper boas are kept on a deep mixture of bed a beast and fairly large bark chips with sphagnum in flat bunches because they like to bury themselves and it's important for their health that they be allowed to do so.

Anything which is going in a public place (and sometimes just for myself too) gets an elaborately decorated enclosure with lots of whatever cage decor is appropriate to the environment (rocks, branches, plants) and I have a tendency to put some time and effort into systems which include moving water or elaborate timer controlled misting and rain systems.

Lizards are generally kept in a slightly more elaborate enclosure than most snakes... most the species I've kept are more active and less of an ambush predator. Since they're not as inclined to sit in one spot for three days at a time, I generally add things which facilitate their activity and give me something to watch. There's nothing sadder than a tegu sitting in the corner of a bare enclosure scraping at the glass because it's the only thing in with it besides a water bowl... These additional items don't have to be as decorative or elaborate as the display enclosures but a basking area, a few additional hides or something to climb on is generally added.

Amphibian tanks, invert tanks and fish tanks are all similarly diverse. The few mammals that I like and either keep or have kept usually get pretty spoiled when it comes to space and items for environmental enrichment.

i will ask that a moderator please edit the poll to allow mulitple choice answers as i forgot to click the button DOOOOOH!!!!!

It might be better this way, the fewer responses people can click, the more inclined they are to discuss what they use and why.

For me, it really depends on the animal and the current wad of money in my wallet. I use anything from paper towels to calcisand to compressed recycled newspaper stuff. Thats about as nice as my substrate gets though. I give pirches and places to climb, I have never used a background. I have never had snakes that need alot of 'like it is in nature' stuff for them to function well and be unstressed.

For snakes I use Harlan Teklad aspen shavings. They are amazingly absorbent, also with newspaper under the shavings. I also use the same shavings for my rat breeding.

For my monitors I use aspen mixed with cypress bark mulch. It really holds humidity well. Since I only keep V. dumerlii , I needed something that can create and hold very high humidity levels.

I use newspaper in some of my racks. I've also used the indented kraft paper like the cage liners are cut from but I ordered it in rolls and cut it myself since it was significantly cheaper.
My substrate of choice though is cypress mulch. All my boids are on cypress and any other snakes that are in a conventional cage. I even use cypress in some of the racks.

It's as much of a substrate for me as them I suppose. Although I use newspaper, I dislike it, always have. Cypress looks good, and is a nice compromise between bland paper lined boxes and full out naturalistic cages.
Cypress can be spot cleaned and holds humidity well too, so it's all around a good substrate.

These substrates hold humidity. I have a large water container and hides, but nothing else.

Linda

The answers are way too vague since different species require different environments.

I'm still an amateur but I agree with Seamus completely. Only have two corns right now and they make extensive use of their cage furnishings (branches). Since they are in tanks, I have a decorative background. As soon as my cages arrive, the backgrounds are unimportant since the cages are opaque. I think they would be a hassle in the cage. Plan on owning 1.1 pairs of various NA colubrids and black milksnakes so minimum cage size will be 4'x2'x15" with aspen and/or cyprus. Definitely have branches, and other furnishings because they really seem to use them. Have tried repti-bark, aspen, coconut chunks, and paper towel. Like repti-bark best but will be using aspen because of bulk pricing. I'm not in this for $ so prefer a small, varied collection in nice habitats as opposed to dozens of snakes in plain tubs.
just my 2 ¢ fwiw

For my babies, I use paper towels, easy to pick up and throw away daily. I also have a rock or something for them to climb on.

For the adults, I use crushed walnut shells, wood for them to climb on and a 1/2 log that they can bask on or hide in. None of my adults really like to hide. I keep my adult cages as close to their natural enviroment as I can, hence the substrate that I use. I have never used a wall design.

For some of my adults, I have taken out the wood logs because of parasites, and have replaced them with some neat plastic ones that I got at PetsMart. They are painted to look like wood and clean up really nice and can easily be disinfected, unlike the wood ones.