a long long time ago someone had a cool subsraite and i forgot what it was caled

[mustang]

it looked like blue/white rocks....whomever had them said they were frompetland....can someone give me a brand name of them rocks. thank you

[drache]

if it was aquarium gravel (the only substance I can think of coming in those colours), I wouldn't think of it as a good substrate for garters, but opinions may differ

[ConcinusMan]

yeah, really. Mystery solved. Aquarium gravel. Not so cool unless you're using it for fish. I know somebody that put a bunch of garters(too many perhaps) on that. Within a week, it stank terrible and the snakes ended up with skin infections.

[mustang]

what about those rounded pebbles?? would they work?

[Stefan-A]

what about those rounded pebbles?? would they work?

I wouldn't recommend it.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

No, pebbles of any kind don't work period. They don't absorb any liquid, so when they snakes go to bathroom or any water spills, it doesn't ever dry. It just sinks to the bottom, sits there, and breeds bacteria and turns into a disease-filled sludge pit! And if the snake goes for a swim, the rocks won't help the snake dry off and so he will stay damp all the time and develop some really nasty skin infections. Any substrate you use for garters, or 99.9% of all snakes for that matter, NEEDS to be absorbent. That means no rocks, no gravel, pebbles, clay cat litter or sand! Stick to aspen or cypress shavings, carefresh, newspaper pellet, newspaper, paper towels, coconut fibre, or just anything that's not gravel or sand

[ConcinusMan]

Oh yeah. Gravel, sand, bad news. I totally agree^^^When in dire straits I used several layers of newspaper laid flat, combined with a nice pile of shredded newspaper. Mostly though, I used pine shavings (yes, I know, supposedly not good, but I cannot deny the very long life my snakes lived with pine shavings) It was never a "pretty" house for my snakes but it always was practical and kept my "babies" healthy, clean, and disease free.

[mustang]

k anyone know of a non-toxic paint or pre colored aspen? my parents are still waiting for me to "finish" the tank so they can judge and say if it all stays or goes

[ConcinusMan]

oh really? what are they expecting? are the expecting it to look "pretty"?

Anyway, if it must, and you want a natural looking environment, you could probably go with bark substrate and throw in a few artificial plants, logs, etc. and perhaps a hiding cave, and there ya go. Of course, don't forget an under tank heater on one end, and some florescent full spectrum lighting to make it look really nice.

[drache]

Anyway, if it must, and you want a natural looking environment

somehow I don't think he's going for natural, or he wouldn't be looking for blue and white

carefresh is a good substrate and it does come in colours.