Is sand ok for pythons?

[twistdelegance815]

I have a ball python and I want to put sand in his cage. He's about 2 1/2 feet long. Is sand safe for ball pythons or should I reconsider?

[Lee S]

DO NOT USE SAND---Very hard to clean, harbor bacteria

Newspaper does not "look good", but is cheap, easy to clean, will not be accidentally ingested.

[Drag737]

People dont like to use sand because it can get stuck under snakes scales and they can swallow it if you feed it in the same cage. Swallowing sand is VERY bad for snakes and can cause internal problems. I recomend using the repti rug from a pet store. They are safe and easy to clean.

[escpthemadnss]

You don't want to use sand for ball pythons. They're tropical snakes and like high humidity and the sand is going to make the cage drier and cause problems.

I use EcoEarth in my snake tanks. It comes in blocks that you add water to and it opens up. There are a few different brands of it, but it's my top choice for a snake tank. You can try Repti-Bark, but it can cause problems if your snake swallows any of it while eating.

The only other one I can think of is aspen wood. You can find it with the small animal bedding. The one thing you want to make sure of though is that you stay away from anything that says it is "shavings" (pine shavings, cedar shavings, etc). The shaving process exposes the oils in the wood and can cause respiratory problems in snakes. The aspen won't help much with the humidity though, so I'd try the EcoEarth first.

[petsnakes]

Reconsider. It is known for causing impaction and cleaning it is a pain. Everytime the snake goes to the bathroom you'll have to completely empty all of the sand out, wash the tank and then replace it with new sand.

A very bad idea to use sand.