Hi @peptobismolultra! I'll be honest to say it isn't my first choice- my girls prefer bioactive 100% Due to unforseen life circumstances my snakes and I are living at a temp location and we'll be moving again soonish- so setting up bioactive and taking it down again might not be the best plan. (Epoxying it to make it waterproof makes disassembly to move difficult. I'm also trying to figure out how to reenforce the bottom of their Zen Habitat since bioactive can be HEAVY and I'm worried about it causing collapse. Perhaps someone else has a bioactive Zen with 5+ inches of substrate they've reenforced?) Once we are settled in our future home they'll have a sculpted foam backdrop and bioactive substrate. While we've tried aspen, I've read of someone else using Carefresh when they had health issues from aspen. I figured we could give Carefresh a try!
It doesn't hold burrows super well, so I've hidden a bunch of tubes under the substrate which they use as tunnels, as well as hides with underground rooms (her castle has one door she can go in that is free of substrate, another that goes right into her substrate which she sometimes uses.) They've both learned how to move their bodies in such a way that the ground immediately swallows them up if they wish. It's a little odd to see, they're just slithering along and decide they're done with socializing and their entire body just is swallowed by the ground in under a second. This is a skill the introverts in my life envy. I think they are having fun with the novelty, and have the space they need now they are larger, and they have their former bioactive enclosure in the larger enclosure so they can still go burrow into dirt when they want too. But I do want better for them. It isn't the ideal situation, and for the moment instead of IMPRESSIVE SCENERY and 100% bioactive, they have their smaller enclosure in a snake playground with all their favorite toys and enrichment activities. I'm hoping until we can make our lives get back on plan they are still happy and having fun. At that point, I think I'll use carefresh under a blanket for a little bed (it isn't as incredibly difficult to remove from Sakura's blanket- she likes having a cloth draped over soft substrate for a bed and she'll lay on the blanket or slightly burrow into the substrate to go under her blanket. Perfect bed.) And then give them a box to burrow through it as an enrichment activity- or their container they go to the vet in. One nice thing is it absorb and clumps around their waste so it's incredibly easy to clean- but I know my girls will be much happier when their main home is 100% bioactive and stuff like this is just enrichment. (At the moment they think they have a home they can leave for enrichment any time they want. Scoria is a good girl and puts herself to bed every night. Sakura is the child that passes out wherever she wants. Sometimes her castle. Sometimes pressed between her door and substrate barrier. Sometimes butt up in the air on top of a toy and face buried in her substrate. This is the way of Sakura.
They come in fun colors so here's some halloweeny ones if you want to put some in a box to give your snake a fun enrichment activity! If you are thinking of switching substrate, please let your snake choose. Put their current substrate in one tupperware bin, and this in another identical bin, and both next to each other so the snake can go from one to another effortlessly. See which one the snake enjoys being in and doesn't want to leave. This is how I know my girls like bioactive the best <3 The day I offered them this option Scoria did not want to go in her home and eventually fell asleep in the tupperware. I immediately gave her bioactive and she has been so happy since.
