“Substrate” is another word for corn snake bedding — the material that you use to cover the floor of your pet’s enclosure.
Using the right substrate in your corn snake’s terrarium can help regulate humidity and promote good health. Using the wrong substrate can be unhygienic and can even kill your snake in severe cases.
For best results, substrate should be layered at least 3″ thick to facilitate natural burrowing behavior and help maintain healthy humidity levels. Remove waste and contaminated substrate immediately, and replace all substrate at least once every 3-4 months.
These substrates are the best because they mimic a corn snake’s natural habitat, promote natural burrowing behavior, and help maintain a healthy average humidity between 65-75%.
These substrates are not the best because, although they can retain humidity, they tend to have some weird interactions with water or may cause other problems like fungus gnats. However, they’re still naturalistic, burrowable, and humidity-friendly, so using one of these will not be the end of the world.
These substrates are, well, not great. They are unlikely to kill or substantially harm a corn snake, but it’s best not to use them in the first place. They do not contribute to humidity at all and prevent natural burrowing behavior. However, they can be used in a pinch for quarantine setups. Note that if you use these substrates, you will need to work extra hard to keep humidity levels up.
This page contains affiliate links.