Snake Substrate?

[Cicada Hollow]

I'm dying here...a little at a time apparantly. I've discovered that I'm very allergic to aspen. Hmmmm. So, I'm still letting Maze have a small amount to burrow in, but am needing to replace with another burrowable, yet safe substrate.

To field concerns, Maze is kept in a 40 gallon tank with 3/4 of it free of substrate. Main floor covering is vinal shelf paper, but I did give Maze 1/4 of an area which is covered in aspen. To field further concerns, Maze is not fed in the 40 gal tank, but removed for feeding, so no concerns of impaction.

I would really like to keep Maze, but I can't deal with the aspen. Any other ideas of substrate safe to use?

[DDReptiles]

Try Carefresh bedding, it is that newspaper balls that they put in rodent cages. It is gray clumps of newspaper. I use that for some of my snakes and works great.

[peublan]

I have always liked cyprus mulch. Buy it in the big bags at Depot or lowes. I just wash it with warm water remove any reallly big chunks.

[4minters]

I agree with Derek. Carefresh. It's a little pricey but good stuff. We use it for baby birds and they are so sensitive, they can't use much of anything. There are also those green pellets. I don't know what they are but I see animals on them at some of the shows. Honestly, it looks like rabbit food. Don't know about that. There is a catlitter called yesterdays news that is along the same line as carefresh but it is a pellet instead of a fluffball. The only of these that I have used is carefresh, I was just brainstorming on the rest.

[amhjda1109]

We use cypress mulch with our snakes. It's nice because it helps to hold in some humidity which can aid in an easy shedding process. Zoo Med has some called Forest Floor Bedding. That's what we always get. It's not too pricey and I like it better then the mulch from Lowes/Home Depot. It seems to have more mulch and less of the big woody chunks. We put a thin layer on about 3/4 of the cage and then build it up a little more on one end and it works like a charm. Hope this helps!!

[Cicada Hollow]

I want to stay away from the cypress, I'm probably allergic to it as well. I do have Carefresh and Yesterday's News on hand. We use Carefresh for our gerbil's bedding and Yesterday's News for ferret litter.

I considered using the Carefresh, but am worried that it might be too dusty. The Yesterday's news definitely has too much dust, so that isn't an option. I may give the Carefresh a try.

Thanks everyone!

[DDReptiles]

Whenever I try Cypress, I always end up getting a bunch or ear wigs in there...

[IndyCrestie]

Try the white carefresh. It seems to be much more dust free, and looks better too.

[Styx]

When you use carefresh, just make sure you have a moist hide at all times. It can really dry out your snakes.

Sucks that your allergic to woods. You might try putting some white paper through your shredder even and stick that in there.

[cml3.0]

Yeah, shreded paper would work good to, my parents work at jobs where there is a bunch of shreded paper about. So, it is always avalible to me. Let me know if you would like some :)

[Reptile4life]

I used whole newspaper easy to clean and free!!!!!

[ReptileChick]

Whole newspaper? But they like to burrow. I would just shred some up for them.

[SB1127]

All my snakes are on T Rex Sani Chips. It has almost no dust, is very absorbant, and clumps easily.

[peublan]

Whole newspaper? But they like to burrow. I would just shred some up for them.
When I have used news paper I put in several layers and the snakes seem to be quite happy getting in between the layers.

[Reptile4life]

I dont like shredding becuase as snakes need it humid the paper sticks too them and gets all weird

[firecrested]

I would go with care fresh too. I used it for my red tail boa and blood python. It holds humidity well too when wet. I didnt get too much dust out of my bag.

[IndyCrestie]

When I have used news paper I put in several layers and the snakes seem to be quite happy getting in between the layers.

Ditto. My RTB is kept on layered newspaper and she burrows under it when she wants to.

It's what her breeder recommended. My brother has a sibling of hers and keeps it on shredded newspaper. The breeder also ok'd that, but when I was over at his place last night the bedding was a little too damp from high humidity building up. Whether it's because he doesn't have enough ventilation or because the shredding process helps hold humidity, I'm not sure. He's planning on getting her an actual cage and reg. lid though so we'll see.