Good Lord, I hate aspen

I use Carefresh for babies, and by the time they switch to aspen I am so happy to be done with it. I hate how it gets in water bowls and sucks up all the water, and how it mixes with poo and turns into cement that never comes off.

I've used many different substrates, and I prefer Aspen. My snakes seem to like it the best as well.

I used these pellets for awhile, mostly because they were cheaper in bulk than aspen. It's absorbent and you can still do spot checks fairly easily. Once it gets wet it kind of flakes out.


This is what it looks like after some "use"


This was so long ago that I can't remember what they were made of. I DO still use pine pellets like this as cat litter. I cannot stand how standard cat litter smells and sticks to my cat's feet. lol, getting a little

I've also used Newspaper, but .. eh. It's not super absorbent, and if you use normal run of the mill newspaper, the print can rub off on your snakes.


*shrug* for whatever reason though, I always go back to shredded aspen. I don't like how expensive it is and how messy it can be, but it's not too terrible. ..Until I have a bin pulled out to clean while a snake is eating, leave it unattended for a second and come back to find the cat playing in it.

Expensive? Aspen? You can buy it at Walmart for like three four bucks..and that cleans like 7 of my tanks...I now buy a huge thing of it..I think it weighs like forty pounds for 20 dollars..they sell them at reptile expos..you know what works great I never thought of before and is super absorbent.. Is the stuff they put in horse stalls..its cheap. Comes in big bags..and obviously if it has to absorb horse poop and pee its wicked absorbent.. Gonna check that out when I run low on the aspen..I have mice hamsters and ten snakes.I bought the big bag of aspen and have like three quarters of it left.I bought it at a reptile show February 29th for 20 bucks..so definitely not expensive.


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Originally Posted by obboi34

I prefer cypress as it holds moisture better but it does get everywhere.

Yeah you are right cypress is good for this kind of work. I would also prefer this.

I use a mixture of eco earth and repti bark in a 4:1 ratio, the reptibark helps with rough services to rub on when shedding and the eco earth acts like dirt and clumps when wet so my snakes go for a dip then burrow and make tunnels.

I've done sterile potting soil (no enrichment, just dirt), Aspen, carefresh, Kaytee soft and cozy, fleece, and paper towel. Visually, I liked the soil best, but it makes the tank so heavy. The fleece was something I just wanted to try because it could be washed, but it turned out to just be a hassle. Colored carefresh and the Kaytee stuff are really nice, come in pretty colors, and the snakes can burrow into it. I stopped using aspen because it gave me allergies (sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, etc). Right now, only Udjat and Ankh are on Kaytee, everyone else is on paper towels. The paper towel is the simplest cleanup for me, and since they're in tubs I don't feel like I'm missing out on visual interest- I just save that for the other two.

I found the aspen got everywhere, too, but so did the carefresh