Substrate Recommendations Please

Hi all!

So my female corn has been on aspen shavings since I got her back in May. The problem is that the aspen is dusty and makes her "sneeze". She started this "sneezing" on day seven (possibly on day one, I don't know 'cause I left her alone for the first week). Just to head off suggestions of an RI, I know its the aspen cause she'll "sneeze" a couple times for the first few of minutes of handling then stop. When I place her back in her home, she'll start again, but only if she is moving. When she's still, no "sneezing".

Otherwise, I love the aspen. It looks nice, is easy to clean, and Cirice (the corn) likes to burrow all through it. I've tried two brands of aspen, the cheap stuff at Walmart and another one I got at the pet store (forgot the brand but here was a picture of a milk/king snake on the bag). Both were very dusty.

I've never tried a different substrate, so any suggestions? I'd really like something that she can burrow through, she never seems to climb but is always burrowing and it's really cool how many little tunnels she has made. I'd like her to keep it up.

Thanks for any suggestions!

You can try this one I have not used it but I do like the little squares

I tried coconut but it has a dirt smell BHB sells some that is like 95% dust free



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My snakes are fine with shredded aspen, rather than shavings, but I always start coughing on the dust when I work with it. I find a very light mist of water when removing it from the bag (not enough to even make it feel wet), settles the dust and solves the problem for me.

I'm mentioning this not so much for you because your snake's sneezing is an entirely different matter, but for anyone else who works with the shredded aspen. The dust seems to stay more settled from there on out, too.

We have had our first corn snake for just a few months, so bear this in mind when reading on! Just feel I should stop lurking and start chipping in....

Just fiddled about with the aspen we use, and it doesn't seem to be dusty to any significant extent. I have certainly read about people complaining about dusty aspen on other forum posts, so perhaps it is the case that some brands / sources can be a lot dustier than others? Any recommendations perhaps from others on your side of the pond about non-dusty brands?

I do like aspen personally - the ability for our little snake to make tunnels that stay in shape is great I think, given that he is still small and potentially could otherwise feel insecure in his current small faun. But it seems from what I have read that these snakes do pretty well in a wide range of set-ups, including on bare newspaper (with adequate hides, of course).

In conclusion, based on my own preferences and limited experience and from the many forum posts and articles I have read, personally I would try to source a less-dusty source because I like what aspen offers, but I wouldn't get too bent out of shape if I felt I had to move over to an entirely different substrate.

Hope someone with a lot more experience and knowledge can give you some weightier advice than mine, and that it all works out well for you.

Think I'm gonna try coconut husk. But it'll depend on what the pet store has in stock. I wish I could buy it on the internet but the shipping would be killer.

Best wishes. I think as long as it is a snake safe substrate, you need to experiment until you find something that works for you and your snake.

I use Chipsi, it's apparently been specially made for snakes and so far has lived up to the blurb. It's quite fine but there's no dust and very little smell (just faint woody sort of smell). I have a 3 month old corn on it and she's had no issues and burrows through it all the time.

http://www.chipsi.eu/chipsi_en/produ...ipsi-snake.php

Looked at Chipsi and it seems like a good bet, but it looks like it isn't available in the US!

I just tried the experiment with coconut husk (eco-earth brand). At first I loved it, and so did the corn. She readily burrowed through and it was aesthetically pleasing. The problem developed in less than an hour. Humidity went up to 92%!! Way too high! I tried to bring it down but after a few hours of trying to get the humidity under control I gave up, dumped it all, and now poor Cirice is on paper towel.

Looking to get Aspen chips as suggested above. Amazon Prime offers a great price on Repti Chip from Zoo Med with 2 day shipping. Anyone have experience with that?