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Bark??

cornsnakemaster28

cornsnakemaster28

New member
I see a lot of times on this forum with snakes in there viv's and there's bark in there. I think that's a really good idea so the snake can hide under there and ect. He said though that you need to buy a new bag of bark everytime. ( I think that's expensive but what do I Know, I'm 12) Is this true or is there a way around this.

Thanks if you answer
 
im pretty sure you can get certain kinds of wood from outside to use in your snakes home.

im just sure your not supposed to use pine or cedar wood. im sure there are other kinds of wood out there that would be safe to use...and it would be free.

only thing is you have to make sure you boil the pieces of wood and after that bake them in the oven to make sure it is sterilized (no tiny harmful bugs on the wood). I think you have to use a little bit of bleach in the water when you boil it as well, but im not sure on this, so hopefully someone else knows.


ALSO im not sure exactly what woods are safe, all i know is pine and cedar is BAD.

hopefully someone else here can give more solid information.
 
I'm no expert, per se, but I've used Repti-bark from ZooMed with my gopher snake and my geckos. It didn't seem to bother him. The Repti-bark is from Fir trees. I believe you can also use Coconut bark from T-Rex. I would definately stay away from Pine or Cedar. Hope this helps.
 
cornsnakemaster28 said:
I see a lot of times on this forum with snakes in there viv's and there's bark in there. I think that's a really good idea so the snake can hide under there and ect. He said though that you need to buy a new bag of bark everytime. ( I think that's expensive but what do I Know, I'm 12) Is this true or is there a way around this.

Thanks if you answer
Click to expand...

Seems like you're probably talking about repti-bark for substrate. If that's true, the bag says you can "wash" the substrate when it's dirty. I don't know about that, but I just scoop out all the stuff that's soiled and the rest remains clean. I may try to "wash" it in a dilute bleach solution in a bucket when it's time to completely change the substrate out, but I haven't yet decided. You'd certainly want a new bag while the old one dried and such if you tried that. In any case, I didn't find that the repti-bark was a whole lot more expensive then aspen. :shrugs:
 
I recently switched to aspen from the Zoo med bark, and I like it so much better. My snakes also seem to like it, as they can make tunnels and really bury themselves. susan
 
aspen is totally the way to go corns love it, smells good, easy spot cleaning, and it doesnt have harmful toxic oils like pine or cedar and its pretty cheap if you buy the t-rex kind
 
i think u're suppost to clean the entire repti bark subtrate in a bucket of water and the zoo med cleaner about 3 months or when it starts to smell and then replace it after 6 months. i bought a 10 quart bag for about $15 so i think i just just replace it after a few months, so the bag should last about a year. the cleaning procedures are probably more for breeders or someone that keeps a lot of snakes to save money.
 
I use repti bark for my corn, repti bark is not expensive at all it costs me about 9$ canadian for a big bag of it. i change the bark every month to 2 months so it doesnt get any mites r bugs....my corn also likes to burrow under it.
 
Aspen seems to be quite a bit cheaper if you buy it in the small animal section rather than the reptile section. Same thing, but lower cost...at least at my store.
 
Harleybabe said:
I'm no expert, per se, but I've used Repti-bark from ZooMed with my gopher snake and my geckos. It didn't seem to bother him. The Repti-bark is from Fir trees. I believe you can also use Coconut bark from T-Rex. I would definately stay away from Pine or Cedar. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I always loved the look of Repti-bark. But, in the end, I went with aspen. The reason is that everytime I read the bag I saw "Fir" stamped on it. I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all, but isn't a fir tree a type of pine tree? Not only that, but isn't it closely related to cedar? Check out this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fir. I don't put all my faith in Wikipedia, but it's a good starting place. It's worth checking out. Is Repti-bark really ok for snakes? :shrugs:
 
Bump...I really would like to know the answer to this question. I use Repti-Bark with no problems, but I have noticed "fir" on the bag and wondered about this. I also notice that when it is new, it does smell good, which I thought was a sign of those oils that are so bad for little animals.
 
I've used Repti-bark on my gopher snake, "Rocky" and it didn't appear to cause any problems. In fact, he liked to borrow in it. Then again, I used a mix of aspen, moss and repti-bark in his tank.
 
Thanks for bumpin' me up a bit :wavey: I'm gonna go ahead and do it one more time, because I'm really curious too.
 
Rather than using Repti-bark, you can use Coconut Bark from T-Rex. It says its okay to use for Cornsnakes. The bark comes from the coconut husks. It appears to look much like the other reptile barks. Hope that helps.
 
Might possibly be a bug problem

I have read many, many posts in here about the repti-bark being purchased with bugs present in it. I also have read many posts about it attracting bugs, once it is in the viv.

There is no question is really looks nice but it does seem to make sense that it would be a great attraction to ants and outside bugs, as it seems to be the environment they are attracted to in nature.

Everyone has their preferences so you can chose which you like best. I just wanted to weigh in on this one so you knew that folks have had this problem before and you were armed with each sides concerns before making a choice.

If you want more info on it, you can go to the forum search and type in substrate bugs and it will give you a list of posts that reference the bug issue. :wavey:
 
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