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Bedding; Is Astroturf safe?

CAKES

CAKES

New member
Hi everyone! I have a corn snake named Tang. He's a little over a year old. I currently use aspen bedding in his home. He seems to really like it, he burrows and digs his little tunnels. I'm getting ready to move him into a bigger tank and I know how quickly the aspen bedding gets dirty. So i'm worried that with the bigger tank i'll be going through a ton of it and wasting more than I need to. As a solution, I got an idea to only put the aspen bedding on one half of the tank and use a solid bedding (some soft of carpet or solid turf) for the other half. We use this green carpet stuff for our bearded dragons house because it's super easy to clean. So at first I was thinking of using that but then I came across this fake grass like stuff that's like astro turf and I thought wow he would really love that because corn snakes like tall grass and fields to slither in. I'v been getting a lot of mixed answers though about how safe this astroturf stuff (or similar products) are for a snake cage. If anyone has any information on this, I would greatly appreciate it. If anyone has any tips or other suggestions on something better that Tang would really enjoy, that would be really helpful too! Thanks. :)
 
Safe, sure. You'll of course want to make sure its sanitized before using. But, it will be a *pain* to clean. It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of someone using astro turf, or an astro turf similar product as a bedding.
 
Not sure why the aspen is getting dirty so fast, I am able to spot clean my cages without issue daily. I do a full change if they spill water (which is rare) or once every month or two. Everything gets bleached at that time too.
I always thought that the AstroTurf harbors bacteria, but I may be wrong.
 
You're not wrong. On average it's close to impossible to get really clean, so bacterial build up is always an issue. My statement of it's actual safety was intended more in the "This product isn't going to kill my snake on it's own when I introduce the two." sort of way.
 
Astroturf can be a challenge to get completely clean.

You'll need two pieces, one for in the tank, and a replacement for when you have to clean the other.

It's not absorbent at all, so no odor control and the snake may slither through the poo if it's there long enough.
 
I agree with AliCat, I find the Aspen to be very easy to keep clean. The poo is easy to pick out, almost clumping like cat litter. I would think that astro turf or carpet would be very hard to keep clean and sanitize. My aspen lasts awhile with spot cleaning after every poo, I get mine at Tractor Supply and it is very cheap, 10 bucks for a large bale. It is the same thing the pet stores sell but much cheaper.
 
I think he would really enjoy the bio-active substrate. Have you ever done this before?
 
does anyone know if it is safe to use plantation soil for young corns. I just got a pair of approx. 4 month old corns n they have been kept in plantation soil, they are really healthy but if it is not safe for them I would like to change it to aspen
thanks
 
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