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Care Fresh pet bedding

kimbyra

cornsnake addict
Anyone here used Care Fresh Pet Bedding? It's says it can be used for reptiles, but I know how that goes... It looks like really soft cottony fiber crumbles. It says that it is made from wood fiber, and such. THey have it at Petsmart.
 
I use it for one of my adult corns that sneezes occasionally, but shows no other sign of R.I. after many months of monitoring. I thought he may be allergic to aspen, so I decided to try it. To me it seems less dusty than aspen. :shrugs:
 
We have used carefresh for corns and our milksnakes and found that some bags were a bit dusty, overall it is a very absorbant and clean bedding. It is very easy to spot clean, but the price makes it difficult to afford to completely change bedding on a weekly basis which we like to do. We prefered it to the flaked or shredded aspen we had been using - much cleaner and tended to roll off prey when the snake was eating, so little danger of impaction.

As a side effect of the high absorbancy -it can be very drying especially if used with an overhead light as a heat source. We had a lot of bad sheds with it when we used it in our aquariums that are heated with overhead lights. It was never a problem in our rack system with undertub heaters - likely because the water dishes there are large in relation to tub size and helped to maintain the humidity.

The dark form (less expensive than the bleached white form) will also stain light colored animals a bit. It also breaks down into smaller pieces and dust if you leave it in the cage for any length of time (more than a couple weeks you get a lot of dust buildup in the base of the cage).

I would use it except for the price and the excessive drying. We prefer Beta Chip for our adult snakes - a finely chipped form of aspen - clean, not dusty and inexpensive enough that we can completely replace it weekly (with 30-50 snakes the carefresh got really, really expensive!).

mary v.
 
I use it for all of my adults, they can completely burrow in it. If i used aspen for my adults to completely burrow in i would be using more then when i use carfresh (i used to use aspen) the price is around the same....and i use less carfres to cover a larger area... i think it is very clean. they now sell carfresh ultra, less dusty but more expensive. i find it to be less dusty then aspen...i also use visionariums (the slide open from the side rather the top) and when i had aspen in there it would fall out and stick to everything. the carefresh doesnt get stuck in the tracks so it doesnt fall out when i open the doors and if some does, it doesnt stick to everything and it is only two or three peices, rather then a clump. LOL as you can tell I LOVE THE STUFF....
 
I used it for a while and didn't like it. First off, the grey color just looks crappy in a viv, second it stays clumped so that it was harder for mine to burrow, third it was dusty. It also ended up in the water bowls constantly and made a horrible mess so I went back to aspen. My friend uses it when he transports his rattlesnakes as it makes a cushy bed, but other than that, he uses paper in his vivs.
 
Meg,
they make white and colors too.. I have blue in my adults cages. i only have one snake who manages to get it in his water...but since i change the water every other day...it isnt a problem. LOL

kinbyra,
I love the stuff...te he...so do my snakes....i find that when it comes to bedding it will take a few tries... you need to find what works for you (as long as it is good for your snakes of course) some like repti bark and eco earth others like paper towels or news print... some like aspen or carefresh... try them all... if you have more then one cage try different ones in different cages... see whats best for you financially and what is easiest for you to clean... observe your snakes behavior to see what they like better as well.... good luck and i hope you come across something that works for you
 
vanderkm said:
We purchase from our local feed store - the manufacturer is at http://www.pharmaserv.net/bedding_wood.asp. Made for laboratory use and very high grade, clean bedding and $6 for 2.5 cubic feet which fills a lot of tubs and tanks,

mary v.
thats not too bad lol do they sell to companies only or something? i didnt see any prices or order information on their page :shrugs: I really like the aspen chips :)
 
Howdy Folks!
I've tried:
Reptibark - dark so I can't see the poo, dusty, looks good though.
Newsprint - hard and flat surface, but easy too clean, can't burrow though.
Aspen - the snakes liked it, but then I got mites! Grrr! I don't want to have to freeze the stuff, or such to make sure it's mite free.
And now - Care Fresh (Ultra) - I bought a bag yesterday, so I'll see how it goes. I changed my garter's tank today and put that stuff in. It seemed just a little dusty. It looks like the snake can burrow well. It's strange stuff. I put a piece of newsprint under the huge water bowl, for easy cleaning, and a piece over the UTH, so his belly won't touch the glass. I'm going to change my two corn's tanks tomorrow.
Good news guys and gals! I just ordered a beautiful little very orange normal male hatchling from Terri (the Snake House)! He looks so beautiful. I hope he does better from the stress of shipping then my other liitle boy. He hasn't eaten yet. :shrugs: I'm working with him though.
 
Update

Hi again!
Well, one little bag of the Ultra went a long way, so the price turned out to be pretty good. It's still weird stuff, and its harder to find the poo. It hasn't gotten into any of the water dishes, which is good. The snakes really like it, I think. They have been burrowing fools. It is harder to find the hatchlings though. That stuff is doing good so far, except for the poo being harder to find. Thought y'all might like an update.
 
can you buy that carefresh stuff in the uk as most people on here seem to be in the us im on paper towls at the mo but looking for something else the pet shop was out of aspen and only had just wood chippings the gir said it was ok but wasnt sure
 
is there anywhere you can buy a ton of shredded aspen? i keep having to buy it in 8qt bags and its really wayy to expensive if you have a lot of snake tanks to fill. i know you can get it online but the shipping is way too much.
 
I don't know about the big bags of aspen, but I thought I'd update y'all again on what I've found. The snakes still seem to like it alot. I have noticed though that when they burrow under, sometimes they lay on the bottom of the glass, which is less likely with aspen I think. It's still okay stuff, and one bag really does go a long way because its compressed in the bag a bit.
 
kimbyra said:
I don't know about the big bags of aspen, but I thought I'd update y'all again on what I've found. The snakes still seem to like it alot. I have noticed though that when they burrow under, sometimes they lay on the bottom of the glass, which is less likely with aspen I think. It's still okay stuff, and one bag really does go a long way because its compressed in the bag a bit.


is it bad that they lay on the glass?
 
vanderkm said:
It is very easy to spot clean, but the price makes it difficult to afford to completely change bedding on a weekly basis which we like to do.
mary v.


You change your tanks every week??? Isnt this a little unnecessary?
 
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