chopped hay?

[diamondlil]

I've been having trouble getting aspen, in fact as I don't drive all my suppliers would be at least 3 hours on a train.....as I work awkward shifts I have been using paper towels. Found a product that I'm trying with my 2 biggest boys, it's chopped meadow hay, dust-free and very fluffy. I feed in a container, so ingestion isn't an issue, they have been tunneling already and settled down. Any ideas about this? Obviously if I find any problems I'll switch back to the towels, but I thought this is the closest I can get to a more natural tunnel-friendly substrate for now

 

[Roy Munson]

I can't imagine you getting too many informed responses on this one.

I've heard that grasses and ruminants have been locked in an evolutionary battle. Grasses have evolved to incorporate highly abrasive silicates in their composition, while ruminants have evolved dentition to handle it. Would abrasive silicates in (dried) grass be an irritant to corn snakes? I couldn't tell you. :shrugs:

 

[BeckyG]

I don't know either. I would be concerned about mold though on a hay product.

Try it and let us know what you think.

 

[diamondlil]

yep, the possibility of both abrasion and mould is what I'm worried about, but the stuff is softer than beech chips. as for mould, only time will tell, but it is dry to start with, I'll certainly update on how the experiment goes.

 

[kathylove]

The person who brought us bloodreds in the 1980s (Ed Leach) used to keep his adult corns outside on the back porch in north Florida, bedded in deep piles of hay. Not a product made from hay, just hay purchased from the local feed store to feed horses. I don't know if he kept them like that for a long time, or ever had problems, but he was using it when we visited him to get our first bloodreds in around 1982 or so. I remember him saying that it was good insulation when the weather was very cold or hot. He never mentioned any problems.

On another note, we used to cover our tortoise houses with bales of hay for insulation when we had large sulcatas. They used to eat it at times. I don't remember a big mold problem (and we are in Florida), although it would mold eventually.

I don't have any other direct experience to tell you about.

If there is an abrasion problem, it probably would only affect babies. Adult corns seem to have fairly tough skin.

As long as you monitor your animals, chances are that it will work fine with little or no risk. Then you will be able to come back and educate all of us from your experience.

Good luck!

 

[diamondlil]

Hard to tell if they are having fun, but the boys have certainly been tunneling. It is just like the chopped hay you get as horse feed, but is fluffier (not sure if that counts as a real word, but it's early in the morning) :grin01:

 

[jenkva]

Couldn't you use the same as in the pic? :shrugs:
It is what is used for mice and it is pretty cheap.

 

[kimbyra]

I've seen that "hay" some kind of hay is sold at pet stores as weel. I wonder if anyone has had any experience with that stuff? Does anyone know if hay has allergens that might upset their resp?
Try your hay out and tell us how it goes! :cheers:

 

[diamondlil]

for my mice, gerbil, guineapig, I use a sawdust that doesn't smell of pine but it isn't labelled what it is. I can get it as small or large particles and all the furries have lived or are living long lives with no problems but as I don't know what wood it is, I don't want to risk it on the snakes. The chopped hay fluffs up well, and if there are no problems I'll be more than happy to carry on using it. The big boys sleeping off yesterday's feeds, so I'll know better later in the week how they are adjusting

 

[rhinecat]

You might try keeping the hay in a freezer for 24 hours or so before using it; rodent people do this with bedding to prevent mites and other gross bugs that like to hide in wood shavings and hay. Every rodent here (and that was 15+ at the time!) once got mites from Wal-Mart aspen shavings, so I'm a little bedding-paranoid by now. I have no idea if snake mites could, or would, hang around in hay, but it might be worth the peace of mind.

 

[diamondlil]

update; no problems so far, the snakes still burrowing away, so have changed all over to the chopped hay. 2 perfect sheds from the big boys, and the ratsnake seems a little mellower, perhaps because he can hide all he wants! The hypo had spilt his water during his shed, so the area around was a little damp, but no mould and I just changed out half the hay so as not to disturb him too much. For the first time I've experienced the 'where's my snake' moment of panic because they can hide so well

 

[MomFor2Gifts]

Bales Of Hay

I got to thinking about something. I don't think it would mold, I could be wrong, however when I was a kid my grandfather had cows and horses and he harvested hay in bundles that sat out in the fields for a year or more until he had run out of the bales in the barn. After all that time out in the elements they were never molded, not even in the deep center and these bales were about 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide, so they were massive.

The one thing we did see though, over and over, was seed sprouts on them, where birds had dropped seed flying overhead and it started to grow. I would imagine it would be the same in a viv and as long as you didn't throw grass seed in there, you would be ok, lol :grin01:

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks for that, I'll try not to seed the tubs then!

 

[MomFor2Gifts]

Thanks for that, I'll try not to seed the tubs then!

:laugh01:​

hee hee