• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

commonly used substrates and their ratings

mattsnake

mattsnake

snake hunter
Over the past year I have tested paper towels, carefresh, shredded paper, and aspen mulch with my small group of snakes.

I have rated them on a scale of 1-10 based on asorbancy, smell, cost/avalibility, and looks.


carefresh- 6.5
extremely asorbant, small smell, fairly expensive and can be found at most pet stores. It looked bland and was very dry causing poor sheds.

paper towels- 8
fairly asorbant, tolerable small, very cheap and readily avalible. Did not look very good. Often snakes would get under the layer of towels and poo on the glass... very messy

aspen mulch- 9
very asorbant, minimal smell, moderate cost and avalible at all pet stores. Looks great and natural, snakes eem to like to burrow in it.

shredded paper-5
lack of asorbancy, strong smell, inexspensive, looks good but often hides the snakes.


I am using aspen mulch right now, I think I will stay with it for a while.
 
I also prefer aspen...

I think it really reduces the smell. I had all of my breeding adults on paper towels during breeding time, and they smelt AWFUL !! I am glad my guys/gals are pretty much through with breeding. I was happy to switch them back to aspen!!

Oh yeah - the only things I don't like about aspen is that it seems to get everywhere and it can be dusty. The brand I am using now how less dust than other brands I've tried, though.
 
Hmm newspaper seems to be working A-OK with me so far. Thanks for the ratings though.. good to know for if newspaper doesn't work out.

- Jeni
 
Interesting that you brought that up, Terri.

I use aspen with all my corns as well. Always did with kings before too. I used to buy bales of it and really it's pretty cheap that way. Can't remember the cubic inches or the brand name but it was great!

Since I have been getting back to my collection, I still use aspen but my collection is much smaller now a days. I was getting NorthEastern brand aspen and it's just like I remember the bales I used to buy. No dust and a medium courseness. The last bag of aspen I got at walmart while I was there and it is Kaytee brand.

It is a finer cut and pretty dusty as compared to what I am used to. I think the aspen it's self carries a strange odor.

I thought maybe I was losing my mind. But I think I will check around to get the kind I was used too. And since I just added 10 corns last week, I think I need to start back on the buying bales again anyway! :D

Quigs
 
Quigs...I got my last few bags of aspen at Wal-Mart, too. The brand I got wasn't Kaytee, though. I'll have to check tomorrow and see what it is. I got the Kaytee brand from PetSmart one time, and it was SO dusty. I vowed I would NEVER use it again!
 
I've used aspen, paper towels, and newspaper. Aspen was by far the best. I use SunThing Special (Else) brand. It has larger chunks, cover a larger surface area, and is very absorbent. Paper towels were much more cost efficient but the appearance was awful and with nespaper, the snake kept getting under the layers. The aspen I have is condensed, so it doesn't take much space to store but expands when you take it out. A great feature.
 
I use cypress mulch for my corn. I find that it works fine.
Anyone else using cypress mulch? What do you think?
 
I have used aspen woodshavings for most of the time I've kept snakes. Its great, but unfortunately my first snake (Java, died earlier this year.:( ) ingested enough to block his gut and it killed him. I have no idea how he managed to eat that much aspen, he was always fed in a seperate, newspaper-lined box. But I'll continue keeping Fiji on aspen, as the alternatives just aren't as good.
 
I'm sorry to about its death. I just got my own snake. After months of money scrounging and she is the most beautiful little girl ever. If my Digital Camera was working I'd show you a pic but it isn't. Right now I'm using aspen bedding. The only time i've seen her out and about was when i got up last night to get a cup o water but she was still quite hidden. My aspen i use doesn't really get dusty and it stays moist.(not damp, moist)

charcoal_mots
 
All of my snakes are housed on aspen shavings. And like Terri, the smell absorbancy is key for me.

Aspen looks nice, absorbs poo well, absorbs the smell great, its moderately priced, and my snakes seem to like it. I don't feed on it, so feeding time is a hassle having to take 25 snakes out, feed, and put back.

I tried paper towel (since I don't get a paper) and it was awful. They'd always get under it and poo on the glass, which I agree is nasty to clean up. And when one would poo, the smell was like something died in the room.

I've also tried CareFresh. But the smell of it gave me a headache, so I can just imagine animals with more sensitive noses than me. Plus it looked so blah in the cage.

I buy the Kaytee brand of aspen from Petsmart as it's the only decent quality I can get. I haven't noticed but one bag to be very dusty. I took it back and got an exchange.

I've tried the L&M brand of aspen, DO NOT BUY. It's splinter quality aspen, not shavings, always got lodged under scales and in cloacas. And you think the Kaytee was dusty? Hohoho. It ended up being campfire starter. ;)

I really need to find the aspen shavings I remember as a kid. They were more like chips and came in a brown paper wrapping. We used them as bedding for our horse. But I haven't been able to find those in years.
 
Quigs, you said that he got his aspen in bales, does that mean like those enormous bags? Also, how much is everyone currently paying for aspen? I got a bag of condensed aspen (275 cubic in.) for like $3.49. It's 550 cubic inches when taken out of the bag.
 
Spitfire,

I'm currently paying around $8 for a 2.0 ft³ compressed pack of Kaytee that expands to 5.0 ft³ when loose.

One bag lasts me about a month for my 3 mouse cages and all my snakes. Plus a little left over for me to use in the bottom of my ferret cage and ferret litter box.
 
For the record, I've never had a bad shed and I've only ever used Carefresh. So even though it might not look as nice it shouldn't get a bad rap for the shed thing! (And I don't know about the smell since it's all I've ever used, but smells fine to me...then again, I only have one snake in a huge tank).

dara
 
update

My fiance and I were just out and about running some errands and killing time on this rainy, yucky day. We ran in two different pet stores than normal. One we had been to before and one we had not.

Anyway both had the aspen "bales" that I spoke of earlier in this thread. The first place didn't have any in stock but said they usually do. (I've heard that line before) The brand is NorthEastern (which is the stuff I like, no dust) And the brown paper bale is 9 cubic foot uncompressed. It was $22.99.

The second place also carried it. Same brand, same size bale and they had many bales in stock. For $9.99

I bought two! :D

Now I just need to run down to the feed store tomorrow and pick up one of those big galvinized steel trash cans to store it in!
:rolleyes:

Quigs
 
I used to use paper towels for all my snakes but now I use Aspin for the yearlings/adults and paper towels for the comming hatchlings. I pay £19.99 ($30) for 13.6KG of aspin.

Alex
 
Cedar has toxic oils that are an absolute NO for snakes.

Many people say Pine does too, but I've never EVER seen a conclusive study on this.

Some people swear by pine, some say it's fatal. It's an opinion issue, though some people are certain that their beliefs are fact.

I keep my snakes on pine and sometimes on aspen, sometimes bark, sometimes on newspaper or papertowel. Aspen makes me ill when it's soiled (freshly soiled)... as in it makes me throw up. I just can't stomach it, so I use it sparingly. I can get a big ol bale of it for $11.00 from a local breeder though. The pine I get the same sized bale for $7.00. I keep my mice on pine and alfalfa hay.
 
MegF. said:
I thought pine and cedar had oils that were toxic to snakes.
Click to expand...

I've used pine for over 20 years and never lost a snake to it. I've even fed on it with no ill effects, though I don't recommend doing that or feeding on any wood product. Someone once read an article that said pine has some of the same resins (not all) as cedar. The same article talked about wood factory workers haveing respiratory problems. They posted it on a forum and thus another urban legend is born. We know cedar is toxic because people put their snakes on it and they died from the toxins. I've never heard of this happening from pine. People have said it caused their snake to get an R.I., but I've never seen any proof of this either. Pine is cheap and readily available where I live and as I said I've never had a problem with it, so I use it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top