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Difference between Snake aspen bedding and Rodent aspen bedding?

J

jaxie1794

New member
I buy my aspen bedding (specifically for snakes) at Petco or Petsmart for about $8. This fills up his entire 20-gallon long terrarium and lets him burrow to his hearts content. While I'm shopping there I will go and look at the rodent section and notice a HUGE bag of "Aspen Bedding" with rats and guinea pigs on it for about $14. Now, this rodent aspen bedding is about 5 times larger than the snake aspen bedding I'm getting now. The only real difference I could tell between the two beddings is that the rodent one had bigger chips of aspen. What is the true difference between snake and rodent aspen bedding and why should I continue to get the one specifically for snakes?
 
I like Kaytee aspen the best. The snake aspen seems so thin, fine to me. Not as fluffy as the Kaytee aspen. But I'm super-picky about it. I don't like the aspen that is like chips, either, or the really fine, really dusty stuff. And don't get me started on CareFresh! Doctors Foster Smith has a pretty good deal on huge bags of Kaytee, delivered.
 
I do not shop at Petco so I have no idea if the two aspen bedding material are the same or not. I can tell you that for my snakes I use aspen bedding that I get in the rodent section of the pet shop I go to and I have picked up aspen for rodents at my local Wal-mart for my snakes.

It is your money spend it how you see fit.

Love the Fatman
 
I believe me and fatman get the same aspen. i get mine from walmart as well. the brand is alfapet. it has pictures of rodents on it so i guess its rodent aspen. the bag of it is $3.88 at my local walmart and the bag seems to be packed MUCH tighter than the $8 bag at petco/petsmart, so it's definitely a bargain
 
I buy the big bags of "rodent" aspen and use it for all of my rodents and all of my snakes. They all seem to be perfectly happy and healthy with it. It's just much simpler and cheaper for me to stick with the one product.
 
Rodent aspen is chipped, not fractured/shredded. Same thing, different cut. Carrots are carrots whether they are whole or chopped. Same idea.

Snakes can burrow in both types of aspen, but 'tunnels' stay up in the shredded aspen. However, I have NEVER seen one of my snakes reuse a tunnel, so whichever doesn't matter.
 
dr82692 said:
I believe me and fatman get the same aspen. i get mine from walmart as well. the brand is alfapet. it has pictures of rodents on it so i guess its rodent aspen. the bag of it is $3.88 at my local walmart and the bag seems to be packed MUCH tighter than the $8 bag at petco/petsmart, so it's definitely a bargain
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I just started using this stuff as well. I like the look of coco fiber, but it's a pain expanding a brick in hot water then drying it out, but that way is cheaper than buying a bag of ready to go coco fiber.

If I remember right, the bag says it's good for other animals, including snakes, besides rodents.

I used half a bag to fill my two snake tanks. I think Spyro likes it, I see him burrowed into it almost constantly, whereas I rarely saw him burrow in the coco fiber (it doesn't seem to hold tunnels as well as the aspen does).
 
azhketh said:
If I remember right, the bag says it's good for other animals, including snakes, besides rodents.
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You are correct. It actually says "reptiles" and on the back also says "easy tunneling gives your pet hours of play" LOL. So I think they are subtly saying it works fine for snakes
 
anything marked for "reptiles" at Petco or Petsmart is more expensive than the same stuff for other animals. Look at the water dishes,,,a small reptile water dish is $5.99 the same size in the small pet or animal area is $1.99,...
 
^^ same thing with the hides. you can get aquarium decor and use it as hides. most of it looks cooler and is cheaper than the snake hides, like my pirate skull hide :)
 
I go to Tractor Supply and get a 3 cubic ft bale for 9.99. It lasts for a good while! Holds up to burrowing pretty well. Lee
 
rls45 said:
I go to Tractor Supply and get a 3 cubic ft bale for 9.99. It lasts for a good while! Holds up to burrowing pretty well. Lee
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This is what I use as well. It is not the "fine strands" that the Snake Aspen is, but come on - snakes in the wild live on decaying leaves, grass, soil, rotting logs...

I don't believe it makes a difference. One bail from Tractor Supply lasts me about 5 months or more, vs having to buy a bag of Snake Aspen every time I clean the tanks.
 
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