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Help! I need an alternative bedding that's safe!!!

FYI

I saw Cypress Mulch in small bags at Petsmart today. The mulch looked like the kind you get at home depot and was damp. My guess it is the same stuff but with a reptile manufacture name on it, $10.00 + dollars. I mean how diffrent can it be, it's not like they can treat it for bug with pesticides and if it was cooked I don't think it would still be damp.

Pick up some from LOWE'S for $2.00+ for a HUGE BAG.
 
TinaMillwee said:
My dad thinks he is allergic to the store bought wood type bedding. I need something else, that is safe for SweatPea!
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Charmer.......Do you know what exactly you have now??



And TinaMillwee never posted again........ :shrugs:
 
Kingetula said:
Where do you buy this? I might try it if it is cheap. I can't see buying it a pet store $$$
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Anyone know where to buy Aspen mulch/bedding cheap, like Cypress mulch at Home Depot?
 
you can buy aspen SHAVINGs at most pet stores and the bag is usually compressed so it goes a long way. It's usually not to pricey around here, but i look for it on sale.
 
JAG 32 said:
you can buy aspen SHAVINGs at most pet stores and the bag is usually compressed so it goes a long way. It's usually not to pricey around here, but i look for it on sale.
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Thanks. I just got off the phone with my local FEED STORE (Horses chickens and all) (Mom's idea) She said she can get big bags of it but has to call right now for a price. I should of thought of this earlier as we get pine shavings for our ducks that are in big cheap compressed bags.
 
Cypress would be nice, but from putting it in my flowerbeds and around the house, I notice a LOT of fine particles that get everywhere on me and eventually work themsleves into my skin and I get a case of the 'itchies'.

If I don't rinse off well after playing with it, I get itchy, so that's kept me from keeping my corns on it in a constant state, how it would affect their skin under their scales.

But it would be nice to use it and when the bedding needs to be changed, just dump it out front in the herb garden and wet it down and voila...new mulch AND fertilizer. ;)

I just use Aspen shavings for just about everything. Or a product from Kaytee called Soft-Sorbent for hatchlings.

I get those big bags of Kaytee aspen from Petsmart for around $12-14 per bag, not sure what size bag they are. If I could get aspen through our local feed store I would, as their pine is really clean/dust free/cheap that we use in our chicken house.
 
I HATE Kaytee brand aspen! It has a really strong smell to it. It kills my allergies, and my asthma.
Hartz brand is good and cheap. I hate the Hartz Co. though, they still test on critters, and its not very pretty. I only buy their aspen when my budget is too tight for the fancier brand at Petco, and I don't buy anything else from them. The aspen they sell in the reptile dept at Petco is better stuff, with not MUCH more of a difference in price.
 
One other person has said the Kaytee aspen smells bad. I must be a 'non-smeller', I don't smell anything weird. Granted some bags smell more than others. Maybe they all smell and I'm just so used to it I don't notice it.

We only have Petsmart in the area (30 mi away) and they only carry Kaytee Aspen. I can't find aspen locally at all. They have Hartz brand at Walmart/Kmart in town, but just pine/cedar bedding.

I used to order large bags of L&M Brand Aspen from online, but didn't like the splintery texture of it, plus it was more expensive in the end.

I have ordered the Sani-Chips from Superior Enterprises, but that stuff is extremely pricey. I love it though, worked great for rodents as well.

I like the Life-Mate Hemp bedding, it was super soft, super absorbant, no smell and no dust....but yeah, $10 for one tiny little bag that wouldn't cover two shoeboxes. So its not practical for all of the snakes I have.

Carefresh stinks, to me. It gave me a headache when I used it with rodents. Must be something from the processing of the paper maybe.

I don't get the newspaper at home so that's out. And paper towels on a slick bottomed tub, you might as well not use anything at all. It always ends up wadded up in the corner and they poop on the bottom anyway.
 
Well I talked my parents into getting some ASPEN for the baby ducks that will be hatching at the end of this month. I will give it a try and see how I like it or "how my snakes like it". I look forward to a diffrent color bedding, nice light color should bring out the snakes more but the natural look that cypress offers will be missed and the cheap price.
 
Carefresh!

I had my hatchling on this stuff after seeing it in a pet shop at a pretty groovy price, however when i took my hatchling to the lady i bought her from, the lady had a fit. Apparently the Carefresh stuff (in her experience) causes problems with mites, and has killed off some of her snakes through impaction. I didnt notice any problems myself but switched straight to newspaper to avoid any problems, not pretty but definately safe until i find something better.
Has anybody used astroturf?
 
:-offtopic

As for ducks I would recommend newspaper/papertowl ONLY, don't use particulate substrate with baby fowl at all.

Ducks especially will eat anything that looks like feed, which is the same color and basic shape as shavings. Our local farm store lost a bunch of ducklings they had for sale because they kept them on small pine shavings instead of one-piece substrate.

They make an entire mess of their water area anyway. Aspen + chick start + feces + warmth = fast mold growth.
 
Fordie said:
. Apparently the Carefresh stuff (in her experience) causes problems with mites, and has killed off some of her snakes through impaction. I didnt notice any problems myself but switched straight to newspaper to avoid any problems, not pretty but definately safe until i find something better.
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I have never heard of snake mites coming from beading material. They normaly get passed from snake to snake or from snake to person and then back to another snake. As for impaction, any type of pet bedding can cause impaction if you feed your snake on it. You should tell you friend to start feeding in a seperate container. In my oppinion Carefresh is just as safe as aspen.

Fordie said:
Has anybody used astroturf?
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Astroturf has all kinds of problems. keeping it clean and dry being the hardest part if i were you i would go back to Carefresh or aspen if you want something safe, easy and good looking.
 
BTW, Great reply Misty! I've only found Hartz aspen at a grocery store chain here in Texas called Albertsons. Its very mild stuff, and good for burrowing.

I love baby ducks!!! :cheers:

Anyway, I've used Carefresh Ultra, and it is a little dusty, (but not as bad as Reptibark). There is no way the lady got mites from the Carefresh bedding. They probably came from another snake, or some wood shavings. I can see that there would be an ingestion problem if she fed in the cage, which you should NEVER do. Maybe on newspaper you can (not shredded), but not on bedding that they can ingest, or paper towels (there have been incidents with those).

Aspen is by far the best, and I've tried lots of products.
 
Also, astroturf and repti carpets can get mildewy/moldy underneath as moisture collects easily there.
 
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