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squidfishing

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I recently got a corn snake for my birthday. My friend who got it for me gave me coconut shavings and moss for substrate (it was what the pet store recommended). I have been researching, but have been getting mixed reviews. I wanted to use astroturf, but some people say aspen is better while others say astroturf is better. Please help! I'm extremely new to all this. Thanks
 
Helloooo! Welcome to CS.com You'll love it here!

I'm new to all of this as well, so here's a newbie perspective. I started out with something very similar to what you're using and liked it a lot, but it was impossible to find the snake's waste. I switched to aspen and that fixes that problem, but also my snake seems to like it better. He loves to tunnel through it from one end to the other.

Astroturf is fine as well, but you need to have several pieces cut to fit your tank so you can rotate them for the wash. In my next tank, I'm going to consider carpet because I really like the look of it.

Others use paper towels which are inexpensive and easy to replace as needed.

If you do a search above on "substrate" you'll find several options with people's opinions.

Best of luck with your new corn!!
 
Lori has given you good advise. Astro turf is hard to keep clean where as aspen is easy. Some of the coconut hull substrates harbor bacteria and other nasties. I use paper because I feel it is the cleanest. When I change the paper, everything comes out with it and is thrown away.
 
wade said:
Some of the coconut hull substrates harbor bacteria and other nasties.
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Uh-oh...

I found a couple of the cutest hides at PetSmart that were made from coconuts... should I be worried? :awcrap: Or is this just a problem with using it for substrate?
 
I think those are great and I've used them for my hermits. I'm a firm believer in the power of the microwave for killing nasties. When I would clean the cage, I always nuked the hides for a minute just in case. Heck, I won't even use my kitchen sponges unless I nuke them between uses! ;)

Learn from my mistakes, though. Things tend to explode in the microwave if you don't have moisture in there as well. :(
 
I'm not sure that microwaves work as fine as UV light... :sidestep:
I once tried to microwave some ants that got inside through its vent but they didn't die. I hope "nasties" are not as resistant.
 
You can also put them in the over on low heat, or boil them. I've heard both of those ways work well for cleaning branches to put in a vivarium, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for cleaning those hides.
 
I'm not sure that microwaves work as fine as UV light...
I once tried to microwave some ants that got inside through its vent but they didn't die. I hope "nasties" are not as resistant.
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LOL! Yuck!

You could be right. I'm not about to go find an ant and test your theory, though. ;)

Ok, maybe not "crawling" nasties. But I bet those ants were so sterile you could eat them after their time in the 'wave.
 
hey, thanks for the replies! I got some aspen bedding in the hamster section because it was a lot cheaper. Is there any special differences between aspen for snake or aspen for hamsters?
 
squidfishing said:
hey, thanks for the replies! I got some aspen bedding in the hamster section because it was a lot cheaper. Is there any special differences between aspen for snake or aspen for hamsters?
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The "snake" aspen is a lot more expensive! But also, it's shredded finer than the chips you'll find for hamsters. Since we have both, they get whatever we have on hand. I got some nice shredded aspen from Fosters & Smith on sale, but typially I find it on sale in the stores and stock up. I've heard of places that horse keepers go and get bales of it for much cheaper than you can get it in the pet stores. I've yet to check that out, though. Any equestrian stores near you?
 
Reptile carpet is a PITA. They can't burrow in it, so they burrow under it. You can wash it in the washing machine. They just have so much more fun in aspen, and it is so easy to spot clean.
 
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