Shredded paper for bedding

[Raiden The Almighty]

Im gonna order a Bloodred through my local pet shop in the next few weeks. There great people and i already have two very healthy snakesand three birds from them. The quality of there animals in always great. I am gonna use plain printer paper from walmart just so I can pay attention t his BMs and ill switch him to aspen after a few weeks. I was just wondering if anybody knows about using shredded paper as bedding.

 

[Wintermute]

I use about two handfulls of shredded paper in with about two bags of aspen in my tank, just to create more interest and volume, and have had no problems so far. However, I would think that if it was all paper, you'd have to keep a very close eye on it because it could easily get all gooey when wet. If you want to pay attention to his bowel movements, I honestly can't see why paper would be better than aspen. Snake poo is very difficult to miss!

 

[Raiden The Almighty]

I would use the paper because it would allow me to see the color of the feces easier. I might just use paper towles like i do with my juvenile bearded.

 

[dawnrenee2000]

The sharp edges of shredded paper could cause irritation to the scales. I would reccomend using papertowels instead due to the possible irritation and the fact that the paper towels are better at aborbing moisture as well. Best wishes to you.

 

[Raiden The Almighty]

Thanks i like to try new things with my snakes and im kinda getting tired of aspen and the way it makes my snakes smell. I think ill try paper towels.

 

[pcar]

Shredded Newspaper is used as a substrate along with papertowels and aspen. I have used newspaper on occasion when out of aspen. newspaper is softer than normal paper and doesn't have the same sharp edges on it that printer paper would.

The one thing that you will have to watch for is that paper doesn't absorb odors very well and can get rather messy with a lot of feces.

 

[diamondlil]

I've been using a chopped/shredded hay bedding for a couple of months now, it's soft, good for burrowing, absorbent and the snakes smell better than when they were on kitchenroll.

 

[Raiden The Almighty]

I think the smell probably comes from the fine dust particles in the aspen. I might try the hay.

 

[diamondlil]

It's sold as a bedding for rabbits etc, it's really soft and fluffy compared to normal hay. I tried it because my local stores only have repti-bark or aspen in little (1 viv) bags for about £5 a bag, when they even have it in stock

 

[Raiden The Almighty]

I can see why you would use the hay, I would never put my snakes on reptile bark. uke01: And those single vive bags are way too over priced.

 

[Jessicat]

It's sold as a bedding for rabbits etc

Do you know what kind of hay it is? It doesn't look at stiff as Timothy Hay. I've been looking for a hay like the one you have pictured that I can buy in bulk for my rabbits to lay around on.
That'd be so convenient to get bedding that's nice for two different animals!

 

[diamondlil]

It's called Russel bedding, the company is called supreme petfoods, but it might just be a european thing. they have a website which is www.russelrabbit.com, hope this helps

 

[BeckyG]

In regards to the original post, I would think printer paper would be mighty expensive to use as snake bedding anyway.

 

[Railrider1920]

I have a friend that has a ball python. He has been keeping it on finly shredded paper for years. I don't think he has had any problems at all. It can get packed tight though.
Rob