Is red cypress mulch kosher to use?

[euphuistical]

Home depot is having a sale on red cypress mulch and I was wondering if it is suitable for substrate. Is the red dye dangerous? Would it be too coarse? If so I have an old food processor I could use to break it down a bit.

If there is a better cheap option please suggest. When I get my rack built (should be this weekend, heat tape gets in Monday hopefully) I think I am going to switch from packing / newspaper to some sort of mulch, but I am loathe to buy from one of the big box pet stores. I assume they are always over priced and I really don't like their husbandry practices.

[Jason Bowden]

I recently switched to cypress mulch on some of my animals. I think the undied mulch would be best. Also make sure no pesticides are in it.

[Kaorte]

I am sure you can find bulk shaved aspen online. That is my substrate of choice

I wouldn't use mulch from home depot personally. I would think it would be crawling with bugs and mites and such. The red dye might contribute to some scale discoloration (which isn't harmful, its just hard to tell if they are going into shed or have any scale rot going on).

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

in my opinion, stay away from anything that has dye in it, or let alone pesticides. I tried to use organic cypress mulch from lowe's once, I froze it and then baked it in the oven before using it. It was okay, but my main problem with it was that it was really really dirty, and if dry, dusty. I went back to aspen... then I switched to newspaper pellet and have not looked back.

[BrucenBruce]

Please do be careful! Home depot near me doesn't carry cypress mulch at all, but many different colors of what I believe to be cedar mulch - which would be toxic even before the dye!

~Bruce

[euphuistical]

Thanks for the advice, I was kinda thinking that may be the case.

Anyone know a cheap place to get cypress of aspen mulch in bulk online? I would think the shipping would be outrageous, but I really don't know. I may just check home depot for undyed cypress or aspen mulch and freeze it for a few days, then bake it at a low temp for awhile (I assume 250f would be sufficient).

I live in Florida, and it is really humid here all the time. That is why I have a slight preference towards cypress because I have heard that aspen has a tendency to grow moldy.

[Kaorte]

Thanks for the advice, I was kinda thinking that may be the case.

Anyone know a cheap place to get cypress of aspen mulch in bulk online? I would think the shipping would be outrageous, but I really don't know. I may just check home depot for undyed cypress or aspen mulch and freeze it for a few days, then bake it at a low temp for awhile (I assume 250f would be sufficient).

I live in Florida, and it is really humid here all the time. That is why I have a slight preference towards cypress because I have heard that aspen has a tendency to grow moldy.

I have never heard that about aspen. If anything that would be true for cypress. People usually use cypress mulch if they have a problem keeping the humidity up. If you live in florida, you will never have that problem. Aspen will work fine in your case

[greghall]

aspen will mold,has a weird smell when wet any lenth of time,just switched to cypress it also has a tendacey not to mold.

[littleindiangirl]

We got 100% cypress mulch from Menards (might be a midwestern store). It took us a long time to find 100%, but when we did, we stocked up!

[LaFilleClochette]

we have found a nice aspen that does not mold...it is not advertized for reptiles- it is unscented which is great and great. you can get it in fairly big bags at petsmart...forget the name atm, but i think its in the rodent section of the store.