I'm in LOVE with Aspen Bedding.

[CoolioTiffany]

When I used Cypress Mulch for my BPs, it would always dry out because I'm using heat lamps and that the fact I live in a hot and dry environment. It also was messing up my female's belly, making clear shedding-like pieces come off of the scales which I think should not even happen at all. I would have to mist the Cypress a few times a day to keep the humidity up, but after switching from a 60 watt to a 75 watt bulb my humidity got very low. Like around 30% and lower, which I know I had to immediately fix.

Yesterday, I had some Aspen Bedding left over in the bag that I didn't use for my new Hognose, so I thought, "I think it would be best to change Monty (male BP) over to Aspen." So I did, and it works so well. Today, I got some more Aspen Bedding because I really had to change the substrate since I was concerened of what was happening with Candice's (female BP) humidity levels and her underside. I throroughly cleaned out the enclosure, free of any left of Cypress. As soon as I got everything together and misted the Aspen and cage items lightly, the humidity was up between 50%-60% in no time. I'm never going back to Cypress again, and I even noticed that Candice got Cypress in her nose, and in her mouth. Yay for Aspen!!

*Also something I noticed is that when Candice was on Cypress she was going to the cooler end of the enclosure and now she's back on the warmer end ever since I put the Aspen in there.

[mrshawt]

I could never make the humidity work with aspen, but then again, I live in a different climate. Just watch out in the winter if it gets drier there (if it even can!).

[m00kfu]

Also watch out if you're misting the aspen a lot. When I was using it for our balls it would start to mold pretty quickly when misted regularly.

[mrshawt]

Yeah, moldy balls are the WORST!

[CoolioTiffany]

Also watch out if you're misting the aspen a lot. When I was using it for our balls it would start to mold pretty quickly when misted regularly.

I only lightly mist it, and mist the cage items more heavily such as the plants. I take the plants out of the enclosure to mist them though, just so I don't get the Aspen too damp. And I am aware of mold growing, but I stand a bit away from the enclosure or raise up my arm then mist the enclosure lightly so it's only a little damp so the spray bottle isn't so close to the substrate.

[mrshawt]

Have you tried this? You may not need to mist at all anymore after doing this.

[CoolioTiffany]

Actually, I've done something somewhat similar. What I did was take a large Glad ziplock bag, and simply (not really sure how to describe this) took each side and ripped it until all the ziplock bag looked like was a plastic sheet. I cut both the ziplock end off, so now I pretty much have a plastic sheet that was once a ziplock bag. I put it on my 20 gallon enclosure screen top, and was looking at how much I should cut off. I cut off some of the plastic sheet to make it cover only half (or a little less than half) of the screen top. I took a hot glue gun and glued the plastic sheet down. Now, my humidity does stay in pretty well. I did the same thing with my male BP's 10 gallon screen top. Also I glued the hygrometer meter to the middle (at the very top of the enclosure) of the enclosure because when I put tape on the back of it so it could stick on Candice kept knocking it off and what not so I was just like whatever I'll just glue it down with the hot glue gun.

Btw, is the humidity meter/gauge supposed to be in the middle of the cage at the very top of the wall of the enclosure? That's where I have it, and not too sure if that's correct now..

[mrshawt]

Since I use the Accurite, I have the unit on the cool side next to her hide. So it measures her cool side temp as well as the tub humidity.

[StormSerpent]

I "stumbled" upon Aspen Bedding and have found out how great it is as well.

If I need to get the humidity up in the cage I place an old towel across 1/2 of the top and mist that instead, and that helps solve my problems.

Another thing I like about aspen, is the odor control, (at least with the T-rex Brand Snake Specific Aspen), even if Nero happens to soil his substrate pretty thoroughly, which he has done on occasion, the aspen tends to control the spread of the excrement, which helps during spot cleaning and reduces the disgusting odor. Just my experience with Aspen.

[CoolioTiffany]

I "stumbled" upon Aspen Bedding and have found out how great it is as well.

If I need to get the humidity up in the cage I place an old towel across 1/2 of the top and mist that instead, and that helps solve my problems.

Another thing I like about aspen, is the odor control, (at least with the T-rex Brand Snake Specific Aspen), even if Nero happens to soil his substrate pretty thoroughly, which he has done on occasion, the aspen tends to control the spread of the excrement, which helps during spot cleaning and reduces the disgusting odor. Just my experience with Aspen.

I've always used Aspen for my colubrids, and I absolutely loved using it for them and will always use it for them. Also, it leaves their tunnels they have made when burrying underneath the substrate, which is actually pretty cool. It really doesn't smell when a snake defecates in the enclosure too, so that's another think I like about it. I used it for Candice before, and she was doing just fine in it. A little bit after switching over to Cypress, it really wasn't the best substrate for her. I switched back, and I keep checking up on her and it seems she's doing great. The Aspen will be a lot softer on her belly too rather than those shards and rough pieces of Cypress she's always slithering on.