CareFresh bedding, plus heat lamp questions

My roommate is allergic to nearly every type of appropriate substrate, so I decided, at the advice of the reptile department manager at a local pet store, to try Care Fresh, which is like compressed, shredded, recycled newspaper used most frequently in rabbit enclosures. Have any of you used this before? What have your experiences been? I added sphagnum moss on top in one corner to help with humidity.

Also, the UTH I have isn't keeping the tank warm enough, so I'm going out to get a heat bulb today. I have a 5 1/2" clamp lamp, and the tank is 29 gallons. What wattage is appropriate? Can I get a red bulb? Can I leave that on all night if I do? Will a CHE get too hot?

Thanks!

Have you considered just using paper towels or newspaper? I mean, carefresh is ridiculously priced at most pet stores. I only use it for my rats, and I get a really good price from a friend who owns a local store.

As far as the temps, how are you reading the temps? How warm is your house/that room kept?

CHE's definatly get to hot, an infrared bulb is your best bet. I like this one: http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsmar...3&lmdn=Reptile

I know that some people use carefresh, especially with an UTH I would recommend using newspaper/paper towels/corrugated wrap since they let the heat penetrate better (remember that UTH's do not affect air temperature in the tank)

My limited experience with CareFresh is that it's extremely dusty. Not sure how that is going to help your roommate’s allergy issues. I would urge you to look into corrugated paper or this, which is what I use:

http://www.uline.com/BL_1961/Indente...keywords=Paper

[QUOTE=Slim;1782484]My limited experience with CareFresh is that it's extremely dusty.

My experience has been the same. :number1: I saw that Wal-Mart sells this also. I just use paper towels in mine.

if you have a printing company (Newspaper) close you can pick up 50-70 lbs end rolls of un printed newspaper for next to nothing !!

It's not terrible in and of itself, but I would recommend spraying it down if you use it for your snake. It allows for some burrowing activities and can hold more moisture than plain papertowel, and lasts longer and allows for more spotcleaning than plain papertowel. The easier a cage is to clean, the more you'll clean it!

Ceramic heat emitters emit heat the same way infrared bulbs do (infrared is not a visible lightwave, we perceive it as heat), they just don't emit light as well. They do get somewhat hotter, so an easy solution is to use a lower wattage - saving you money on electricity! :) For the size tank you have, you should not need a heat emitter hotter than 60 watts, and if you are concerned about heat the addition of a thermostat should help control it. A similar wattage red bulb would be appropriate, but you would not need anything hotter than a 75 watt bulb in most situations.

Keep your bulb boxes and receipts, and if it doesn't meet your needs, exchange it until you find the wattage that works for you!

-Jen

I used carefresh back when I had rodents; they liked it because they could shred it to build a nest. I found that it didn't do much for the oder but made it easier to spot clean. It is a bit dusty and the rats would sneeze a bit the day I did the cleaning, so I don't know what it would do to a snake's breathing.

I will say though that as someone in your roommate's shoes that I've found that while I'm allergic to coconuts, cocohusk is actually one of the few that don't give me hives. Every moss I tried did, aspen does, and some of the dustier substrates make it impossible to breath, but cocohusk has yet to make me react.