Potentially Stupid Question

So in looking at the cost of substrate, I began to contemplate mulch. I can get a large bag of cypress mulch for about $4, but I was wondering if that's necessarily a wise idea, given that mulch probably has more than just the cypress chips, so I thought I would put it out, and let the forum decide. What do you guys think?

You have to be careful. A lot of the Cypress that you are talking about is treated to kill insects. These pesticides can cause problems with your reptiles. Also as you already stated many contain wood that isn't cypress.

You can find 100% pure cypress mulch although. Get the double shredded.

I tried mulch once. Once was enough!

It smelled nasty, stayed way to damp, got everywhere, and my snakes hated it.

Now, perhaps I just had the rotten luck to buy a poor brand, but after searching exhaustively for pure cypress at no less than 10 stores, it was all I found that was pure cypress.

Gale

I don't use cypress, though I did when I had a couple display tank set ups...as mentioned, make sure it hasn't been treated with any chemical product, and make sure it's 100% cypress mulch, not a blend of "forest products" or something like that.

All i use is cypress. You have to get pure cypress. An easy well to tell if its pure is it will say grade a cypress. Mulches are graded. Grade a is pure. No blend. Get the double shredded cypress mulch not the cypress bark.

Thanks for all the input, guys, I really appreciate it. I shall start my hunt for Grade A, double shredded, and see how it goes. Too damp may actually help to solve some of my humidity problems, actually. I've got the water dish in the middle, but I still have to mist pretty regularly to keep it where it ought to be.

Why not use newspaper or paper towels if you are worried about cost. It's safe, clean, and free if you go with newspaper. I use newspaper in all my racks, only the girls about to lay get aspen.